Wasted : A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia

Rating:
Summary: Do NOT let sufferers read this book
Review: This is a well-written historical account of Ms. Hornbacher's anorexia and as such is a valuable addition to the literature. Do not, however, mistake it as a "helpful" source or guide for parents or sufferers in how to cope with the illness.

Though parents will gain an understanding of the internal thought processes that guide anorexic behavior, they will find nothing to help them with their children. If you're a parent of an anorexic, read this with care. Be sure you pick up a corrective such as Lock and Lagrange's "Help Your Teenager Beat an Eating Disorder".

Marya's book is well-known among those who treat ED and it is generally not recommended for sufferers. The specific concern is that it is full of helpful tips for anorexics to hide their weight loss and improve their "restricting" skills. The only book I've read so far that I would recommend (and have recommended) to an anorexic is "Life Without Ed: How One Woman Declared Independence from Her Eating Disorder and How You Can Too" by Jenni Schaefer.

Rating:
Summary: Every Woman Must Read This Book
Review: This book should be required reading for all teenage girls. Not only does the author chronicle her painful lifelong battle with eating disorders, offering us an inside look at the causes and motivations, but she also helps us to question our society's obsession with dieting and food. Read this book, even if you, nor anyone you know, has ever dealt with this. Read it because it'll open your eyes.

Rating:
Summary: A painfully accurate page-turner
Review: Having suffered from a mild eating disorder from the ages of 12-23, and then severe bulimia and anorexia that continues to haunt every meal and bite of every day, I've held this book so tightly to my soul as evidence, and as comfort, that I'm not crazy nor am I alone. Marya is an exceptional writer and an exceptional woman. She holds nothing back, not even the grittiest of details about her lifelong struggles with both her eating disorder and her Self.

She exposes the fact that "starvation is not a joke," that an eating disorder isn't just a decision not to eat, but an honest-to-God phobia of food and of getting fat. She discusses candidly that after eating a meal, you honestly think you feel your butt expanding; the compulsion to stand there and stare at your body in the mirror and make sure your knees don't touch each other; the constant feeling of your hip and shoulder bones and your tail bone to make sure there isn't suddenly a massive layer of blubber covering them. That you stare in the mirror and look at the wrong thing- instead of seeing the picture, you see the negative space. Instead of seeing the ribs and hip bones jutting out, you look at where they DON'T protrude, and irrationally see that as proof that you're a fat, disgusting, unworthy pig.

She proves that there is nothing romantic about an eating disorder, nothing beautiful about wasting away. She tells in horrifying accuracy the devastating effects of taking ipecac after a binge, of taking boxes of laxatives at a time. How the brain obsesses night and day over food when it has been denied nourishment for so long. The desperate search for a "safe" food to quell that hunger inside- lots celery covered in obscene amounts of mustard, a bowl of peas eaten one pea at a time with a fork. The bizarre and rather arbitrary categorization of what foods are "safe," and what is not. The terror of being in a kitchen that has food, lots of food, hidden behind cabinet doors, knowing you cannot be trusted alone in there. The horrid panic after eating even just two bowls of cereal, the need to throw up, and the tremendous relief when you're done. The endless nights of insomnia caused by your body's hunger, the muscle cramps as your body eats away at itself in the throes of starvation. And the unnatural way you think of your body as this thing, this appendage that you have, as a belonging but not part of You which is what allows you to treat it so miserably.

This book is not pretty, but it's incredibly accurate. I've read it more than ten times, I've got notes written in the margins on at least 60 pages. Not only did she tell her story, but she's done her research on eating disorders, adding in factual information where it is pertinent. I'd recommend it for anyone who is going through anorexia or bulimia themselves, but more so for their loved ones trying to understand what's going on in the head of the eating disordered person. I made my boyfriend read it, and he now understands why I'll suddenly panic over the idea eating at a restaurant, and why I keep no food in my house. I'd even go so far as to say it's required reading for any therapist or doctor who deals with eating disordered patients.

I've heard rumors that Marya is coming out with a new book soon, a work of fiction, and I can't wait to read it.


