Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls

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Summary: Reviving Ophelia Book Review
Review: Reviving Ophelia is a 293-paged book all about the struggles of being a girl. It's filled with many different stories and situations ranging from boys, parents, friends, and divorce, to death, weight, appearance and popularity. It's a book that every girl will be able to relate to in one way or another. It's not one of those, everything turns out perfect in the end like all those silly fairy-tales, but instead real life stories that turn out the way things really do. I think that ALL girls should read this book either throughout their teenage years or as a grown woman. It gives you sort of a satisfying feeling to know that you're not alone. It's one of those books that Sunday afternoon you have nothing to do, you can pick this book up and cozy up on the couch and enjoy. It becomes pretty hard to put down once you find yourself relating to it. There are so many parts in this book that I just wanted to write down and show people so I found myself taking many notes or marking many pages. Guys should read this book is the feeling I was left with at the end, but I doubt very much that they would enjoy it. Still they would learn a lesson or two--hopefully. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. It had very good information and was very addictive. By the end though it was getting very repetitive and the stories all stared to sound the same. This made the ending sort of drag on. Over all it was a great learning experience and a great book. Check it out for yourself!

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Summary: A look at issues that teenagers have to deal with
Review: This book does very well at getting to the inside of a teen's life, having to decide who they are, and what they stand for, when the media is throwing out so many confusing signals. Pipher does not come off as thinking that all girls have problems, she just discusses the girls who do. Her imagery that she manages to incoporate into the book keep the book from becoming dull. This book helped me to figure out a few years later why many of my friends were cutting themselves. At that time they didn't even know why they were hurting themselves, all they knew was that the pain went away when the saw the blood.

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Summary: GREAT!
Review: This book is excellent for trying to understand the psychological perspectives of young women. Although somewhat dated, since it was written in the mid-1990s, it is still relevant to today's teenage women and their struggle into adulthood. The author places a great emphasis on society's contributions to the problems of young women, but brings to light many of the events in the life of young women that parents might not be aware of and that are not discussed by daughters. I think that the author offers great advice and hits the nail on the head in terms of girls' reactions to trauma in their lives and to the pressures associated with coming of age in America today. Parents are often ill-equipt to handle these challenges because their lives were so different as young people and their own parents modeled behavior and relationships in ways that are no longer valid today. Parents today have to learn new skills to assist their teenagers and suffer the wrath of confused young women trying to discover themselves. It is a great book and fabulous read!

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Summary: Required reading for parents of adolescent girls
Review: Why are more and more American girls falling prey to eating disorders, depression, addictions and suicide attempts? Mary Pipher PhD, a clinical psychologist and part-time teacher at the University of Nebraska, gives us the answers to questions we'd rather be in denial about, but can't afford to ignore. According to Pipher, we live in a "look-obsessed, media-saturated, 'girl poisoning' culture". In the younger years, girls and boys for the most part behave the same. Yet when puberty and/or junior high hits, girls are all of the sudden encouraged to be pretty and look good rather than use their brains. This book was originally written in 1995, and I think more parents want to see their kids, both boys and girls, succeed academically. However, our adolescent girls are bombarded with glossy fashion magazines, all of which have one model more skeletal than the next, and are filled with articles on how to improve your appearance (rather than how to improve your mind). In "Reviving Ophelia", Mary Pipher has published case studies of her clients, all of whom come from completely different backgrounds: from Jessica, a 14 year old with an absentee Father and social worker Mom, to 15 year old Ellie, the daughter of hard-working parents devoted to their children. It was interesting to read how a girls family background doesn't always matter- society as a whole has shaped the minds of our girls into thinking looks and social acceptance are the height of female importance. If you have a teenage daughter, or even if your girls are younger, you really ought to do yourselves a favor and read through this book. It's an unbelieveable eye-opener.