The Man Who Couldn't Eat

Live To Read

The memoir opens with Reiner telling the reader a little bit of background about himself. He is a glutton in a greyhound's body. He has to live in a self-imposed exile from many of the foods he enjoys eating. He lets the reader in on the pain he experiences due to Crohn's. His own kids must eat healthy due to his fear of passing on the disease to his children compounded by the fact that his wife has diabetes in her family. He goes on to tell the reality of living with Crohn's disease. The reader will be taken through a very detailed account, he holds nothing back.


The memoir is told from Jon's point of view, it really adds to the book. The opinions of his children, wife, and friends are less subtle, but the are in the book and help the reader to form his/her own opinion on Crohn's from different viewpoints. The events range from excruciatingly painful (when he is having an attack) to mildly painful (when he attempts to eat light and follows an extremely restrictive diet). The idea of Crohn's disease is awful to those of us who never experience it, but it is rare to receive a first-hand account; Crohn's will become much more real to the reader. This memoir is recommended to readers who enjoy nonfiction, reality, diet books.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Read it and eat!

I have been a vegetarian since the age of 10 and have never, until reading "The Man Who Couldn't Eat" craved hot pastrami on rye. Now I can't get the image out of my head. Jon Reiner writes about pastrami (and dried apricots and french fries) with such detailed reverence that I had to snack throughout the entire read. But, beyond food, about which he writes with such exquisitely luscious detail (I swear I packed on a couple of pounds during my "can't put the book down" session), this is a book about the truly big things in life that feed us. This is a book about strangers, friends and family, about New York City, history and memories, about children, about wise women and about Crohn's disease. Ultimately, "The Man Who Couldn't Eat" is a strange and delicious recipe that will remind you of the really important ingredients in life. I was definitely inspired and will count calories in an entirely different manner from this point forward.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

A Must Read Journey to Recovery

I couldn't put this down. Reiner has an extraordinary writing style that takes the reader through a horrific experience, masterfully told with deep human insight, poignancy and laugh out loud humor. Reiner's descriptions of his (and maybe your own) favorite foods will make you long for their glorious tastes. His ability to connect food with our social existence is both clever and original. You'll be aghast and compelled to see what happens next, all the while rooting for the physical and psychological recovery of Reiner and his precious family.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Page turner- a MUST-READ for all!

I absolutely love reading a good memoir and this book was by far one of the most intriguing, captivating, well-written, laugh out loud funny, heartfelt, heartbreaking books (memoir or otherwise) I've read all year. I found myself so engrossed in the story of THE MAN WHO COULDN'T EAT - and it's so much more than a food memoir. It's also about marriage, health, survival, family, parenting, wellness, illness, life, tragedy, recovery, desire - desire for more, for food, for life. I absolutely adored Jon Reiner's writing style and cannot believe this is his first book - he's a seasoned writer, a captivating, witty and genius storyteller. This is THE must-read memoir of the year, THE must-read book of the year and you will not be disappointed - readers of all types (men, women, fiction, non-fiction) will devour this gem and still have an appetite for more. Well worth your time to get lost in this hard to believe, impossible to put down book.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Interesting...

A very interesting story - I would recommend for those who can relate to having chronic medical problems. It didnt keep me on the edge of my chair - but a very well-written book.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A Fabulous Story of Hope

I highly recommend this book. Jon Reiner is an amazing story teller. He takes something that most of us would consider impossible - going without food or water for a full 3 months to help cure a gastro-intestinal medical emergency - and makes it come to life in his page-turning memoir. He openly discusses his medical condition, and how his doctors (all leaders in their field) were often stymied by his case. No one has a magic cure for his problem, and much of what they prescribe is a best guess. He needs to find meaning in his experience, and fortunately he does. Despite the dire frustration he shares, and the crazy things he does in his deepest moments, he is able to instill humor and humanity to his experience which makes this book widely appealing. For anyone who has been at the depths of a serious illness, or who has known anyone at the depths of a serious illness, this is the ultimate story of hope.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Kritters Ramblings

What an interesting read. After reading the book, I am still asking myself questions. How often does my day center around food? How many times a week do I schedule visits with friends and family where food is the main decision?

The reader meets Jon Reiner, a husband and father of two young boys who has been battling Crohn's disease for more than 20 years. With Crohn's disease being an illness that does not have a cure, but with changing a lifestyle you can live with the disease, I would still call it a terminal illness. As we meet him, he has been struck down by the disease and is fighting for his life. I appreciated where he started this book, so right from the start you are in the heart of his story and are enveloped into his world.

The part of the story that struck me the most was seeing the impact that his disease and health have and had on both his wife and two boys. Sometimes I don't think we realize that our status can absolutely affect those around us both in positive and negative ways.

