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The Rush and the Risk: Talking Novelistic Nonfiction with Christine O’Brien — Story Makers Podcast

“Today we talk with Christine O’Brien about her wonderful new memoir CRAVE. We tackle the challenges and techniques of shaping a memoir, applying formal structure to memory. Structure can also be a way to take risks and explore, if you can avoid perfectionism. What is it like to keep creating new work while juggling the promotion and publicity for your debut? What is it like to receive praise and notice in the literary world? Chris takes us on her journey into publication as she also discusses writing her next book.” Read more…

Memoirist Christine O’Brien’s ‘Crave’ uncovers all kinds of yearnings — East Bay Times & The Mercury News

“The Walnut Creek author’s newly published Crave: A Memoir of Food and Longing details in poignant prose a childhood both shuttered from normality, yet in the spotlight. She grew up in New York City’s most iconic celebrity-laden apartment building, the Dakota, on Central Park West. Her famous neighbors included Leonard Bernstein and Lauren Bacall, who gave out Tootsie-Pops at Halloween.” Read more…

Five Questions or Christine O’Brien in Diablo Magazine

“In her new book, Crave: A Memoir of Food and Longing, Walnut Creek resident Christine O’Brien, a lecturer at Saint Mary’s College of California, recounts her unusual childhood with an angry, powerful father—he created ABC’s Wide World of Sports—and a mother who imposed a stringent food regimen on the family (meals included blended salad, celery juice, nuts, and raw egg yolks). Here, O’Brien discusses the value of balance and opening up about her painful past.” Read more…

Author Christine O’Brien Featured on Dr. Oz

Christine Sherick O’Brien featured on the Dr. Oz show on January 10, 2019 to discuss her book.

CRAVE featured in The New York Times

“…one version of a 20th-century fairy tale… O’Brien describes her unusual childhood with loving generosity.” Read more…

CRAVE featured in Publishers Weekly

“In this emotionally fraught memoir, O’Brien writes of growing up following an unorthodox and rigid dietary routine enforced by her mother, a former Miss Missouri. After suffering for years from a variety of undiagnosed medical issues, O’Brien’s mother treated herself with food restrictions instead of medicine, consuming various concoctions of yeast, vitamins, and enzymes. She eventually put the entire family—O’Brien, her three brothers, and her television executive father—on “the Program,” which consisted of “celery juice, blended salad, steamed vegetables, and rice.” Read more…

CRAVE featured in Macmillan’s Library Marketing Nonfiction Roundup

“A memoir of a life spent struggling with food—from water fasts to late night binges—and the lifelong journey to find balance.” Read more…

Q&A with Christine O’Brien on Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb

Q: At what point did you decide to write this memoir, and how long did it take you to write it?

A: My first impulse is to answer this question by saying that I’ve been writing about my life since I was 9 and begged my mother to buy me a very ugly little green diary with gold-edged pages and a lock and key attached. I’ve always had the desire to record my life’s events… Read more…

CRAVE featured in Liz and Lisa’s BEST BOOK OF THE MONTH: NOVEMBER EDITION

CRAVE featured in Women.com’s 8 Books to Read This November 2018

“Christine S. O’Brien details her offbeat childhood in this new November release. O’Brien weaves trauma, disfunction, and food into a cohesive story about her mother, a woman who became obsessed with a diet that was dangerous and reckless, and one she passed onto her children. With chaos at home, O’Brien craved stability, family, and food. After all, hunger comes it many forms.” Read more…

CRAVE featured in Hello Giggle’s Books coming out this week

“When Christine O’Brien was a kid, her mother fed their family a strict dietary regimen called “The Program,” consisting mostly of celery juice and blended salads. After eating this way for years, Christine developed her own cravings. And not just for food, but for family, a balanced life, and the words to describe her hunger. Read about them in her compelling memoir, aptly titled Crave.” Read more…

CRAVE featured in Bustle’s ‘Becoming’ By Michelle Obama & 11 Nonfiction Books To Know This November

“A childhood spent following her mother’s ‘healthy’ diets led Christine S. O’Brien to write Crave: A Memoir of Food and Longing. She chronicles the years she spent following these restrictive diets, dealing with a hunger for food, belonging, accepting, and more from her family.” Read more…

CRAVE featured in Lit Hub’s Fall Preview

“This is a memoir of a youth ruled by a mother obsessed with healthy eating, and then something on the far side of healthy eating, which she called ‘The Program,’ which left O’Brien hungry for years—but filled with some very unhealthy guilt.” Read more…