Carrie Brownstein Discusses Her Mother’s Eating Disorder in Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl Excerpt
On October 27, Sleater-Kinney‘s Carrie Brownstein will release her memoir Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl via Penguin. Recently, she shared an excerpt from the book discussing her father coming out as gay. Today, she’s shared another clip, which discusses her mother’s eating disorder and visiting her at the eating-disorder unit in the hospital. Check it out here via The Guardian.
Here’s a sample:
The word “anorexia” was like a prize I had won in a draw someone entered on my behalf; unexpected, sure, but I would find a use for it. And I did. At the dinner table I inserted it into the conversation. I added it to the lyrics of popular songs and sang them while my mother slowly pushed her food around a plate, rarely lifting the fork to her mouth, every morsel a lame horse on a track, never reaching the finish line. I taunted my mother with the word as if anorexia were something she might desire, not something she already had.
The final paragraph:
When we got back to the house, there was a sign above the garage door: “Welcome Home.” I’m certain that when my mother saw it, she wanted to turn right around and go back to the EDU. Who wants to advertise that they are home from the hospital, unless they’re bringing home a baby? It was glaring blitheness on my father’s part. Maybe my mom was a newborn, coming home to be loved and nurtured in all the ways that could keep her healthy and in recovery. It was a do‑over. The welcome turned out to be temporary anyhow. Within a year, she left for good.
Along with the excerpt, Brownstein shared a photo of her parents on her Instagram:
A photo posted by Carrie Brownstein (@carrie_rachel) onOct 24, 2015 at 5:15pm PDT
Read “A Certain Rebellion”, our feature article on Sleater-Kinney.
Watch Sleater-Kinney perform “Bury Our Friends” at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015:
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