Unmasking Family Secrets and Fierce Truths: Jackie Domenus’s Raw, Unfiltered Memoir Challenges Everything You Think You Know
That ultimate essay, “The Body You Keep,” is, as Jackie tells the reader, one that evolved. It began life early in Jackie’s relationship with their partner, Kaitlin, as an exploration of what Jackie describes as the “central narrative” of the relationship, Kaitlin’s eating disorder, anorexia.
The evolution, the reader learns, begins as Jackie also realizes that a self-hatred of the body is something they share with Kaitlin. But this revelation is not immediate. Jackie carefully details the impacts of Kaitlin’s anorexia on the early years of the relationship: the fights, Kaitlin’s near-constant need to exercise, and her near-constant guilt over her food choices. After several pages, the ah-ha moment arrives: “I did not have time to think about my body during those early years.” “I neglected myself and ignored my body and wrote instead about Kaitlin’s….”
Post Comment