A Memoir of Desire. By Margaret Bullitt-Jonas. Alfred A. Knopf. It is a distraction from isolation. ''Holy Hunger'' is Bullitt-Jonas's memoir of descent into and recovery from her addiction to overeating. By the time she reached adulthood, any negative event, from a romantic breakup to worry over an unfinished dissertation, could spark a binge.
Healing begins with the end of illusion, but the fire of truth burns even as it heals.
I ran from its pain. . . . Tomorrow, maybe I won't eat anything to speak of. She describes her overwhelming sense of invisibility while bingeing and her premeal internal debates over whether to eat at all, for fear a few bites will turn into a binge. Bullitt-Jonas's first steps toward recovery came in an Anglican church, at the foot of the cross. That is a refreshing change from the stale blame game of so many memoirs.