Rating: 
Summary: Stick Figure Changes Minds
Review: 1978 Lori Gottlieb has a new perspective on life. Every year she wishes to be thiner, usually on her birthday. Now her wish kicks into reality! She starts to get very skinny, too skinny. She gets a disease called anorexia and her parents start to worry. Her life goes down hill from there. I love this book because it taught me a couple of lessons. Don't judge people on the outside, judge people on the inside, and never try to change yourself. For readers like myself that only like to read real, deep, sad books, I recomand this to you. A girl just like you that really hits rock bottom.
Rating:
Summary: As Amazing as "WASTED"!
Review: Because I struggled with an eating disorder in high school and college (I'm now in my mid-20s), I've read a lot of memoirs on this subject with particular interest. A friend who also recovered from anorexia recommended STICK FIGURE to me, saying, "You'll see yourself in this girl. And you'll LOVE her as much as you want to help her." What she meant wasn't just the very realistic depiction of obsession and distorted thinking that occurs with an eating disorder, but the fact that because these are real diaries, we see the whole girl, not someone looking back and talking only about how many hours it took to eat an apple. In other words, we see a girl who's funny and smart and as impossible as your average adolescent, who just HAPPENS to also be falling into a devastating illness. (I wonder what the author is like now -- she was HILARIOUS as a kid.)Most books about anorexics depict them as being incredibly controlling, compulsive, and monomanical about dieting - which they ARE - but that's usually ALL you see. Here, as in another great memoir, WASTED, you realize how complicated this illness can be. At times, Lori seems so "normal" -- even MORE "normal" than her friends and their dieting mothers. And you can really see how she's influenced by the attitudes around her, even though they don't "cause" her anorexia, they definitely contribute and add wry commentary on our media-driven culture. Most people gave this book five stars, and if I could give it six stars, I would! I TOTALLY disagree with the two people who thought the book didn't depict Lori's recovery realistically -- I LIVED her recovery and really related to the book's ending -- it isn't all neat and tidy. If they thought she saw herself in the mirror and suddenly ate again, then they clearly missed what was going on in Lori's mind. What's so compelling about this book is how subtle the messages are -- you're in the mind of an adolescent, you're reading her journals, and every line seems to have some significance without hitting you over the head with a profound "epiphany." Even for people who have no experience with eating disorders, I highly recommend this book. All the people in her life-- her parents, her brother, her friends, her teachers, her doctors -- actually make this a FUN book to read (tragic, too, obviously, but you'll laugh even as it's sad and frightening). The people in the book are "out there" yet so real at the same time (I think we had the same teachers!). It's not quite the Addams Family, but the Los Angeles family Lori grew up in isn't quite the Cleavers either. If you loved "Wasted," you'll love "Stick Figure." And you might even learn something -- about yourself, about eating disorders, about the confusion of being a female teenager, and about the ridiculous pressures of our society -- along the way. But mostly, you'll just want to read it over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: I can't describe it. I bought this book and finished it in 1 week, which is great for me. ;) I found myself thinking about the characters all day and couldn't wait to get home to read more of it!
MUST READ!!!
Rating: 
Summary: read Wasted instead
Review: I defer to a previous reviewer who stated, "This book was no more written by an 11-year-old than it was written by my Himalayan cat." This book sounds like an adult desperately trying to sound 11. I also found the book lacking in any real or useful substance. It's more like a Juvenile Fiction book--interesting while reading it, but ultimately forgettable. In absolutely no WAY is this book as "amazing as Wasted!" (by Marya Hornbacher)!! For an infinitely better book than "Stick Figure," I highly recommend "Diary of an Anorexic Girl" by Morgan Menzie. Really insightful, funny at times, and beautifully written.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but..
Review: I don't know what it was about this book but I just couldn't really relate to her which is kinda odd considering I have an ED. Maybe because she was so young? I'm not quite sure.. But that did take away from the book because I started reading it thinking it was a memoir type of deal and I found it hard to believe that this wasn't fiction *shrug* Weird I guess.. but overall the book was good. I guess it is kinda neat that they were diary entrys :) not many books are a diary. I don't know.. the ending bugged me as well. It seems she was just like "okay I'll get better" and she was. There was no sence of what was going to happen to her. I don't know. The way she ended it seemed like there would be no work involved to get better and the whole recovery part was just way too easy. I really want to give this book 3 1/2 stars but you can't do that.
My opinion.
Rating:
Summary: Almost a mockery.
Review: I have read many books on eating disorders. While I somewhat appreciated the lighter side of this book, as eating disorders are very serious issues, it almost seemed as though she was mocking people with eating disorders. That's just how it came across to me, and I'm not sure why. The story didn't seem to have a real ending- she shows no signs of complete recovery or destined to a life in hospitals. I feel like it was written just as a "me too" type of story- everyone wants credit for their own little story to share.
