Slim to None : A Journey Through the Wasteland of Anorexia Treatment

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: "It took three weeks for my body to shut down. When I was close to the end, I couldn't see very well and could talk only in hoarse whispers because my mouth was so dry. I slept most of the time. But I didn't feel sick. I felt at peace, finally emptied of all the mind and body filth. No more terrifying flashbacks. No more disgust with my body . . . with me. Nothing hurt. I wasn't even hungry. And I didn't have to worry about how guilty I feel when I eat and throw up, and even worse, how anguished I feel when I eat and don't throw up."
--Jennifer Hendricks, age twenty-five

Great Book..everyone should read it if they like memoirs of anorexia.

Rating:
Summary: A parent's point of view
Review: As the parent of an anorexic teen I commend the author of this book for his courageous exploration of the nightmare world of eating disorders. Slim to None is a devastating story of family and personal trauma that makes real an illness that is often dismissed as silly and superficial. This book provides meaningful insight into the family interactions surrounding the disease and validates my own personal experience. Many of my friends who read this book found it difficult and disturbing. For me, it describes the reality I face on a day to day basis. I found most compelling the father's acceptance of his daughter's choice and fate. The author has defined with compassion the very difficult position of a parent in letting go with love. Ultimately, this book gives me hope.
I recommend this book to anyone who faces the crisis of a family member with an eating disorder and for those intimately connected with the issue. It is impossible to get inside the head of an eating disordered individual. I think Slim to None provides that insight and an opportunity for understanding as well.

Rating:
Summary: What a waste.
Review: As you read from the journal of Jenny Hendricks, a victim of an illness often seen as a matter of choice, you actually feel the gut-wrenching frustration and torment that victims and their families suffer. Jenny's is a story that allows outsiders into the mind of a tortured and very brave girl fighting for her life. Writing without reservation in her private journals, we are brought into her life-or-death, tug-of-war battles between: wanting to live/wanting to die; wanting to eat/wanting to starve; wanting to be pretty/wanting to be unattractive; wanting to be independent/wanting to be taken care of; yearning for love and compassion/her inescapable desire to run away from it. The frustrations & lack of understanding with this illness - from everyone in the medical community, her family, and even herself- are painfully demonstrated throughout Jenny's fight. Hope becomes hopelessness, fear becomes terror and confusion, anger becomes rage as she wages war with a disease everyone sought to cure with control - NO PRIVILEGES unless she eats/gains weight, CONFRONTATION when she is "bad," RESTRAINTS if she feels suicidal, and ultimately ABANDONMENT by many of her doctors and caretakers. Told with gentle compassion by Jenny's father, we see how little understanding there is for this illness, and how one family coped. If you've ever wanted to tell an anorexic to "JUST EAT," you may find yourself more frustrated than ever. Why was Jenny destined to starve herself to death seemingly, at times, against her own will? There are no easy answers here. Just a story of hope, courage, and love. And the clear message that we must keep fighting every day until we find a way for everyone to recover from anorexia.

Rating:
Summary: A Fabulous but Heart Wrenching Story
Review: Before reading this I thought "Wasted" was the best book on eating disorders. Now I have found its' match.
Jenny starts dieting at a young age, never suspecting that it will lead her down a road of misery and hopeless treatment. She deals with hospital after hospital, treatment after treatment approach, none of their attempts helping Jenny in her road to recovery. She never gives up, and faces her eating disorder with a determined mind set. However, no matter how hard she tries, Jenny cannot seem to pick herself up long enough to accomplish long term health, and slowly becomes more and more ill, devastating and puzzling all those around her, until eventually everyone gives up and decides to let her die.
This story had me in tears. It exposes the raw truth of anorexia and what its' victim goes through. I related to much of Jenny's story and would recommend it to anyone who suffers from an eating disorder or has experienced seeing a friend or loved one deal with one.

Rating:
Summary: A pathetic tale about a manipulative girl
Review: I wanted to read this book since I've enjoyed such memoirs as Dry, Wasted, and Drinking: A love story. But page after page about a self-absorbed brat with a pathetically devoted and brainwashed father enabling her 14-year suicide was disgusting, frustrating, and depressing.

I understand that anorexia is not a choice, but I don't think this book is about an anoretic. It's more about someone with borderline personality disorder and how effectively that can wear on people's -- even professionals' -- patience. And how effectively it can manipulate the willing, even in getting them to publish sappy memoirs posthumously. I agree that the book brings up ethical questions about psychiatric care that need to be addressed. It made me wish someone would just take her to a shelter and put her to sleep so I wouldn't have to read any more of her whining, false-memory-spewing nonsense.

Rating:
Summary: An amazing story.
Review: It's such a tragic story of Jennie Hendricks' life through many attempts at recovery. Not only is this a very interesting book about anorexia nervosa, but it is also a spellbinding story of unconditional father-daughter love. Jennie's father amazed me throughout the entire story. It hit so close to home because I have a father who would do exactly as Jennie's dad did for her, if it ever came to that point for me. I cried at the ending, even though I all ready knew what would happen. I give it four stars though because it was kind of long for me, and near the end I found some of her diary entries written could have been left out (they had a lot of swearing and graphic references to sex). But please, go read this story! You'll find it absolutely fascinating.

Rating:
Summary: Gritty, realistic account of anorexia
Review: Ms. Hendricks gives a wrenching account of what it's like to struggle with an ED from both sides - the victim's and the family's. She also hopefully helps to expose the often-ineffective and downright inept attempts at "treatment" that some sufferers have experienced - "behavior modification" and outright punishment by some therapists that can often result in regression once the patient is discharged.

Rating:
Summary: Good For a First-Person Account
Review: The best thing about Slim to None is its detailed and honest first-person account of an eating disorder. It does a good job of chronicling Jenny's emotional pain, and her father's comments make it clear that he loved her very much and make the book pretty heart-wrenching. It's also somewhat unusual among eating disorder books in that it talks much more about Jenny's emotions than her eating behaviors, and it probably wouldn't be too triggering for those in recovery. However, in terms of providing a clear overall picture of Jenny's anorexia, the book is not terribly successful - the only two people we hear from are Jenny and her father, and neither of them is able to offer any coherent explanations or theories about why Jenny got sick or what might have made her better. At the end of the book I felt sadder than when I began, but still just as much in the dark about what actually happened, and it's a lot of pages to read to gain so little psychological insight. As the title suggests, the book definitely makes its point that current treatments are unsuccessful, but it doesn't really explain why they don't work or offer any suggestions or solutions.

Rating:
Summary: Better then 'Wasted'
Review: This book struck a real chord with me. I am overcome with sadness and sympathy for this poor girl and her father-who obviously would have done anything in the world to save her. You get the feeling reading it that she couldn't be saved, and it seemed to me one of her doctors, who may have been able to save her early on-ruined any chance she had at recovery.
Another thing that seemed evident to me is that the right treatment must be sought early on-because things become more hopeless the longer it goes. I would have liked to have had a section with photos of Jenny and her family. A sad but amazing book.