Rating: 
Summary: Slow Starter but worth the read!
Review: For some reason, I had a little trouble getting started or warming up to this book. Mrs. Hornbacher seemed to spend a lot of time quoting text books, but once I got into the 'meat' of her story, I was amazed and horrified. I think I saw a little tiny bit of me in her. She is right in that every woman that I know is aware of her weight and it is a popular topic and concern. Her concern was to the extreme, eating mustard as a main course! Well written once past the beginning.
Rating: 
Summary: you don't need to have an ED to relate to this fabulous book
Review: This is the kind of book that had me looking up while reading, wherever I was, and insisting that whoever was in the room hear a passage or two. This book is beautifully written, unbelievably brave and honest, full of details about anorexia and bulimia that are FASCINATING. I didn't know a person could live on 100 calories a day- At points in the story, I wondered how she had the energy to stand up (at times she actually didn't). She tells about what she ate and how she puked, why she did it and how she hid the truth from herself. She tells how the toilets in her house backed up, often, from too much puke in the pipes. How her parents almost gave up on her. I noticed that the other reviews for this book were by people with eating disorders themselves, and I want to say that this book was fascinating and amazing to me, and I'm don't have an ED. Which brings me to another point: It freaked me out to see how similar my thinking (about food) is to hers. I found myself (shamefully) envious of her ability to starve herself. ! At the end of her book, Hornbacher says that after "recovery" (which is not so cut and dry), she was eager to start spending time with "normal", non-eating-disordered women. What she found is that no one is immune to the powerful desire to be thin, at any cost, and that most woman have unhealthy relationships with food. It's amazing that someone damaged enough to hurt themselves as severely as Hornbacher did (51 lbs. at one point) would be able to have the clarity and bravery to document her struggle so honestly and thoroughly. We are lucky that she did.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible!
Review: This book was absolutely remarkable. I have been struggling with eating disorders since I was about fourteen (I'm eighteen now) and this book was a total pathway for me. With every page I read I felt less alone and more comfortable with what I have gone through and am going through. I loved her raw honesty and her wit, which definitely lightens the mood, but not unappropriately. I would recommend this to anyone who is going through an ED, knows someone who is, or to anyone who finds interest in them. Without a doubt the best book I have read on this topic yet.
Rating:
Summary: this book saved my life.
Review: as i write this, my soup is warming in the microwave, so this'll have to be quick.i admit it. i first purchased marya hornbacher's 'wasted' as a kind of diet bible. i looked to it for inspiration, for details, for instructions to basically self-destruct. and indeed, that is what i found. because she writes in such vivid, honest detail, you really can't help but get caught up in marya's book. in fact, i read it straight through four or so times, envisioning myself as setting out on the Ultimate Diet, inching towards the door to anorexia or bulimia. but suddenly, in the middle of my fifth read, something changed, and for the first time in my life, i realized that starving myself is something i do not want to do. being sick is something i do not need in a world that is so very chaotic already. i need my strength, and i need my whole self, to survive. and then i began to look around. realized that the majority of women in this world,--specifically the u.s.--including friends, sisters, mothers, cousins, aunts, are completely and utterly obsessed with their weight. suddenly, i realized that i don't want to be like that, i don't want to be just another girl caught up in this insane, pointless, fruitless race for the ideal body. try it. observe a casual conversation between a group of women. see how many times weight, if not the immediate topic, then simply implied, comes up. it's really, really scary. i never thought i'd say this, but women really make me sick. their petty, catty comments, the comparisons, the expectations, they all make me ill, and i want none of it. i've always been a bit off, a little too uncouth to conform with society, and the only way i could really describe how i feel now is to quote marya, from the end of her book: "i don't necessarily want pants that are slimming, i don't want to look like the photos of skeletal models on the wall. wanting to be healthy is seen as really weird. so i'm weird. so what?" what it comes down to, people, is that eating disorders--and not to belittle the pain and madness they bring about--are really pathetic. the culture that we live in that submerges young women with these hideous images of an ugly, emaciated, skeletal body as an ideal and a state of grace is pathetic. marya hornbacher is pathetic for letting an eating disorder ruin an otherwise incredible life. all of the people, including myself, who buy 'wasted' and other e.d. related books simply to get more tips and instructions and pointers instead of really reading what the author's trying to say, are pathetic. the fact that, just last night, while watching the television show 'e.r.' the weight of nurse hathoway was brought up twice--need i mention that this woman is pregnant, and that she's WEIGHING herself?--is pathetic. women buying DIET pills during pregnancy is pathetic. see, i could go on and on. we as a whole are in a terrible state right now. i'm grateful, very much so, to marya for writing this book and waking me up. and i'm grateful to myself, for finally realizing that our culture is severely screwed up, that i don't WANT that life, and if it's anarchistic to want to NOT jump in the whole eating disordered pool and become obsessed and ridiculous and ultimately idiotic, well, then just call me a subversive.
