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Summary: This books speaks the completely unglamorous truth.
Review: As a recovering anorexic/bulimic/compulsive overeater, I must say this book is uncanny. This woman's struggles are shocking, provocative, informative, and frighteningly familiar. The author does not leave us with words of wisdom, or a happy ending, but bare and ambiguous truth--no one can say how the story of her struggle or anyone else's will end. The details of her life are stated not to blame or preach, but to offer some sort of spiritual visualization that even the farthest removed nay-sayer must believe and validate. Truly a haunting experience.
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Summary: she knows how we feel
Review: as someone who has suffered on and off from eating disorders for the last ten years, I can really relate to what Marya writes. She is also very adept at capturing emotions of anorectics, and letting people know that you can be at a normal weight, and yet still battling the demons in your head. a refreshingly honest book
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Summary: This book portrays what REALLY goes on in the mind...
Review: I was really captivated by this book. I, myself, am a writer who happens to have both anorexia and bulimia... and I could completely relate to Marya's words and most importantly, her thoughts. This book made me feel less alone, less crazy, and ultimately, UNDERSTOOD. I wish I could thank her personally for writing this book. I wish you all the best, Marya. You are a strong and compassionate person. Thanks for giving me the understanding that I needed at a crucial point in my life. Your words entered into my heart and my mind... and they stayed there... you make me want to really LET GO of this damn "disease."--Shannon, age 22
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Summary: TRUTH AND POWER
Review: It is more than a disease, a condition--it is a lifestyle. This permanent trap of self-destruction eludes nearly all those that try to help: boyfriends, doctors, families. We are attracted to and addicted to both the people who cause the behavior and the behavior itself. Where is the hope? Perhaps in understanding.
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Summary: Marya, please stay alive to write some more!
Review: As a compulsive overeater who used to envy people with real eating disorders (after all, they were thin), and now a recovering drug addict, I recognized a lot of my own sick thinking in Marya's incredibly articulate, powerful account of her battle with her disease. But the end of the book filled me with fear for her. Marya, YOU ARE NOT ALONE, and you're not unique (altho your writing ability is pretty darn outstanding). There are people recovering from the compulsion to self-destruct--whatever form it takes--all around you, who can help you find serenity. And we want you around to write more books! Your self-awareness, honesty, and intelligence are needed on the planet. Give voice to the next stage of your life....which I pray is a journey to a new and powerful selfhood!
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Summary: Refashions the phrase "brave writing" anew!!!
Review: Marya is a very brave person; and can reach into her deepest reserves of honesty to bring us a tale of incredible endurance. A dark humour infuses the book with a hope that something can be made of a life so young, and yet steers so clear of what GM Hopkins called "Carrion Comfort" - a deep desire "not to be"! As much as anorexia tears at her ragged frame, Marya wills herself to continue. Something drives her on - as Shakespeare would have put it - "that which gives her increase she feeds on" - and we are left with the feeling that her body, and its state in her mind, is ultimately what she lives for; even as the path she ultimately takes destroys that body, it is also, paradoxically, that which feeds and sustains her life ! ! ! ! ! And it is with this deep paradox at the centre of this courageous recollection that we read, with jaw-dropping, open-mouthed awe, at what has come to pass in the life of one so young: she has already lived e! nough for six people, let alone her frail self. Ultimately, why she does what she does (which is to say, draw great strength from a kind of perpetual extinguishment of self !) is what kept me reading this book. If Marya, perhaps, ever answered that question, one would wonder that she did not give up the fight to sustain life. If we, as readers, ever glimpsed that too - then we too would give up the read!!! A great book, by a great writer..... chinwag@cheerful.com
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Summary: One of the best books I've ever read
Review: Marya Hornbacher is a beautiful and talented individual with a gift for words. She paints a portrait of eating disorders so vividly and realistically that reading her book becomes a paiinful obsession. She has managed to protray the scattered and shaky mind of an eating-disordered woman with objective frankness and clarity. The book is haunting. It will make you ache and cry for every victim of anorexia or bulimia. I have read this book more times than I can count and will NEVER put it down.
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Summary: The Courage to be Honest
Review: Thank you, Marya, for laying it all out there for us to see. I can only imagine the courage it must have taken to open up your life to us, millions of strangers. I hope you continue your search for truth, for hope, for a reason to get up in the morning. Thanks for clearing up things for me, for making me see myself for what I really am, what I really need to do.
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Summary: The most honest and touching story I have ever read.
Review: This book is a must read for every woman. It is a very stark, honest look at eating disorders and how they can dominate your life, and how they affect everyone around you. The factor that distinguishes this book from other books I have read about eating disorders is that Marya does not downplay the difficulty she experienced even after she committed herself to getting well. This book is an inspiration to anyone who has struggled with an eating disorder. Marya is proof that you can survive.
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Summary: Brilliant!
Review: I have been battling with an eating disorder off and on since I was a teenager. The author of this book put into words, what I could not. She creates a realistic, vivid and beautifully illustrated picture of eating disorders. I rarely become engrossed in a piece of literature, but when I reached the bottom of the last page...I wept. She had told my story.
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