A Starved Heart - by Genevieve Lardizabal (Paperback)

About the Book

One girls journey to recovery from anorexia nervosa and purge disorder, told through poetry.

Book Synopsis

While in treatment for anorexia nervosa and purge disorder, Genevieve was isolated and alone. At one point, no other patients were allowed to speak to her, and she wasn't allowed outside for five months. So many thoughts swirled in her head and without any output she felt trapped, so she began to write, and spent the next three years writing her book. A Starved Heart is divided into sections pertaining to the emotional stages she experienced: Fear, Anger, Depression, and finally Redemption. The poems dive deep into the author's eating disorders and mental anguish, sharing her experiences enduring four years of treatment centers and hospital stays that finally lead her to recovery.

"Beautifully poignant, vulnerable, and real. A powerful must read." -Nadia Ahrens, LICSW, Psychotherapist

"A Starved Heart is an impressive, provocative, passionate read that conveys considerable knowledge about the complexities of an eating disorder, treatment, and recovery." -Patti Ranahan, PhD, Associate Professor, Graduate Program Director, Youth Work. Concordia University

A Starved Heart leaves the reader feeling humility and gratitude towards this beautiful art we call life. -Calliopy Bluebell, a former patient

Review Quotes

"A Starved Heart is an impressive, provocative, passionate read that conveys considerable knowledge about the complexities of an eating disorder, treatment, and recovery. Communicated through poetry, it is simultaneously a heartwrenching and heartwarming reading experience. I appreciated how Genevieve positioned the eating disorder throughout the text- as an abuser-as a male with whom she was embattled for her life. There is much to learn from her manuscript about family relationships and mental illness, gender, cultural and societal norms, as well as how professional 'help' is constructed and experienced by a young person's vantage."

-Patti Ranahan, PhD, Associate Professor Graduate Program Director, Youth Work Concordia University

"Beautifully poignant, vulnerable, and real. Genevieve is an extraordinary writer who breathes life into every word. With vivid detail she brings you through her journey, the dark night of her soul, and into the light of her true self. A powerful must read."

-Nadia Ahrens, LICSW, Psychotherapist

"A Starved Heart is a personal account of one person's journey back from the abyss that can be mental illness. From the multitude of diagnoses to the cycles of therapy and treatment that can feel fruitless, the messiness and breadth of difficulty of the journey is captured. At the same time, Genevieve shares who she is, and shows that at the core of it all, the person struggling is still human, with friends and family, needing love and company. A Starved Heart explores the transformations throughout her journey and leaves the reader feeling humility and gratitude towards this beautiful art we call life, the people living it with us, and the diverse challenges we will all encounter whilst living it."

-Calliopy Bluebell, a former patient

"And sometimes when tears fall from my cheeks, they create a pathway for us to swim in, for us to be connected. A visual artist of words, Genevieve Lardizabal's raw, honest, and powerful poems draw our attention and insist we not look away."

-Veronica Baik