Wasted A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia Author:Marya Hornbacher Precociously intelligent, imaginative, energetic and ambitious, Marya Hornbacher grew up in a comfortable middle-class American home. At the age of five, she returned from a ballet class one day, put on an enormous sweater, curled up on her bed and cried -- because she thought she was fat. By age nine, she was secretly bulimic, throwing up at ... more »home after school while watching The Brady Bunch reruns on television and munching Fritos. She added anorexia to her repertoire a few years later and took great pride in her ability to starve.Why would a talented young girl go through the looking glass and step into a netherworld where up is down and food is greed, where death is honor and flesh is weak? Why enter into a love affair with hunger, drugs, sex and death? Marya Hornbacher sustained both anorexia and bulimia through five lengthy hospitalizations, endless therapy, the loss of family, friends, jobs and, ultimately, any sense of what it meant to be "normal." In this vivid, emotionally wrenching memoir, she re-creates the experience and illuminates the tangle of personal, family and cultural causes that underlie eating disorders.Hornbacher's story gathers intensity with each passing year. By the time she is in college and working for a news service in Washington, DC, she is in the grip of a such a horrifying bout with anorexia that it will forever put to rest the romance of wasting away. Down to 52 pounds and counting, Hornbacher's body becomes a battlefield: the death instinct with the drive to live, mind and body locked in mortal combat.Wasted is the story of one woman's travels to the darker side of reality, and her decision to find her way back -- on her own terms. A landmark book from a 23-year-old writer of virtuoso prose, Wasted takes us inside the experience of anorexia and bulimia in a way that no one else has ever done.« less
A fantastic and incredibly honest memoir of what a severe, serious eating disorder can really do to your body and mind. Hornbacher's honesty is impressive, and she gives excellent insight into the what anorexia and bulimia really are-- great for family members and professionals to read. Caution-- this book may be quite triggering if you yourself are recovering from an ED.
Helped me to understand the inner life of someone struggling with anorexia and bulimia. Author is incredibly articulate, intelligent and great writer... and still struggling with the disease.
A powerful story of a young girl who suffers from both anorexia and bulimia. She traveled to the darker side of reality and found her way back on her own terms.
Heather reviewed Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia on
Helpful Score: 2
This is a very true story, I found it hard to read after knowing someone who suffered from anorexia.The pain and misunderstandings about the diease are very sad.
On the surface, that seems obvious. Reading the experience of a woman living with bulima, anorexia, and a plethora of other mental health issues, is going to be a difficult read. But that's not what I mean.
Hornbacher wrote this memior at age 23. She ends the book (I did not read the modern reprint with her "updated" ending) rather solemnly, admitting that she is not cured, there is no answer, and essentially she cannot give an ending. She wrote this only 4 years after her near-death experience, and only 3 years after her suicide attempt. This memoir was written by someone still deeply in the grip of the things that had led her to that point in her life.
So the uncomfortableness comes from the outsiders perspective. She insists, over and again, that she had a "normal", "good" childhood and that her eating disorder just appeared out of the blue from no where.
She then goes on to detail a childhood filled with emotional trauma, surrounded by family members with mental health and food issues of their own, and as the reader we find ourselves frustratingly yelling, "it's there! it's all there! I can see it happening to you as you're writing it but you cannot see it!" Near the end of the book she still refers to her family has relatively normal, just "messy". It feels like a kick in the gut.
I have not read Hornbacher's other books. I feel almost honor-bound to do so now, to not always have my memory of this author entrenched in her view of herself at 23-years-old. None of us deserve that.
Lauren T. (ltranz) reviewed Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia on
Eloquently written, and amazingly insightful to someone suffering from an eating disorder. She looks at the problem from multiple angles, and relates her own experience in a way that could be helpful to other sufferers. This book proves that her long and tiresome struggle with these two eating disorders was not in vain.
This is a first account telling of author Marya Hornbacher's life as she experienced both anorexia, bulimia and substance abuse. Her writing is very descriptive and kept me interested-I did not want to put the book down. I think it might be dangerous for a recovering ana-mia person to read as it can be a trigger but for those who would like to know the insides of the mind of one who has gone through this, it is an excellent choice.
I don't like to use the word "harrowing" lightly, but I think it's appropriate for this memoir of anorexia and bulimia. It's definitely not a pleasant story, but Hornbacher sheds light on the darker aspects of an already misunderstood disorder. Her writing is beautiful, and the bravery she exhibits in telling her story is impressive. I highly recommend it to anyone, eating disordered or not.
Kendra W. reviewed Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia on
At first, Wasted sucked me in and I enjoyed it, but as the book went on the story started to seem repetitive and boring. I kept expecting this to be it, The Climax of the story, but then wait.....she gets sicker still! This kept repeating until I thought maybe her getting well would wrap everything up, but that doesn't happen either. Now, I consider myself a compassionate person and I know this sounds harsh, I think I feel this way because to me at least, the author's tone had a touch of arrogance, an "I'm better than you" tinge to it, and this made me feel not as bad for her and her poor life decisions as I usually would. The author herself admits near the end of the book, that it all just got a bit boring. Well, I agree with her. Her incessant whining and need to be the sickest person in the room started to sound like a 5-year old throwing a tantrum. Luckily, this was only the last 1/3 of the book or so, which is why it still received 3 stars from me.
As someone who has gone through a similar ordeal, I can say she speaks the truth. This book is not only dark but has its time of wit too. I have read and reread this book several times, and have loved it every time. I recommend this for everyone, but NOT those currently suffering as this can be very triggering. I made that mistake and it is not to be taken lightly.
