The Hunger ~ Jackie Morse Kessler

This book touches a very serious issue called Anorexia and Bulimia and the need to be thin and the lengths that some girls will go. This is a young adult book (again the cover got me...I mean look it, it looks too cool not to read it!) geared to the 12 and up crowd.

 The main character is Lisabeth (Lisa) Lewis, she has enough and sounding like the country song she's had more than enough time and decides to chase all her problems (Thin Voice) away with her mother's antidepressants. When she is on the verge of dying she has what seems like a dream and is offered the position of Famine, one of the famed four riders of the apocalypse.

Lisabeth gets a magical black steed that she names midnight that takes her all over the world where Famine is needed. She then meets War and Pestilence, war scares her and Pestilence tells Famine how they work well together...which by the way makes sense if you actually know what these 4 horsemen do in the bible. And yes Death is the Pale Rider and looks like a dead famous rock legend. 

Lisabeth is scared of her powers and what she can do with them, but this fear slowly fades and she then realizes the true potential of her powers and how she can help people with them and undo what famine has done to the land and people that the former famine has touched.

In the end you see that it's really Lisabeth's struggle with the anorexia and the need for help. Other people had seen what was going on and tried to help but lets be honest about this one human behavior if you don't think that there is a problem it's hard to help someone that doesn't see they need help. It's always the external struggle of man vs man or in this case self vs self.

I would suggest reading this book and maybe a couple more if this is your first introduction to anorexia nervosa. This is also for the girls that are more into mythology like I was when I was young and loved to read...ok I still love to read.

* Anorexia is a VERY SERIOUS condition and one that can kill. Anyone can suffer from it and the outcome to become to thin is sad. Please if you are reading this and have this condition, speak to your loved ones and a doctor. Being thin to make up for self worth isn't worth it.*