Rating: 
Summary: Please
Review: There is no way in haydes this was really written by an 11 year old. It's so contrived it reeks.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining if not helpful
Review: I appreciate this book for the way it is written (it really is Gottlieb's childhood journal and she was a smart, funny kid) but I'm not sure it's a valuable account of anorexia. She felt pressure to be thin so she stopped eating. Then she realized it was wrong and started again. If this was really all there was to anorexia, if one could just decide logically to stop it, people wouldn't die of it. Just the same, there are worse ways to spend an evening than reading this. More interesting than her anorexia is her insight into how American women treat men like infants.
Rating: 
Summary: How can you take this seriously?
Review: I though this book was enjoyable enough to read, but, as someone who has had a serious eating disorder fora long time, I could not relate. I felt she makes a joke of it. And it seems like she became anorexic overnight and her recovery was just as fast. She has a great sense of humor and the book was definitely easy to read, but I had a hard time taking her seriously. I even questioned whether this book was supposed to be a true story or not.
Rating: 
Summary: STICK FIGURE: An Awesome Read
Review: Most books about eating disorders are usually written from the perspective of one who has lived through an eating disorder. What makes STICK FIGURE so telling is that the reader is exposed to 11 year old Lori's anorexia not in retrospect, but as she lives it and documents it in the form of a journal. Perhaps the most compelling aspect of Lori's story is that it is written through the eyes of an 11 year struggling to make sense of our cultures inconsistent attitudes toward men, women, and image. While Lori is being bombarded by these contradictions from her image conscience mother and her peers, her fear of growing fat manifests itself in the form of anorexia. Written with amazing insight and innocence, STICK FIGURE is often wry and humorous. What is most amazing about this book is it allows us to view the scary messages we send young girls everyday about food and body image. This book is awesome and I highly encourage everyone to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Trite, Surfacy, and a Bore
Review: As a former anoretic I found the off-handed, immature approach to the disease insulting. It makes anoretics appear shallow, stupid, and sarcastically trivial. I absolutely could not relate to the experience of the author. Yes, she makes some stabs at dry humor throughout, but it only makes her careless treatment of the disease all the more distasteful. To truly relate to the heart of an anoretic, read Wasted by Marya Hornbacher.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Fabulous!
Review: I may be 31 years old, but reading Lori's diaries brought me right back to age 11, when I thought I was smarter and saner than the adults around me but secretly felt as Lori says, "like a moron" verging on insanity. I heard the author on a radio show (hilariously funny but insightful comments about her dieting 20 and 30-something friends, trying on clothes in dressing rooms, going to lunch with a group of women, ridiculous ways that women "compare" their bodies to other women's bodies) and bought the book because I know someone who's been on a dangerous diet for years, and I thought it would give me some insight into her. Instead, Lori's diaries gave me insight into ME -- back then, but also now, as an adult. What's most fascinating about these diaries is that they cover so much ground: the trenches of an eating disorder, an examination of the way women view their bodies (why is it always "not good enough" or "too fat"?) and themselves ("not good enough"), incredibly painful (and bittersweet and funny) entries about teenage angst and confusion, well-meaning but clueless parents and family members, hospital and medical attempts at dealing with what seems more to be a societal issue (or at least an emotional one), and more. Lori at 11 reminds me of the girl in the television series "Absolutely Fabulous" -- precocious, brainy, but also vulnerable and witty and someone who makes you laugh and cry and think about life from a totally unique perspective that you realize later is also your own -- you've just been too afraid to say it! This is one of the most compelling books I've read in a long time -- and the BEST of all the journals/diaries I've read (most seem so fake, and these - the language, emotions, inconsistencies, immediacy, impulsiveness, wandering tangential comments - even if they've been edited, are clearly the real deal. To anyone who might think this is a kid's book - buy it for all your ADULT WOMEN friends. I did, and we're all STILL talking about it!
Rating:
Summary: maybe a good read, if you are 10 years old
Review: I was really excited about reading this book, being a former anoretic myself and reading all the reviews that claimed it was a great read but I have to say I was very disappointed! I thought the book was rather repetitive and did not manage to keep me interested, maybe because it talks about kid stuff like boy-girl party and how dramatic everything is in her little 11 years old world. If you want to know about anorexia nervosa, read Wasted by Marya Hornbacker instead!
Rating:
Summary: Scary
Review: If anyone wondered how an eating disorder takes root, this is the book. All from the diaries of the author at age 11, one immediately realizes how intelligent she is and that no one could relate appropriately. Lori takes us on a journey of growing up misunderstood and how she just wanted to fit in and be loved. One can understand how she embraced anorexia given her family's and societies' conflicting messages. Her mother sets the worst example in my opinion by "closet eating" and focusing so much on outer beauty. I wonder how her mother feels after reading this book. I know I was disturbed and saddened. However, Lori seems to have recovered and gone on to live a productive life. I am glad that she had the guts to share her painful memories so that we can learn from them.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: I highly recommend this book. As someone that has struggled with ED's for over ten years I could very much relate. I also think this would be an excellent book for anyone that has a daughter to read. Lori's feelings and descriptions are so dead-on when it comes to the mind of young girls (how quickly you seem to remember when reading). As it has been described before, it does read very much like a novel. An excellent choice!
Rating:
Summary: Stick Figure - a portrait of a desparate girl
Review: What would a girl growing up in Beverly Hills in 1978 wish for at her birthday party? This chess-playing, math-loving whiz of a kid wishes to be the thinnest girl at school, maybe even the planet! Lori is a brainy kid used to being cute to the adults in her life, except now they're calling her "different" & "unique". Now her school friends have turned their minds to the mush of makeup & boyfriends, what's a girl to do? Out shopping with her mother, Lori comes across a diary & starts on the journey of her life. In three seasons this healthy youngster starves herself to the very brink & through her admissions & omissions in her diary, the reader will also be drawn toward that edge. A lively, furious read! Fast, funny, fatuous & fearful by turns, Stick Figure is worth hunting up & grabbing. Not only is it a paean to journal writing(& I'm an evangelist for the examined life!), it is an engrossing exploration of the makings of an eating disorder which, back then, didn't have a name. NB. this diary has been expanded by the woman Lori did survive to become. This would make an excellent book for any girl around the age of 12 & for anyone older who has taken up dieting as a lifestyle. May I suggest you give a journal as well, it could save their life! Do check out my eInterview with this lively author.
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