Decode your taste →

Books like The art of starving

The art of starving by Sam J. Miller reads as dark, intense. These 12 books share its genome — matched by how they actually read, not just their shelf label.

What The art of starving is like to read

A harrowing first-person descent into a bullied gay teen's eating disorder, reframed as a dangerous fantasy of superpowers earned through starvation. The unreliable clarity of hunger drives the propulsion, while the search for what happened to his sister gives it a mystery spine. Best for: readers who want unflinching queer YA about eating disorders with a speculative edge.

Wilder Girls cover
Wilder Girls
Rory Power · 2019
A quarantined island school where girls' bodies are mutating in grotesque ways — atmospheric body horror driven by a fierce search for a missing friend.
intensely scaryYAdeep cut
A Monster Calls cover
A Monster Calls
Patrick Ness · 2011
A grief-soaked story of a boy facing his mother's terminal illness, with a monster arriving where no human comfort can reach.
creepy, not goryYAcomplete story
Into the Grey cover
Into the Grey
Celine Kiernan · 2011
A teenage boy races against time to wrest his twin brother back from a possessing ghost — a supernatural family drama with sibling bonds at its core.
creepy, not goryYAdeep cut
Half Bad cover
Half Bad
Sally Green · 2014
A dark YA fantasy about a boy caged for the sins of his father, racing a birthday deadline to claim his powers before madness takes him.
creepy, not goryYAcliffhanger
The five stages of Andrew Brawley cover
The five stages of Andrew Brawley
Shaun David Hutchinson · 2015
Both explore grief
Looking at the stars cover
Looking at the stars
Jo Cotterill · 2014
Both explore grief & mental health
Thirteen reasons why cover
Thirteen reasons why
Jay Asher · 2007
A propulsive dual-narrative built around cassette tapes that unspool one classmate's suicide note in real time — intimate, accusatory, and emotionally punishing, with Clay's night-
YAcomplete story
Life cover
Life
Mal Peet · 2011
Both explore grief
A Madness So Discreet cover
A Madness So Discreet
Mindy McGinnis · 2015
Same ya feel
The dead I know cover
The dead I know
Scot Gardner · 2011
Both explore grief
Challenger Deep cover
Challenger Deep
Neal Shusterman · 2015
An unsettling, fragmented descent into a teenager's psychotic break, told through a surreal shipboard allegory intercut with grounded reality — disorienting by design, emotionally raw rather than plot-driven.
YAcomplete storydeep cut
Twisted cover
Twisted
Laurie Halse Anderson · 2007
A closely-observed, wry-but-anxious first-person account of a teen boy unraveling under family pressure and social fallout, funny in flashes but building toward real dread.
YAcomplete storydeep cut

About The art of starving — what the genome says

Is The art of starving a complete story or a cliffhanger?

It's a complete, standalone-satisfying story.

How scary is The art of starving?

Creepy and atmospheric rather than gory or traumatizing.

Who is The art of starving for?

It's young adult — teen protagonists with crossover appeal.

Find your next read by its genome

Tell Novelome one book you love — get recommendations tuned to your taste, including the ones other sites never surface.

Start free →
More readalikes: Books like THE LET THEM THEORY · Books like EXTREME OWNERSHIP · Books like WINGS OF STARLIGHT · Books like DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU THINK, EXPANDED EDITION · Books like I WILL TEACH YOU TO BE RICH, SECOND EDITION · Books like FAKE SKATING · Books like THE CREATIVE ACT · Books like IF ONLY I HAD TOLD HER