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: Not bad... But I wouldn't call it "Enlightening"
Review: I will admit that I read this book with guarded cynicism. From what I had heard, I was expecting to read a droning feminist tirade about the way society treats women and how girls are expected to hate their bodies, and how the average woman is size-14 but the average model is a 2. Surprisingly, these passages made their presence but did not overstate themselves; they were written more with compassion than with snooty criticism. The story is a memoir of Lori Gottlieb's struggle with anorexia at the young age of eleven. Lori attributes her illness to her growing up in Beverly Hills and the demands that the nearby movie-industry made on women. Lori begins to starve herself during a vacation to Washington D.C. after quarreling with her parents. She is impressed by the attention she receives from it, as well as her diminishing size, so she persists, and her condition becomes life-threatening and she is hospitalized. It is only after attempts at noncompliance and a vague suicide attempt, that Lori finally takes a good look at herself and realizes what she is doing. It dawns on her that you can never be happy even if you are thin because then you have to keep worrying that you will get fat or deal with the health consequences of not eating. Thus she paves her "road to recovery" I found this book to be rather shallow. There obviously was more to Lori's eating disorder than her simply choosing to stop eating one day. Yet Lori glosses over clear examples of her mother's disdain for her and seeming lack-of-affection, preferring to focus on her mother's poor body-image and the consequences of an L.A. upbringing instead. The author also repeatedly gave references to what an intelligent, precocious child she was and how persecuted she was for enjoying math; this got annoying after a while. Although it seems unlikely that Lori would decide to start eating so suddenly after a botched suicide attempt and without any set-backs, I will give her the benefit of doubt because the causes and cures for anorexia nervosa are mystifying. However, there did not seem to be any question that Lori might die in the first place. I can understand the author not desiring glamorize these high-profile disorders, but I feel there was too much humor and sarcasm and not enough evidence of genuine medical danger. While this book has clear weaknesses, it also has definite strengths. Contrary to other beliefs, Lori is living proof that a complete reversal of anorexia is possible. More than twenty years later, she has now moved past that stage in her life and is a medical student at Stanford University. She writes with hope and compassion, avoiding criticism. There is little blaming of anyone in particular for Lori's eating disorder, so it is left to the reader to interpret.The story is well-paced and entertaining without becoming grim. Overall, STICK FIGURE: A DIARY OF MY FORMER SELF is an amusing tale with a funny and positive writing style, but it is not a book to treasure or seek genuine insight from.
Rating:
Summary: BETTER THAN "GIRL, INTERRUPTED"! AMAZING!
Review: I'd seen several rave reviews of this book in newspapers and on the Web, but some of them made it sound like it would be mostly about anorexia, and I've never had an eating disorder. I've read books like "Prozac Nation," a memoir about depression, even though I've never tried Prozac, and I read Kay Jamison's memoir of being a doctor with bipolar disorder (again, not my experience); and Lucy Grealey's memoir "Autobiography of a Face," even though I've never had cancer. But for some reason, I'd never read any autobiographies on anorexia that I related to...until I read this one! Like "Prozac Nation" and also "Girl, Interrupted," STICK FIGURE is incredibly witty, entertaining, heartbreaking, vulnerable, honest, and completely familiar somehow. We've all had those feelings of insecurity about how we look, we all want to be ourselves and also want to fit in with the "crowd," we want the boy to notice us but don't want to compromise our integrity by becoming "someone else" just so he'll like you. Gottlieb's diary entries (probably because they're what she wrote at the time) are so REAL, so VIVID, that it took me back to that time in my life when I was also trying to figure out who I was and often thought I was crazy if my ideas were different from my friends', parents', etc. All of the characters in the book -- from her teachers to her brother to her therapist to her friends at school -- were so accurately dissected with a child's insight and "say it like it is" attitude. I read that Martin Scorsese is making the movie, and with these characters and situations, I can see why. I actually wanted to know a little more about what happened after the book ended, but I liked that it ended sort of "up in the air" -- Gottlieb came a LONG WAY, and you hoped she'd keep on that path, but it left you in enough suspense that you didn't know for sure. Which is what makes this so real - the author didn't "sugar coat" anything for the sake of ensuring a happy ending. (If they're as fascinating as this volume, Ms. Gottlieb should publish her diaries from the next year too! ) I started reading some funny or touching sections to my friends, and I realized there's so much innocent yet incisive (and hilarious!) cultural observation and in each paragraph, that I need to read it again to catch everything. A book to have in your collection... and to pass on to your close friends!
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.
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