Rating: 
Summary: Yes, that's what it's like - but what now?
Review: The reviews of "Wasted" that I have read so far have been totally depressing - there seems to be some false correlation between having been ill enough, thin enough, and being as "good" as Marya Hornbacher. Having "been there" does not necessarily make you a good writer - being able to "express it" is a lot easier when you're still ill. Sorry for using so many inverted commas - there's just such a lot of deception and incertainty in Hornbacher's reviews. Hornbacher has written a book "in order to stop anyone going where I did" (cos it was so extreme, one assumes) yet she offers no alternatives. Okay, other books (LifeSize, Best Little Girl in the World, Second Star to the Right) don't either, but Hornbacher mocks such works (Levenkron's in particular) whilst offering nothing more. What happens afterwards? Hornbacher hasn't a clue because she hasn't got that far. The most important point is - she isn't that good as a writer. She has shock value, nothing more. Get above it.
Rating: 
Summary: A Reality Check
Review: Marya shows every reader how it is really like to have an eating disorder. Many people believe that the ordeal is fun and graceful but she shows that it really puts you in a horrible place.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful book
Review: i love marya hornbacher's book "wasted", it is so easy for me to relate to and understand her battles with anorexia and bulimia. in the bad times of my eating disorder, this book has been my "bible" of sorts - which could be a bad thing, it is triggering if you're in a vulnerable place. but in the not-so-bad times, i've found this book to give me hope and knowledge that i'm not alone in my struggle. i think this is a great autobiography of a woman who battled anorexia and bulimia and found the strength to fight them and find recovery.
Rating:
Summary: amazing
Review: there isn't much for me to say-- marya's book is beautiful and brutal. i cry every time i read it and see myself so many times in her words. she shows eating disorders for what they are: diseases, addictions, and never-ending dances with your own self-hatred.
Rating:
Summary: Revealing and Insightful
Review: I have read several books dealing with eating disorders. This book comes the closest to what it feels like living with an eating disorder. I have read the book five times. I have been anorexic for a long time and hospitalized twice within the past six months. I am a Registered Nurse. Many times I felt like I was completely alone and going crazy. This book helped me to realize there are many others having these feelings and thoughts. I read passaages to my husband and doctor hoping they could gain better insight into this illness. Mayra Hornbacher is a very talented writer. I would recommend this book to anyone suffering with an eating disorder.
Rating: 
Summary: Brutally honest - up to a point.
Review: One of the things I found disturbing about this book is that while Marya Hornbacher is very open and honest when describing the symptoms of her illness, she is not equally honest about why she chose (consciously or unconsciously) to remain ill for so long. If people do what works, then what's the payoff she got (and, apparently, still gets) from being ill? Reading the book and the Amazon.com article, I got the impression that, although she doesn't admit it, Hornbacher is still in love with being ill, still addicted to being the center of attention, to all the drama surrounding a serious illness. It's as if she finds the idea of 'wasting away' and having 'a dramatically shortened life span' romantic - this is particularly evident in the part of the book where she writes about dying before her husband.I felt as if I'd aged years by the time I finished this book - it is both depressing and disturbing, which, obviously, I expected it to be, given the subject matter. But what kept me reading was the hope that, after describing the symptoms of anorexia and bulimia in minute detail, Hornbacher would eventually get around to describing her recovery process as well. Instead, what I had expected to be the turning point of the book turned out to be the end. If she wanted this book to help other anorexics and bulimics, why cheat them out of witnessing her recovery process? (And yes, I am aware that Hornbacher does not consider herself fully recovered, but still.) I know rituals are an important part of anorexia and bulimia, but I think Hornbacher spent too much time on the 'hows' (symptoms) and not enough time on the 'whys' (causes). I mean, you'd have to have been living under a rock for the last ten years to not be familiar with the symptoms of anorexia and bulimia. Eating disorders have been described in both books and magazine articles for years, so I don't see why Hornbacher chose allot so much space to detailed accounts of every last binge and purge episode. I had read several fictionalized accounts of anorexia/bulimia before I came across this book (The Best Little Girl in the World, The Hunger Point & Life Size), and they all frustrated me for the same reason Wasted did - lots and lots of 'hows', precious few 'whys' - on the whole, not very enlightening.
