''Life-Size'' is the

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

by South African author Jenefer Shute, published in 1992 and is a

Literary Guild The Literary Guild of America is a mail order book club selling low-cost editions of selected current books to its members. Established in 1927 to compete with the Book of the Month Club, it is currently owned by Bookspan. It was a way to encourag ...

selection. It is a first person account of Josie, a twenty five year old graduate in Economics, suffering from

anorexia Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. ''Anorexia'' is a term of Gre ...

, who is hospitalised in an attempt to stop her from starving herself to death.

Reception

*Susan Reynolds writing in the ''

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'' was unsympathetic to the main character "In the end, you might understand Josie, but you still don't like her; Shute has successfully created a character almost beyond empathy. Josie is relentlessly mean spirited, so alienated that you can hardly feel sorry for her in your haste to get away from her. She takes all the sap out of life, and she does it so actively and aggressively that it's hard to see her as a victim." *In contrast Marek Kohn writing in ''

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'' is far more positive: "a mordantly funny novel, though. In addition to its beady eyed wit, ''Life-Size'' offers vital insight, stark and even lyrical by turns, into how anorexia looks from the inside. As a first novel, it is a virtuoso performance. Based on feminist analyses of the condition, as deriving from the tyranny of body images, its translation of theory into character is a notable achievement. *The

NYU School of Medicine NYU Grossman School of Medicine is a medical school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1841 and is one of two medical schools of the university, with the other being the Long Island School ...

praises the book's authenticity: "Shute has researched the topic and reveals many of the traits which characterize this illness. The author’s narrative technique aptly conveys the preoccupations of the protagonist; obsessive thinking is well delineated and gives a strong sense of how challenging it must be for caregivers to treat such patients."Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database
Retrieved 1st Nov 2013

Publication history

*1992, United States, Houghton Mifflin, , Pub date Apr 1992, Hardback *1992, United Kingdom, Secker & Warburg, , Pub date 10 Aug 1992, Paperback *1993, United Kingdom, Mandarin, , Pub date Jun 1993, Paperback *1993, United States, Avon, , Paperback *1996, United Kingdom, Minerva, , Pub date 11 Mar 1996, Paperback *1997, United States, Avon, , Pub date Aug 1997, Paperback

References

{{reflist 1992 novels Houghton Mifflin books Anorexia nervosa Novels set in hospitals Novels about eating disorders 1992 debut novels Secker & Warburg books