You Remind Me of You: A Poetry Memoir
by Eireann Corrigan
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A startling, remarkable poetry memoir of love and pain, hurt and recovery. For three years, Eireann Corrigan was in and out of treatment facilities for her eating disorders. By the time she graduated high school, her doctors said she was going to die if things didn't change. That July, her high school boyfriend attempted suicide. In one gunshot moment, everything was altered. In a striking and vivid voice, Eireann Corrigan recounts these events, finding meaning in the hurt, humor in the show more horror, and grace in the struggle that life demands. You Remind Me of You is a testament to the binding ties of love and pain, and the strange paths we take to recovery. Corrigan, now in her 20s, recounts her experiences as a teenager with an eating disorder in a series of poems distinguished more by the shock value of their contents than by their insight or literary merit. Along with the graphic details of the adolescent Corrigan's secret stockpiles of sealed plastic bags containing her regurgitated meals and her ruses in feigning weight gain, topics include her high school boyfriend Daniel, who shoots himself between the eyes only to have the bullet ricochet out of an eye socket, leaving him alive and, eventually, able to function. Corrigan, still severely anorexic, is with another boyfriend, Ben, when the suicide attempt takes place, but she rushes to Daniel's bedside, aids in his slow recovery and realizes she wants to recover, too. (At some point Ben fatally drives his car into a tree.) Frequent attempts at irony don't deflect from the writer's absorption in her symptoms. Various incidents are rehashed repeatedly, even aggrandized (e.g., comparisons of herself and Daniel to Orpheus and Eurydice), but more fundamental narrative questions receive little attention: why, after all, do these individuals suffer in these particular ways? Corrigan acknowledges that her illness includes elements of competitiveness (as an inpatient, she and her fellows envy the clavicle of a particularly skeletal girl) and exhibitionism ("I wore sleeveless dresses even with scars on my wrists"); both these elements seem fully exploited here.--Publishers Weekly, March 4th 2002In this eloquent and moving poetic memoir, Corrigan recounts her descent into anorexia. In and out of hospitals and treatment facilities for several years, she was unconvinced that her life was worth sustaining despite the frantic efforts of her family and boyfriend. She hid her vomit in plastic bags and buried them in the yard, and took dramatic measures to falsify her progress during weigh-ins. Corrigan was dancing with one boyfriend when another one unsuccessfully attempted suicide and when she read the newspaper detailing the event, she rushed to Daniel's bedside. She then bargained for his life-she would eat if he would live, and he did. Their slow recoveries parallel their growing deep love for one another, and they clung to one another for support, and comfort, and in sexual intimacy. The author's prose poetry is interspersed with interviews between herself and an unnamed therapist. The unusual and effective format sharpens each word, making readers savor and thoughtfully examine each poetic piece. They will also have to hold each puzzlelike entry into open space before judging which piece describes which point in time, given the loose, nonlinear framework. Overall, this book strongly complements the many fiction and nonfiction works on the topic.--School Library JournalStory poems are becoming increasingly popular, and this one will have tremendous appeal for mature teens. High school student Corrigan recounts her experiences as she suffers through several hospitalizations because of her eating disorder. The skinnier she graduates from high school, her ex- boyfriend attempts suicide. Each poem can stand alone, but when read consecutively, all will lead the reader along Corriga... show lessTags
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I'm not sure what propelled me through this book, Corrigan's sardonic wit ("she tries out for varsity recklessness and only makes jv") or the impossible truth of her circumstances (girl with eating disorder & popular boyfriend becomes caregiver of said boyfriend after they break up & he attempts suicide). But I LOVED it.
A memoir in poetry is tricky due to the very nature of poetry. Eireann Corrigan is able to pull this off by being brutally honest and the occasional poem that reads like an interview. Discussing her high school years dealing with an eating disorder is no light reading material, especially when her high school boyfriend attempts suicide. Throughout the memoir Corrigan provides descriptions that puts the reader in the hospital with her. I look forward to reading more by this author.
Absolutely beautiful. Some of the poetry was so intimate that I couldn't help blushing while reading it. This book reminded me a bit of me and my boyfriend.
Well written, but really sad and disturbing.
I am a huge poetry fan and found this one to be very well written.
This was a quick read. Basically it is a book of poems which form a memoir of this girl's eating disorder/love for this one boy. Basically brings me back to high school, minus the eating disorder and drugs.
Eireann, a teenage girl, has been in many facilities for her recovery from bulimia. Although, she never knew that Dan, the love of her life, is being affected by her abusing herself more than she thought. Not being able to take what Eireann is doing to herself Dan tries to kill himself. They both struggle to fight through life together.
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- Canonical title
- You Remind Me of You: A Poetry Memoir
- First words
- When you first wake up and the one good eye focuses on my face, I only ask if you understand where you are because that's how they handle comas on M*A*S*H--I don't expect to see your eye travel across the white room, squint u... (show all)nder the long tube of fluorescent light and decide heaven.
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- Members
- 255
- Popularity
- 126,601
- Reviews
- 8
- Rating
- (3.90)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 1
