TO THE LAST GRAM

A teenager struggles with eating disorders in a multicultural Singaporean setting.

Divya Joshi, who’s Indian, has grown up in a loving household with no dietary restrictions and has caring friends. But repeatedly experiencing rejection for her size drives her to desire not only to resemble her thin, East Asian–presenting classmates but to be accepted by them. She even tries straightening her curly hair to resemble their “silky straight locks.” For her 17th birthday, Divya asks for a treadmill. Intense exercise and conscious food choices lead to substantial weight loss—but in public she’s still self-conscious. After a Diwali celebration involving indulgent eating and praise from guests about her thinness, Divya descends into obsessive calorie counting. She loses mental clarity and half her body weight, isolates herself from friends, and realizes she hasn’t had her period in nearly two years. Her family members stay by her side, struggling to understand—and when she tells them she may have anorexia, they take her to an eating disorder clinic, where she receives help, including antidepressants. Her recovery is complex and nonlinear, but eventually Divya unlearns her own conditioning and embraces a life unrestrained by disordered eating. Divya’s narration is candid and solid—and when her words falter, Wong’s illustrations, in browns, oranges, and white, fill in the gaps and have a powerful effect. The surreal, sometimes dreamlike artwork captures the irrational thinking that accompanies these disorders and renders them tangible.

Visceral and unflinching.