Rating:
Summary: Words don't keep you warm
Review: I recovered from anorexia and there are times when I miss it more than anything. I feel empty inside when I see anorexic women on the street or at the gym. I feel pangs of regret that no one who has met me over the past two years knows just how ill I once was. I feel ashamed when I return to my home town, knowing that people will barely recognize me. Sometimes I just feel depressed and alone, wondering where my goals have gone. Anorexia absorbs you so completely, you never stop to wonder who you are, what you're doing, whether anything about you counts other than your weight. In this way, it's an easy way of life. It's a ready-made identity and once you try to step beyond it, you feel like you're such a non-person, as though without the definition of bones you might as well be invisible. Marya Hornbacher seems to me to be fighting like mad to reaffirm her anorexic identity through her writing. Whilst she often (very effectively) uses sarcasm to try and mock the beliefs and aspirations of her anorexic self, overall she gives the impression of still being in awe at her own antics. Am I just jealous? Well, it is fair to say that I became underweight for the first time in 2 years after reading this book. Was I not as "good" as her? The very fact that this can be seen as a significant question is just part of the problem. I have spent a long time devouring books on anorexia and whatever line they take, I have always found them triggering. Even Eating Disorders Support newsletters used to thrill me. Since recovery, since I started to find out who I really was, I have never found a book that could satisfy me in any other way and "Wasted" is no different. You can get better but you mourn for anorexia, then slowly the living truly begins. No one, certainly not Hornbacher, seems able to deal with this transition. Do you have to still be feeling it to be able to express it? Recovery is a real fight but it is possible to pass through a kind of vanishing point after which you realize that you could never become seriously anorexic again. Once you cannot escape from the knowledge that starvation simply doesn't work, you have to go forwards, even though at times you don't even want to. Maybe one day Hornbacher will realize this and stop writing herself into an early grave.
Rating:
Summary: Active Anorexics/ Bulimics HOLD OFF untill stabilized
Review: I read this book several times when it first came out- obessively "digesting" each word and detailed description of every behavior, delusion, and of course the starved body descriptions. I am a recovering anorexic and have been hospitalized 5 times- and while in the depths of my illness this book served as a suffering friend, a goal to match (or beat), and a nightmarish mirror. During one particular hospital stay- this book swept the unit, and we all became focused on that "magical" 52 lbs.-- while we should have been focused on batteling our own eating disorders. I can say now that, in recovery and at a "normal" weight, this book has a different meaning for me now-- a look back, an understanding- rather than another ruler in which to measure oneself. Bottom line-- wonderful powerful true true book--- but please PLEASE read when STABILIZED.
Rating: 
Summary: Probably an accurate description of the life of an anoretic
Review: My sister, who is now in her 40s, struggled with anorexia for about 15 years. Like Marya, at some point, she just got better. She attributes a "cave man" diet for her recovery, but like Marya, I wonder if she just kind of grew out of it. Back then, no one really knew how to treat anorexia, and the blame was pretty much placed on the family situation. I wish that this book had been written back then,as I see so much of what Marya was doing in my sister's habits - like mixing all of the food in the house together and eating it and binging. I might have understood her a little better. This is a riveting account of what I can vouch for, second hand, at least,is a very accurate account of anorexic/bulimic behavior.
Rating:
Summary: will leave it's mark on your soul
Review: As an ED survivor this book reached in, and seared my soul. A must read for anyone with an ED or close to someone with an ED! A must read for anyone who is looking to be moved at the very base of their being. Buy this book you will not be dissapointed. I can not say enough good about this book.
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