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    The Man Who Couldn't Eat
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    The Man Who Couldn't Eat
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    The Man Who Couldn't Eat
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Man Who Couldn't Eat

    Written by Jon Reiner

    Narrated by Dan John Miller

    3/5

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    Currently unavailable

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    About this audiobook

    Jon Reiner was happily married with two children, living on Manhattan's Upper West Side, when a near-fatal medical crisis that resulted in emergency surgery threatened to take his life. He was sentenced to months of intravenous feeding that required him to abstain from eating anything, in order to give his digestive tract a rest. The medical commandment 'nothing by mouth' came to represent not only the prolonged food deprivation that would have a radical impact on Jon's relationship with food, but the intense and enduring effect it would have both on his emotional state, and his relationships with family and friends. Jon's vulnerability during this profoundly difficult time altered these relationships, but the amazing support he received deepened his understanding love, friendship, and community.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDreamscape Media Audio
    Release dateSep 6, 2011
    ISBN9781611202694
    Author

    Jon Reiner

    JON REINER won the 2010 James Beard Foundation Award for Magazine Feature Writing with Recipes for the collaborative Esquire article “How Men Eat.” His memoir, The Man Who Couldn’t Eat, is based on an acclaimed article of the same name that he wrote for Esquire in 2009. He lives in New York City with his wife and two children.

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    Reviews for The Man Who Couldn't Eat

    3/5

    3 ratings4 reviews

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    • 1/5
      I wanted to read it, but I couldn't get past the first ten pages. The writing itself is much too stream of consciousness for my taste, and, as other reviewers have mentioned, the author just whines, whines, whines. I couldn't bring myself to pick it up a second time, much less even attempt to finish it.
    • 4/5
      The Man Who Couldn't Eat is Jon Reiner's candid memoir about living with Crohn?s disease. Jon, like most of us, loves food. Yet as he lives with this illness, his life is changed in many ways and the wrong foods can be his body's worst enemy. Amazingly Jon has gone several months without food or water. He was hooked up to an IV in a hospital room when his intestines burst while he was home alone. When he was finally able to leave the hospital, he was still unable to eat and was fed intravenously. The agony of his situation is really unbelievable. I think taking food away is torture not only for the body, but for the mind as well. Food is comforting. I was shocked and very much moved as I read Jon's story. As you read, Jon takes you back and forth from current day, to his childhood, and throughout different events in his life. You get to see the connection he has with certain foods, like most of us have. He is a great storyteller and as I read his story I was totally swept in. He describes food and the way it ties in with culture really well. In between living with this painful illness, Jon has to balance his family life. Crohn?s disease has made him a stay at home dad. His wife works while he cares for the children, yet when his intestines burst, he actually found the strength to call someone to pick up the kids from school for him that day. His descriptions of the pain and the procedures he has gone through were really heart wrenching and had me gasping in shock. Crohn?s disease does not have a cure, yet Jon doesn't feel sorry for himself, he doesn't ask for pity, he tells his story candidly and I found this to be an inspirational memoir. I teared up as he speaks about his young children and their reactions his being sick. While reading, I felt like not only is Jon a survivor, but so are his children and his wife. Jon's story reminds you not to take anything for granted. I recommend reading The Man Who Couldn't Eat, but make sure to have a box of tissues handy. Special thanks to Lisa over at BookSparks for my review copy.
    • 4/5
      As a self-professed “foodie” struggling with managing what, and how much, goes into my mouth the title alone made this book irresistible. Not being able to eat is a concept that I find incomprehensible. Mr. Reiner’s narrative made me understand, with gritty clarity, what it must be like not to be allowed to eat.

      We meet Mr. Reiner as he is writhing on the floor of his NYC apartment suffering from a serious complication to his Crohn’s disease. Delirious with pain he slips in and out of consciousness. While he is blissfully passed out his mind takes the reader along on a trip down his personal “food memory lane”. As for many of us food was not just a substance to keep us nourished and alive but also a memory of both good and bad times, celebrations and family traditions. Let’s face it, is there one monumental event in life that is not celebrated, in some way, with food? Hours later, when he awakens in the hospital we take another journey with him … the journey of being NPO (allowed nothing by mouth).

      Mr. Reiner spares the reader the necessity of having an accompanying medical dictionary, giving only enough details to make his condition understandable. However, the same sparing of details does not apply to his description of what it is like to receive all nutrition intravenously for the better part of a year. Food, or lack thereof, impacts every area of his life from his marriage, his children, his friends and neighbors all the way through to his own self worth. Mr. Reiner writes as if he is talking to you alone and that makes his memoir seem more personal and more harrowing at the same time. Not the kind of book I would usually pick up but very glad I did.
    • 4/5
      The Man Who Couldn't Eat is the story of Jon Reiner, a man living with Chron's Disease. Complications from this disease lead to several months of Mr. Reiner not being able to eat or drink, and to the necessity that all nutrients be pumped directly into his blood stream. As you might imagine, he became a bit unhinged and his wife, children and career suffered.The author is certainly gifted and he made even the most technical explanations easily understandable and mostly interesting. The story is an engrossing one (emphasis on the gross), and it certainly held my attention.I'm not sure how broad the appeal for this book is. Would I recommend it to a friend? I guess that depends on the friend, mostly because it's just a super depressing book. The worst part for me was when Mr. Reiner was finally able to eat again, only to discover that his taste buds had died and he couldn't taste anything.Overall, I would say that if the premise of this book sounds interesting to you, then you'll enjoy the book, but, while the writing is excellent, it isn't quite such a compelling story that it would interest someone despite their initial misgivings.P.S. The FTC would like me to let you know that I received this book at no cost through an Early Reviewers program.