Rating:
Summary: Not for those still suffering
Review: I thought this was a very true and revealing book. It spoke to the truth behind eating disorders. I was in the hospital were Maria was and she describes the experience exquisitly. I think that if you are still suffering from an eating disorder, this probably isn't a great book for you to read. It can be very triggering and encourage the eating disorder. I think it's a great book for people who want to see what life is like for individuals with eating disorders.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read for Every College Student
Review: A beautifully written work....powerful and disturbing....Marya Hornbacher reveals every detail about her horrifying struggle with bulimia and anorexia nervosa...I felt every emotion while reading this novel. Eating disorders destroy us...books like this can strengthen us and make us realize the value of human life...If you or a loved one have ever struggled with eating disorders, please read this book...it will convince you to get help now, before it is too late. Marya was very brave for sharing her experiences with us....thank you for giving me the courage to finally fight back.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I started reading this book when I was in treatment for an eating disorder. It was the most riviting book I have ever read. It made me realize the horrible things that I had been doing to myself. I told my mother to read it after I was finished so she could get a better understanding of what Anorexia was like. I strongly reccomend this book to anyone suffering or not suffering from an eating disorder.Marya is such a strong and brave person to have gone through so much and still fight for herself everyday.
Rating:
Summary: OH WOW!
Review: I just bought this book after being so frustrated with my own feelings about my weight and food. This book is the best book ever, I couldn't put it down and I was soooooooo surprised on the similarities between Marya and I. I can really relate to her feelings... I strongly recommend this book to anyone with or without an eating disorder. Warning this book is really intense and powerful.
Rating:
Summary: Horrifying
Review: I'm a recovering anorexic and I hated sex and was asexual for all my life. I do not think Marya liked sex durning her anorexia. You do not feel attractive towards men let alone touch you. I thought of sex (durning anorexia) was major yuck. Also, my shrink said at the time was like I was "nutered" meaning I had no sexual desire at all for my age of 20. Marya's point of view is true up until the sex part for anorexia.
Rating:
Summary: HONEST
Review: ***** I have read this book so many times that the pages are starting to fall out. What touches me the most is that Marya is so honest, never holding back her raw emotions. It is difficult to admit one's own insecurities, prejudices, and desires, let alone share it with people who are seeking information, guidance, and support. Recovery from eating disorders is NOT an event but an ongoing process, and Hornbacher makes this painfully clear. This was not an easy book to read. There were times when I was angry at what she was doing to herself, and other moments where I caught myself feeling envious of her weight loss "achievements." Wasted has helped me evaluate my own attitudes and direct the path of my life away from the alluring hell of eating disorders. I'd like to thank her for that. There is still a part of me that is bothered by some of her fat-phobia comments, but what is so compelling about this real-life story is that she lays out everything with brutal honesty. Yes, looks shouldn't matter and women shouldn't feel compelled to obsess about their looks--but this is not a perfect world, and we are not perfect. Hornbacher is a spectacular writer with a startling writing style, and I wish her happiness in her career and most importantly...her life.
|
