Undone Does Little for EDs

I just read the book Undone by Karin Slaughter. I don't typically do genre crime novels, but I read a review of the book in a magazine and it mentioned that the plot features a serial killer that targets women with eating disorders. I was intrigued, and picked it up even though I hadn't read any of the previous books in the series. (Apparently Undone is actually a convergence, where the main characters from the authors two series meet and interact).

I have to admit, even though I'm not a big fan of slasher/cop mysteries, the book was well-written and the plot had good twists. The ED issue, however, was done horribly. All of the victims were middle-aged women (late thirties-ish) living in the Atlanta area that knew one another only through a pro-anorexia web forum. I won't give away the plot to explain how the killer found them and how they all turned out to be linked in real life.

Each of the women was portrayed as nothing but an anal caricature of an uber-bitch. None of them had any friends, and they were all hated by their co-workers. They were all foul-mouthed and caustic to everyone around them (except two were single mothers with young sons they were devoted to). And I don't mean they were friendless because they were too sick for social lives, they were friendless because no one could stand them. I will give away one point: one woman who survives (I won't say how many did, I hate spoilers and try to avoid giving them) has nothing but rancor and hatred for the cops and doctors that saved her life, constantly calling the detective "bitch" and the like while she is being interviewed after she's safe. Their homes are sterile and virtually un-lived in, they display no compassion or feelings toward other anorexics than competitiveness and disdain. They are all successful and wealthy, but it is hammered over and over that they have such self-absorbed, rude, insufferable personalities that no one can stand them.

Out of the 435 pages of the book, there is one paragraph that tries to back pedal a bit: one cop asks another if all anorexics are like that, and she tells him something to the effect of no, but the disease is more common in people that already have those personalities. It is presented weakly and unconvincingly, and then the Starving Bitch stereotype is continued for the rest of the book.

I thought the author missed a great opportunity to point out the dangers of pro-sites (the details of the forum are never discussed, apparently cops were never able to crack the women's passwords and get into the site), or to have some intelligent discussion of how EDs are not just a teen issue. She did point out how many EDers at non-critical weights can fly unnoticed by medical professionals who think they are just thin, but to someone unacquainted with eating disorders I'm not sure if that was demonstrated clearly enough to pick up on (it was assumed at first that the killer had starved them, and the women were all thin but not deathly emaciated, having kept their illness subclinical for decades).

I have heard enough ignorant jokes about anorexics to be a little bit sensitive to these things in the first place, but I read this book carefully and I don't think it's just me projecting my defensiveness, I truly do think she presents a biased and inaccurate portrait. Many of the EDers I've met have indeed been driven and ambitious, but NONE have exhibited the kind of cut-throat mentality and complete misanthropy of the characters in the book. Really, their personalities are absolutely reptilian.

(I take that back, I own a reptile, and he is calm and nonvenomous).

Anyway, if you want to read a crime novel, Slaughter is a good writer (what an ironic name for someone who writes murder mysteries, I wonder if it's a pseudonym?), but I had major, major problems with her portrayal of ED sufferers in this book. I think I am going to write her a letter, possibly with a link to this post.