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Appetites: Why Women Want Hardcover – April 1, 2003

by Caroline Knapp (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 155 ratings
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A final work by the late author of Drinking: A Love Story considers the challenge of women to know and honor their wants in a culture that would control a woman's expression of desire, drawing on her experiences with anorexia to discuss the factors that shape a woman's relationship with food, love, work, and pleasure. 75,000 first printing.
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  1. Print length
    210 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Counterpoint
  4. Publication date
    April 1, 2003
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.75 x 8.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1582432252
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1582432250
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The final and remarkable book of best-selling author Caroline Knapp underlines her gift of leveraging her life experiences into provocative lessons. On the surface, Appetites may appear to be about eating—-complete with Knapp's unflinching account of her anorexia. In fact, Knapp is writing about how every woman can decipher her hunger and loneliness by connecting with her desire to experience pleasure. She illuminates the ways in which cultural taboos about women who desire create vulnerability to disorders of appetite including food and alcohol addictions, compulsive shopping and promiscuous sex. In this expansive view, "one woman’s tub of cottage cheese is another woman’s maxed-out Master Card." Readers will nod in recognition as the author seamlessly weaves autobiography and anthropology, describing her family of origin, profiling women of appetite and countering what she calls "the culture of No!" that curbs and disguises women's desires. Knapp gets to yes by urging readers to ask: "What gives me delight and fully engages me?" Knowing that 42-year-old Knapp died of lung cancer makes this question all the more poignant. Such questions suggest Knapp’s brave and generous legacy. --Barbara Mackoff

From Publishers Weekly

What looks like a consciously altruistic effort to encapsulate one woman's entire life into lessons for the benefit of womankind may be just that: after divulging every gruesome detail of her spiral into anorexia and subsequent self-discoveries in this memoir, Knapp died of lung cancer last June at age 42. Similar in tone to her previous Drinking: A Love Story, this work is candid and persuasive enough to reach many women with analogous problems. But it's more than one woman's tragic story; multitudinous interviews with women with eating disorders, excerpts from classic feminist texts and sociological statistics lend credence and categorize the book under cultural studies as much as self-help. Knapp hypothesizes that the feminists who came after the revolutionary 1960s, herself included, were stifled rather than empowered by the overwhelming choices before them. They gained "the freedom to hunger and to satisfy hunger in all its varied forms." Unfortunately, writes Knapp, size-obsessed fashion magazines and other social messages contradict a woman's right to desire, contributing to the rise in eating disorders and other illnesses. Knapp observes an aspect of the backlash against the feminist movement: when "women were demanding the right to take up more space in the world," they were being told by a still patriarchal society "to grow physically smaller." Though Knapp admits it's "easier to worry about the body than the soul," she hopes creating a dialogue about anorexia will enable all women to nourish both.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Counterpoint; First Edition (April 1, 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 210 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1582432252
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1582432250
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.75 x 8.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 155 ratings

About the author

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Caroline Knapp

Caroline Knapp

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Caroline Knapp (November 8, 1959 – June 3, 2002) was an American writer and columnist whose candid best-selling memoir Drinking: A Love Story recounted her 20-year battle with alcoholism. She was the daughter of noted psychiatrist Peter H. Knapp, who did groundbreaking research into psychosomatic medicine.

Knapp grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts and graduated from Brown University. From 1988–95, she was a columnist for the Boston Phoenix, where her column "Out There" often featured the fictional "Alice K." In 1994, those columns were collected in her first book, Alice K's Guide to Life: One Woman's Quest for Survival, Sanity, and the Perfect New Shoes.

Knapp won wide acclaim for Drinking: A Love Story (1996), which described her life as a "high-functioning alcoholic" and remained on the New York Times best-seller list for several weeks. She followed Drinking with Pack of Two, also a best-seller, which recounted her relationship with her dog Lucille and humans' relationships with dogs in general.

Knapp started smoking in her 20s and never stopped. She was diagnosed with lung cancer in April 2002. In May 2002, she married her longtime friend and companion, photographer Mark Morelli.

She died in Cambridge of lung cancer on June 3, 2002. Two books of hers were published after her death: Appetites: Why Women Want, which described Knapp's experience with anorexia and other women's struggles with addictions, and The Merry Recluse, a collection of essays.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
155 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book readable and well-written, with one review noting how the author carefully chooses words. The storytelling receives positive feedback, with customers describing it as an exciting mix of personal experiences. Customers appreciate the book's focus on appetite, with one review highlighting how the author makes clear what is normally muddled.

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10 customers mention "Readability"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable and wonderful, with one customer noting it's particularly helpful for those struggling with eating disorders.

"...I love the author, I have read most of her books. I consider myself to be a decent writer when I apply myself but Caroline had a gift with words...." Read more

"...the introduction to this book, alone, was worth its purchase. I wish she were around to write more. What a writer!" Read more

"She seemed like a highly self-aware and good writer in Drinking: a love story, but in this book I find her low level of insight appaling...." Read more

"...It is gripping, poignant, and absolutely enjoyable. A great read for anyone struggling with eating disorders or those who'd like to learn more." Read more

9 customers mention "Storytelling"9 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's storytelling engaging and insightful, describing it as an exciting mix of personal experiences.