A book that takes you behind the scenes of a family that as a whole must overcome this disease and learn to live a life without food as a center.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A story about hunger you will savor like a box of Belgian chocolates.

Whether you are like the author, a Crohn's disease survivor, or have never even heard of this rotten autoimmune disorder.... Reiner's story will take you on a journey you will be swept up into, and deeply moved by. This book could have been unbearably depressing, but instead, it is sharp & hilarious. (Meaning, you will enjoy many out-loud laughs, in between gasps & tears.) This book came to me when I too, was trapped at home, too ill to work, and I savored the pages like sips of a fine wine.
But this story moves way beyond the tale of a critically ill man, it deals head-on with the complicated way that illness affects the rest of the people involved when disease takes over. In his reflections of his terrifying acute medical episode, Reiner is able to step outside of his own fear & misery, and write also about the effect that that time had on his wife, children, friends & community of neighbors.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Funny, smart, and leaving you with a strong desire for NYC deli!

The Man Who Couldn't Eat is a really fabulous memoir. Jon Reiner is funny, informative, and smart - causing the reader to mull over important issues ranging from healthcare to Western medicine to marriage and kids. This book is a real page-turner, and in the end, the reader will either want to head to NYC for some great deli, or learn to make miso soup!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Anyone familiar with food restrictions should read this book!

I have an eight year-old son who has multiple anaphylactic food allergies and since his diagnosis seven years ago, my entire family of four has been challenged by his restricted diet. Each of us thinks differently about food, family, love celebrations and rituals. Jon Reiner brilliantly describes the universal problems of a restricted diet. I was compelled by Jon Reiner's narration of the shared stresses of his health condition and his candid descriptions of his son's reaction to his agonizing and absolute food abstinence. The Man Who Couldn't Eat book is now "shelved" in my head as one that my son might read when he is older. There is nothing better than learning through a well-told story. In The Man Who couldn't eat I learned about Crohn's Disease in the best way possible - firsthand and from an author who teaches yet more about food, health and happiness.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Everyone should read this book!!

Love food? Been sick or thought you've been through a tough time? Have you been to New York, Maine, even Indiana? Please read this book. The journey Reiner endured is tough - but he survived. Learn how and you may even do a little less complaining yourself. Towards the end of the book Reiner touched on big pharma and healthcare in the United States...topics that need more exposure - hopefully he will take us there.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Must Read For Those Who Can Eat!

Reiner writes a candid and courageous memoir about personal and family crises during his near death experience, which placed him on NPO (nothing by mouth) for three months. His poignant memoir reminds us food is not only about sustenance, it is about our relationships, dreams, culture, memories and hope. Like the author's family, my family sits down to a home cooked dinner together almost daily. Over the warmth of a braised pot roast or the tangy citrus smell of chicken piccata, we share our stories. In fact, my 8 year old will provide unsolicited tales of friends, school and his dreams - which I'm sure he would not volunteer otherwise. To be isolated from this, as Reiner was, is devastating. Reiner's vivid accounts of his isolation juxtaposed with his memories of food intertwined with family remind us that what and with whom we eat (and cook) will mold our memories forever. For me, the smell of cutting into a juicy orange brings me right back to my grandmother's kitchen when I was five - - I remember the smell and her love as if it was yesterday, but can hardly recall my grandmother's face. After reading Reiner's book, you will never forget the power of food nor will you ever take it for granted. Well done, Mr. Reiner.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

My Darling, My Hamburger

Disease. Deprivation. Desire. Disconsolation.
Downer? Defiantly not.

The Man Who Couldn't Eat chronicles Jon Reiner's sudden descent into (and faltering emergence from) a near-fatal and complication-fraught episode of Crohn's disease, for which the optimal treatment is a form of starvation called NPO - no oral intake of solids or liquids for three months. In the inverted reality he comes to inhabit - and which inhabits him - normal nourishment is the enemy.

How does he manage an existence defined by absence and abstinence? Reiner responds to his forced anorexia with insatiable longings and a lifetime's worth of deliriously detailed, rapid-fire, food-centric acid-flashbacks that prompt him to examine what it is to be alive while prohibited from that most essential social and self-sustaining act of eating. His first hot pastrami, dried apricots, New England lobster rolls. Reiner wrings improbable pleasure and poignancy even from the memory of inedible Thanksgiving chestnuts.

Proust and his petites madeleines have nothing on The Man Who Couldn't Eat.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Okay

Interesting insight into chronic illness and the effect on the personal, professional and daily life. A bit exhausting verbose in length and endless description of illness, but this added to the sense person experiencing disease process has of "will this ever end?"

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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