Rating: Summary: EXCELLENT, a must read Review: This book is by far the best book I've ever read. I have read it over 20 times and written countless papers/essays based on it.As a woman who struggled with a eating disorder I felt a very strong connection with this book and I would suggest anyone who has been affected by an eating disorder (or anyone who has had a friend/lover/whoever suffer from an eating disorder) READ THIS BOOK. It gives you a very raw, real look at what it's like to struggle with wanting to be thin. Marya Hornbacher never once shys away from the bizarre and reckless things she did in the mists of her disorder. She reveals things with brutal honesty as she confesses to using men, sex, drugs, and yes even food to control everything in her life. She never once candy-coats things to make it "nicer" or "easier." She tells about throwing up until blood-vessels burst in her eyes and passing out at the wheel from hunger. This book is very well written and I would suggest it to anyone.
Rating: Summary: Wow! Review: Books on eating disorders tend to either simplfy the disorder, cutting them off from the root cause, the detachment from the body and thus, detachment from the self, that fuel both anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, and the various combinations of disorders that form a diagnosis of EDNOS (eating disorder, not otherwise specified). This book does not because it is so searingly personal, not a stereotype like so many fictional accounts, but a true, full-fledged human being grappling with the biological and psychological complications of the disorder. I can't help wondering, after reading this book when it first came out, and now re-reading it recently--what has the author written recently? I'd love to read it, and am also curious about her work on non-ED related subjects. Her prose is breathtaking! As for criticisms, frequently voiced that this book provides 'tips' on how to have an eating disorder, I'm afraid I missed them. No one with an eating disorder needs to seek out 'tips' on how to have a disorder by reading 'Wasted', they can find such tips even with a cursory scanning of any contemporary fashion magazine. 'Wasted' shows the psychic and physical toll of eating disorders, more than anything else.
Rating: Summary: Hornbacher doesn't hold back Review: Anybody allicted with an eating disorder can tell you- it is a dangerous, painful, humiliating and violent existance. Hornbacher strays from the "Chicken Soup for the Bulimic's Soul" approach (figuring it would wind up in the toilet anyways) and she takes a dead-on description of the living hell that eating disorders are. This may not be the best read for someone that isn't secure in their recovery - there is completely honest rhetoric in here - but it is a must read for those who don't understand the mindset behind, and the addiction of, self-inflicted pain. But keep in mind - Hornbacher doesn't promise you a rose garden.
Rating: Summary: wasted...and adrift Review: I was floored by this author's talent; never have I read such an eloquent portrait of the hell of eating disorders, one I barely survived. As a survivor, though, this book infuriated me. There is no perspective, no critical eye -- her prose is brilliant, poetic, and brutal in its honesty, but it the voice of a woman drowning. I would not give this book to anyone fighting an eating disorder. It is replete with triggers, and is, at its worst, a disquietingly unchecked glamorization of self-destruction.
Rating: Summary: BAD INFLUENCE Review: I have struggled very badly with an eating disorder for almost 5 years. I have been in and out of hospitals time after time and this book almost taught me new ways to feed my addiction. I totally believe in writing about this disorder but I saw this book almost as a teaching guide to a young girl who wants to lose weight. She shouldnt of put the tricks or how she did what she did in this book....It shows and teachs kids how to have a problem that will one day kill me
Rating: Summary: Excellent Book, Read it. Review: With my favorite book being Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, I tend to go toward books with a subject who has...well...problems. A friend recommended I pickup Wasted, so after reading a summary on it, I gave it a shot. Marya Hornbacher's brutally honest tale of her numerous encounters with anorexia and bulimia was a stunning piece on eating disorders. It by far, reins supreme compared to other books I have read. Her sailor like mouth and blunt truthful approach to writing keep the reader interested, and at some points I had to stop and smile. Don't get me wrong, this book is not funny, but if you have much understanding of what Miss Hornbacher is going through, you'll probably smirk. If you're looking for something that will take you with her and let you "see" and "feel" what she is feeling, then look no further, Wasted is it. The ending isn't what most books about eating disorders go for, it's the truth. Anyone with first hand or even second hand experience with eating disorders, knows that it's most difficult to "recover" from an eating disorder. Infact, most will tell you, that you can never fully recover, it's a disease that will stay with you through out your life. I suggest you pick this book up, you won't regret it.
Rating: Summary: Couldn't put it down!!! Review: This book is amazing. As soon as I picked it up, it was impossible to put it down. I LOVE this book!!!!!
Rating: Summary: Truth from an excellant writer Review: Marya Hornbachers wasted is the best book I have ever read, and definately the best Eating disorder related book out there. She doesn't Romanticize eating disorders she tells the ugly brutally honest truth. The reason this book is so different is that it doesn't have her going into treatment and never having food issues again. It informs people that eating disorders are serious illnesses that don't magically float away at night, or disappear after someone has gained weight. Going from her childhood through adult hood really helps people grasp how the thoughts of eating disorders are planted and as time progresses they florish. I finished this book the first day I bought it. A page turner indeed!
Rating: Summary: great, yet horrible Review: the book was wonderful: written beautifully, poetic, realistic, intimate, a great book for people without eating disorers or on the verge of them, just to understand the mind of people struggling with anorexia or bulimia, yet this book, to people with or leaning into an eating disorder, is poison. I read this book as i was beginning to be self-concious, it triggered me immensly and taught me many ways to get and keep an eating disorder, the tricks of the trade, i bet that without this book i still would have become anorexic, but i know that this book made it much much worse. when i went into the hopsitol, most every girl had read the book, and used it as a bible to their eating disorder. it was banned from the hospitol, unlike most eating disorder books, because of its graphic details an a not-perfect ending, if this book was in the hospitol i doubt anyone would ever recover. one of my hospitol-friends went to a bookstore, bought all 10+ copies of Wasted, and threw them in the trash, wanting nobody to read this book and be triggered. This book tricks my friend into thinking anorexia is glamorous and would be a good way to loose weight, its very good, the book, but too good, taking you into the mind of anorexia and bulimia, with a good chance of making you ACT with the mind of anorexia bulimia. I do not recommend this book to anyone with food-issues, but for those who are self-assured and want to understand those who are not, this is a beautiful book.
Rating: Summary: So enlightening..................... Review: This autobiography of a struggling eating disordered woman touched my heart. I have been anorexic for two years, and after reading this book, I thought of myself and my body in a new way. It's astonding and terrible at the same time to read about Marya's chaotic life, but I know it would help other struggling women see themself in a new light. This is by far the best book I have ever read, and I would like to recomend it to ALL women.
|