"...I thought this book was so interesting and useful that I bought it for all my friends for Christmas the year I read it, and am *still* buying it for..." Read more

"...her message always was important in each passage, but her prose was even more conscientiously executed...." Read more

"Every reader, men and women alike will learn so much from this highly informative read by Caroline Knapp...." Read more

"Fascinating subject!..." Read more

4 customers mention "Writing quality"4 positive0 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book, with one customer noting that every word is carefully chosen, while another mentions how the author makes clear what is normally muddled.

"...always was important in each passage, but her prose was even more conscientiously executed...." Read more

"She seemed like a highly self-aware and good writer in Drinking: a love story, but in this book I find her low level of insight appaling...." Read more

"...Articulate and beautifully described, the author makes clear what is normally muddled and mired by habit and discomfort. Highly recommended reading." Read more

"Well written..." Read more

3 customers mention "Appetite"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's focus on appetite.

"I absolutely recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Issues related to appetite, desire, need, expectations, eating disorders, etc are really..." Read more

"Fascinating subject! Knapp took what seemed to be a simple topic of the desire to eat and relates it to our struggles with mothers, men, loneliness,..." Read more

"I wish I had read this when I was young. It ties together all types of appetite and the social pressure to conform in ways that stunt or distort..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Tori
    5.0 out of 5 stars Well written
    Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    I bought this book before but it must have not survived my last move. I love the author, I have read most of her books. I consider myself to be a decent writer when I apply myself but Caroline had a gift with words. Too bad she passed away years back. I would have enjoyed meeting her. If you get a chance check out her other work.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Virginia Rich
    5.0 out of 5 stars an "aha" book
    Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    This is a deeply engaging story, ranging from belly-laughing funny to piercingly painful to meticulously thoughtful. I thought this book was so interesting and useful that I bought it for all my friends for Christmas the year I read it, and am *still* buying it for people several years later. I am 34 years old so not quite a contemporary of Knapp's, but in the so-called post-feminist era there are so many things we do *not* talk about as young women, and reading this book was like looking into a mirror and seeing my own freckles and wrinkles for the first time - the shock or recognition and familiarity. I have been fortunate to never have grappled with significant eating disorders but simply as a woman of this Age I found this book incredibly compelling. And of course statistically, even if we don't have an eating disorder most of us have a close friend who does. Knapp helps shed light on their and all of our inner contortions.
    11 people found this helpful
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  • Jenna Rose
    4.0 out of 5 stars every word is carefully chosen.
    Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    knapp had a knack for carefully choosing her words to perfectly match every situation that she described. her message always was important in each passage, but her prose was even more conscientiously executed. the introduction to this book, alone, was worth its purchase. I wish she were around to write more. What a writer!
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Kristen Ray
    5.0 out of 5 stars All woman need to read
    Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    I love tha writer for her book about alcohol addiction, this comes hand in hand. Additionally this is an addiction i feel all woman have issues with.
    Helpful
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  • Elise P.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening and Empowering Book that puts into words what so many people experience
    Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    I absolutely recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Issues related to appetite, desire, need, expectations, eating disorders, etc are really tricky and complicated---there are so many forces that influence these, from the media to entire industries predicated on feeding on women's vulnerabilities. This book puts all of that together in a cohesive and comprehensive work, naming patterns and themes that many of us experience on a day to day basis but could not understand on a larger and much more inclusive framework for how we live our lives.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Rene
    3.0 out of 5 stars Knapp's writing is four stars, but the story lacks ...
    Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Knapp's writing is four stars, but the story lacks the fluidity of her well-constructed prose. It is, however, a timely look into misogynistic advertising and how the media impacts girls' and women's vision of themselves.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Imelda
    5.0 out of 5 stars Stellar Reading
    Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Every reader, men and women alike will learn so much from this highly informative read by Caroline Knapp. She outlines society's effect on our thinking as men and women, and traces the course of her family relationships and how they related to her eating disorders
    7 people found this helpful
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  • thing two
    4.0 out of 5 stars How eating relates to EVERYTHING
    Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    Fascinating subject! Knapp took what seemed to be a simple topic of the desire to eat and relates it to our struggles with mothers, men, loneliness, and our universal need for pleasure. I've already lent my copy out ...
    6 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • meadowsweet
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant memoir
    Reviewed in Canada on June 29, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    This is a book to be relished, pondered and read again and again. It connects with ( I think) most women on so many levels. Caroline Knapp had the ability to express fairly profound ideas in a clear, deceptively simple way. She is not a show- off writer, striving to impress with literary gymnastics that obscure the message. Instead, she captivates the reader ( this one, anyway) with her honesty and humility. The awful thing is that she will never write again.
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  • Meg
    5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic, wide-ranging and thought-provoking
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 20, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    much more than a memoir of one woman's history of disordered eating. Interesting insights and ideas about how these individual illnesses are part of and sometimes reflections of wider culture.

    Very highly recommended.
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  • Amazon Kundin
    5.0 out of 5 stars wow - what a book!
    Reviewed in Germany on January 15, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Ich habe dieses Buch schon vor zwei oder drei Jahren gekauft. Jetzt entdecke ich hier die Rezensionsspalte. Und sehe das Titelbild wieder. Kann mich sofort erinnern, dass das ein wahnsinnig gutes und spannendes Buch war. Dass ich es auf Empfehlung meiner Schwester gekauft habe, die das auch toll fand und dass ich es in zwei Tagen verschlungen haben. Soviel zum Appetite auf gute Bücher.
    Dank an die Autorin!!!
    Amazonkundin
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