What Was It Like Writing About Anorexia?

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I felt like I was coming at it from the outside trying to find out about a person who like fundamentally didn't exist anymore. It's so hard to understand any six-year-old and in my own understanding of myself was so limited. Once I had this framework that I was interested in for all sorts of reasons that I felt like there was a reason to tell my story because it felt like a way to explain this larger question that I had.

Rachel Aviv is a staff writer for The New Yorker. Her new book is Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us.

“I used to feel that if I knew everything, that was a good sign. And I've become more aware that if you know everything you want to argue, that's not such a good sign…. Do I have a genuine question? Is there something I’m trying to figure out? Then the story is worth telling. But if I don’t really have a question or if my question is already answered, then maybe that should give you pause.”

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