Original title: Já jsem hlad
Genre: non-fiction
Publisher:
Host, 2009, 2013, 2025
ISBN: 978-80-7294-318-0
Pages: 144
Foreign editions:
Polish (Stara Szkoła, 2023, Miroslaw Śmigielski)
A truthful confession by a leading Czech writer
A layered narrative framed around a struggle with anorexia nervosa, a search for paths in life, and a return to the female soul, this work touches on complex family ties and traumas, a groping quest for love, and a search for refuge in a substitute relationship with a hint of scandal. It captures the interconnectedness of developing anorexia with serious childhood illness, alternated with successful attempts to find terra firma through faith in God.
‘In the years since the book was first published, I have met many girls, boys, and adult women and men who have been consumed by anorexia, some of them mercilessly and forever,’ says the author. ‘I have received tremendous feedback about the lives of people who have benefited from this book.’
"An intelligent, deeply felt narrative that stands where fiction meets nonfiction, it is partly informed by the author’s first work, the book of interviews Transformed Dreams Proměněné sny."
Bára Gregorová, Respekt (weekly)
"The collage-like character of the narrative does not prevent a descent into suspense. The narrative develops from the moment the writer, exhausted by ongoing treatment of her son’s leukaemia and under strain from a parallel, extramarital relationship, falls into anorexia nervosa. This is one of the most remarkable recent Czech works of long journalism. The public nudity to which the author has chosen to expose herself cannot but influence her future."
Josef Chuchma, MF DNES (daily)
"Petra Dvořáková describes what may lie hidden under the shell of an ideal-looking woman. By describing the ignorance of the husband and the hypocrisy of the lover, she shows up the weakness of apparently strong, steady men, thus reaching a precious diagnosis of the imbalance of the sexes and the “heroes” of today."
Jaroslav Balvín, PRÁVO (daily)
