Plot Summary of Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia
"This is a factual account of a 32-year-old's experience of anorexia and bulimia over a fourteen year period. The book starts with her childhood in California and moves through to a period where she only weighed 52 pounds.
The book is not just about her experiences with food. It is also about her struggle with society in an era when to be thin was everything; when every woman wanted to be rich and thin. It is about one woman's desperate desire to counter the cultural voice that tells her she is "too much, too much, too much" It is a memoir of a nerotic young woman's attempt to kill herself by refusing food. This book sheds light on the psychology of all women who fear gaining weight.
She leads us through her short life - the five hospitalizations, the spell in a mental asylum, the botched education. "
Rachael Howe, Resident Scholar
"Wasted By Marya Hornbacher is the memoir of this womans struggle with anorexia and bulimia. Marya used wit, intelligence and sharp words which will hit you hard and make you think twice before you skip your breakfast again. The plot is based on different events of Maryas Life which relate to her eating disorder, includes flash backs and effective imagery.
Hornbachers sharp tongue and clever insight on anorexia/bulimia makes the book informative yet still you do not want to put down the book for hours on end. Each page has some information included on studies from eating disorders and quotations from other related books"
Lisa Boyle, Resident Scholar
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Review Analysis of Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Phys disability/mental struggle?
Yes
Struggle with
- fatness/blubber
Period of greatest activity?
- 1950+
Subject of Biography
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- journalist
- writer
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric/Mental
Yes
Eccentric:
- obsessed
- mentally ill
- emotionally unstable
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity
- White
Nationality
- American (!)
How sensitive is this person?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Very much smarter than other people
Physique
- physically sick
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 2 (a little)
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
- California
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- hostile, like Gomer Pyle on steroids
Misc setting
- Fancy Mansion
Century:
- 1980's-Present
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
- explicit references to torture
Book makes you feel?
- encouraged
- concerned
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
Lot of foul language?
Yes
Commentary on society?
Yes
Commentary on
- race
- love/sex
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
- a lot of stream of consciousness
Writer's slant towards subject:
- very favorable
- neutral
Story of entire life, or part?
- story of nearly entire life
- story of set of events during life
If this is a kid's book:
- Age 16-Adult
Autobiography?
Yes
Pictures/Illustrations?
- None
How much dialogue in bio?
- little dialog
A LOT of info about personal vices?
Yes
Lot of titilating info about love life?
Yes
How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life?
- 0-25% of book
How much is philosophy rather than life story?
- 0-25% of book
- 26-50% of book
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