Rating: Summary: Amazingly Fascinating/Disturbing and Grounding Review: This woman has been through hell and back and back to hell and back again. She is an amazing writer with an incredibly sharp wit who grounds us all about the realities of anorexia/bulimia. She pulls no punches and tells it like it is all in eloquent prose and colorful descriptions. I especially loved her description of her childhood home which spoke of the colors sights and sounds...of the yellowness of the grass, of hearing adult parties going on long into the night past her bed time of trying to find her "mother's butt" in a crowd of party goers...all very visual stuff. But I digress, that's not the main point of the book. Regardless, I was still blown away by her writing. The main point of this book, to me, is actually how similar we all are, especially all of us women who suffer from perpetual insecurity and sporadic bouts of self hatred. It's all the same animal, it just manifests itself in different guises and intensities. Even though I have never had a serious eating disorder, I have had terrible bouts of depression and panic in my life and the things Marya said were very educational and eloquently put, especially regarding the recovery process and unmasking emotions once your disorder had been found out. I recommend this book to any insecure woman eating disorder or not!
Rating: Summary: AMAZING! Review: I've read nearly every eating disorder book out there and this is the most honest, candid, and involving book that exists. You are completely drawn in to Marya's world in this page-turner. It reads like a cross between a novel and a journal. Marya's amazing candor and no-holds barred approach gives the reader the best "inside look" into eating disorders that I've ever read. BUY IT! You will not be disappointed!
Rating: Summary: Strikingly sad, bitterly real Review: I dont remember how i picked up the book or what time it was 3 hours later when i put it down, finished. It's hard not to stare at the picture of the woman on the cover when you realize she is a miracle. In beautiful, poetry like prose, still capturing Marya's impeccable wit, but carrying with it the sadness of a woman four times her age, she lets us in on what she thought to once be the biggest secret of her life, a carefully guarded treasure of being NOT HUNGRY. EVER. Which was never really a secret to her at all, even when she was nine and throwing up behind her pigtails. Marya speaks with a voice of little girl hurt that cannot be denied even now. However she tempers the novel-like reading with quotes and interesting footnotes. Each chapter is begun by using dialect from Alice in Wonderland.........as Marya likens herself to Alice running further down the rabbit hole and seeing herself warped behind the looking glass. Full of memorable people, from her estranged parents to her wise behind her years boarding school roommate to her concerned but sarcastic doctors, "Wasted" is a story you can quickly forget is all too true. NOTE: as other people I know have found, as well as myself.....this book is definitely a trigger. I found myself wanting to starve/binge/and otherwise have bad eating habits the week of reading. What kept me from going back: the fact that the author highlights her current suffering of arrythmia, "sleeping" ovaries and certain early death.
Rating: Summary: Excellent. Review: This book should be in the collection of everyone who ever suffered an eating disorder or someone who has dealt with a sufferer. Marya is so candid and open in this book and you feel with her on the journey. She provides hope and inspiration. This is such a far cry from the typically dry, clinical self-help books on the market, often written by those who have never suffered.
Rating: Summary: Shows the hell of eating disorders...a Great, Honest Book Review: Like the author, I am struggling with an eating disorder. This book was excellent, and I saw myself in almost everything that she wrote. I gave this book to my friends in hope that they will get a better understanding of what I go through every day. I strongly recommend this book to parents, relatives, friends, and therapists of those with eating disorders. I don't really recommend this book to those WITH an eating disorder unless they are in recovery or are in some type of treatment. This is why: Hornbacher describes in detail her symptoms and the lenghths she went to keep them a secret. She also tells her unhealthy weights througout the book (I remember one being 52 pounds.) This might be triggering to those with eating disorders, as I found it to be. I kept on asking myself "Why can't I weigh 52 pounds? I should be able to!" which I know is unhealthy thinking thanks to the treatment I've recieved, but the voice is still there. So I caution girls with eating disorders who might want to read it, and if you do read it, it might be wise to discuss it with your therapist or parents. But it is a wonderfully written, honest account of the hell that is an eating disorder.
Rating: Summary: amazing....... Review: I own three copies of this book, Marya is strikingly intelligent, I can completely relate to everything she says, every thing I wanted to say about how I feel but didn't know how, this book is amazing I've read it about 100 times with my highlighter racing back and forth the entire time, it's a book you MUST read...!
Rating: Summary: The honest journey of an Eating Disorder Review: I am so sick of books that glamorize or somehow make eating disors some kind of victory. I know it is probably not meant but that is how it comes across to a fellow sufferer. Marya spares no words and is strong in her opinion. She doesn't tie or the book neatly nor does she glamorize what she does to her mind and body. I think this is a good read for with or without an ED. It might be a little triggering at points but for the most her honest and idea are so hard hitting that you don't get lost in the symptoms. Highly recommended. One of the best books I have read, certainly one of the best on this subject.
Rating: Summary: Wonderful book~ can be triggering Review: After reading many books on the subject of eating disorders, I found this book to be one of the best. Having suffered myself from an eating disorder for the past 12 years of my life, I can relate to Marya's mental anguish. However, if you are in recovery you must be careful when reading this book. I found this book to be triggering. At the same time, it was comforting knowing that I am not the only one who battles with the "voices" in my head. But the comfort this book provides could be detrimental to your recovery. Marya, if you read this review, I think you are incredibly brave to write your life story about your disorder. Kudos to you for getting the word out about how much an eating disorder destroys one's life! Good luck to you in the LONG recovery process!!
Rating: Summary: UGH Review: Am I the only person who found this young woman to be exceptionally hateful? Selfish, self-obsessed, and shrill! I had a hard time caring about her at all.
Rating: Summary: Saves Lives Review: This book is written in a way where even if you don't have an eating disorder, you could question. Meaning, it is written in a way where anyone can understand the torment that this woman went through and helps those that do not suffer understand why and how it can happen to anyone. It's truth and uncensored memories haunt you while you read, and this haunting can save people's lives that do suffer from anorexia and/or bulimia. It is written beautifully with words that flow through your mind with curiousity and sadness. I recommend it to anyone who has ever known someone with an eating disorder, suffers themselves, or just revels in fearless people who reveal their lives through literature in hopes to de-glamorize this concept of being thin.
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