Rating:
Summary: Another ED book but much better~
Review: There are not many words to describe this book in my opinion. It is amazing. The style of writing is unique in a very good way. I thought it was neat how she would put foot notes about something she wrote. This book wasn't just a story but very educational about ed's themselves. One of my favorite books by far. I could NOT put it down! As a fellow ed suffer I feel her pain. I can't wait for her next novel thats coming out :D She is an awesome writer.

My opinion.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: Wasted is anything but boring, let me tell you. It's phenomenally written: intense, clever, penetrating, plaintively soul-baring, mostly the bravest book I've ever read. The narrative voice is ironic and witty and her eye is cold as death on some of the scary, dark parts of her life and mind that I can't imagine anyone wanting to discuss with such attention and detail. She's got a friggin' chainsaw in the tidy-little-pretty-garden of eating disorder literature written by Nice Sensitive Professionals & Therapists and it's awesome. If you're not eating disordered, this is about the most intense, personal and insightful walk in an anorexic/bulimic's shoes as you're going to find on the shelf. If you are, in fact, eating disordered--you've got to pick this up for some thinking material... you'll be glued.

Rating:
Summary: She should have waited to write this book
Review: In my opinion, the author was not ready to describe her experiences. Of course, according to her, she's on death's door, so maybe she felt she needed to pump it out sooner rather than later. In any case, while she lovingly describes the mechanics of her disorder, she doesn't seem to understand herself well enough yet to really address what drove her (and apparently continues to drive her). While I hate to diagnose from my armchair, it really sounded to me like both her parents were narcissistic, and she has inherited it. This is especially noticible in the ending - right after a chapter where she claims to be done with the drama of it all, to be ready for the boring, trival details of life, she pulls back the curtain, and gasp! Shudder! She still hits the treadmill and secretly glories in her weight loss! She grimly acknowledges to her husband that she will die first!

Now, being a self-absorbed drama queen doesn't make you a bad person or mean that your problems are trivial. The author is clearly very sick and deserves help. She's obviously in a lot of pain. Unfortunately, self-absorbed drama queens are generally not that likeable, and not particularly good at self-analysis, which means they might not be the best candidates for writing memoirs. Perhaps I missed it, but I don't remember any acknowledgement of what an immense pain in the butt she must have been. She vomits so much in her parents' house that the septic system breaks and their basement is flooded with puke. More than once. Her college roommates, who are just teenagers themselves, essentially get put on 24-hour suicide watch. It doesn't seem to occur to her that her anorexia provides her with an enormous amount of attention and control over those close to her. The reviews on Amazon also say that her book is highly triggering for those with major eating disorders, which must have occurred to her while she was writing it. Or maybe not.

For a totally different (and much funnier) approach to mental illness, I'd recommend Jenny Traig's "Devil in the Details." She probably goes too far the other way, and her anorexia is just a footnote she shrugs off as a one more weird stage she went through. While I can't fully agree with that theory either, I am bothered by the Hornbacher's implication that all American women are on a giant sliding scale of dysfunction. The fact is, me and many of my teenage friends acquired mild eating disorders that eventually resolved themselves. For us, it WAS just a stage. Not a beneficial or attractive one, but a big deal either. I know many women with healthy attitudes towards food. This is not to dismiss the seriousness of what full-blown anorectics endure, but to me those cases are major mental illness, which cannot in my opinion be blamed on culture.

I do think the story is compelling and I'd be interested to read what Hornbacher's perspective is ten years from now. Twenty-three is awfully young to be writing a memoir. Heck, who WASN'T a self-absorbed drama queen at 23?

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: This book tells the never ending fight of its author against Anorexia and Bulimia. She is an extra-ordinary person because even though she is suffering from this illness, her dedication towards her studies, work, are 100% It is very difficult to find people with this attitude. Her description of treatment is crystal clear, you can see all those things in front of her eyes. Her narrative power is also amazing. If you are suffering from this, then this book will give you valuable insights to various medical problems connected with this book.