Genre
Autobiographical novel
Setting and Context
The action in the novel begins when the narrator is nine years old and continues until the present day. The action takes place in various locations, starting from the narrator's hometown.
Narrator and Point of View
The novel is told from the first-person perspective of the writer.
Tone and Mood
The tone and mood are violent and depressing.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is the narrator and the antagonist is represented by her mental health problems which are often personified here.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is an internal one and is between the narrator's desire to live a normal and happy life and her need for control which manifests through her eating disorders.
Climax
The novel reaches its climax when the narrator is told she will live one more week if she does not change her life.
Foreshadowing
The title of the novel foreshadows the subjects discussed by the author in her book and the focus she will put on mental health and eating disorders.
Understatement
When the narrator claimed, in the beginning, she felt as if there was nothing wrong with her and that she was sure nothing bad will come as a result of her eating habits is an understatement because she later realizes just how close she was to losing her life because of her eating habits.
Allusions
One of the main allusions made in the novel by the author is the idea that her eating disorders were caused by her chaotic family life and her desire to please her parents.
Imagery
The author begins her novel by addressing the reader and telling him a person who suffers from an eating disorder cannot be helped from the outside until that person is aware there is indeed a problem and they want to do something to become better. This creates an extremely violent and cruel image about eating disorders which has the purpose of making the reader aware of just how dangerous this type of disease can be and how an eating disorder can be fatal in some cases.
Paradox
A paradoxical idea presented in the novel is the way in which the narrator's parents seemed unable to help her and at times even unwilling. This is paradoxical especially since her condition was extremely dire and the author's parents could have been the people to help her on her road to recovery.
Parallelism
No parallelism can be found in the book.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The idea of limiting one's food becomes used in the novel as a general term to represent control.
Personification
We find a personification in the line "my bones were shaming me into submission".
