So Many Books, Here's Mine

Most of us are able to enjoy and even sometimes have taken for granted our senses but what if for example one of it has been taken away like our sense of taste or even worst what if we can’t eat at all? This happened to author Jon Reiner who accounted his plight into pain and not being able to eat as he chronicled his life in the novel The Man Who Couldn’t Eat.

Early in his life, he was diagnosed with a chronic disease – Crohn’s and as he was older  he had a complication brought upon this disease. He was in extreme pain, constantly yearning for food that he cannot have, in addition had a wife with 2 boys who needed him. Given this current economy, he was out of work and could not provide for his family while battling his own affliction.

Jon Reiner writes with much vividness that readers are able to visualize his anguish, food cravings as he recounts several of his life stages and what he  remembers most with the food he was able to devour that time. I truly admired his writing like on the first few sentences when he described himself as “glutton in a greyhound’s body,” I could immediately see how he looks.  The novel is filled with emotion since his pain is real. His family has gone through a lot and despite of what he has, The Man Who Couldn’t Eat or Jon Reiner shows us his inner strength to get better in spite of the temptation of giving up.  This is about a man, a husband, a father, a friend and a patient who has generously shared his personal struggle and in my opinion has provided me with a different perspective of how life is. Imagine being obsessed with weight, and here’s a person who despite wanting to cannot eat at all. This is a triumphant novel.

"This is a triumphant book."