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Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self
Stick Figure A Diary of My Former Self
Author: Lori Gottlieb
When Lori Gottlieb was 11 years old, she did something girls that age often do: She started a diary. And like far too many other 11-year-old girls, she also began starving herself. Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self chronicles her transformation from a bright, healthy kid into a hospital patient on the verge of death, and it illustra...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780425178904
ISBN-10: 0425178900
Publication Date: 4/1/2001
Pages: 240
Rating:
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 73

3.9 stars, based on 73 ratings
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

obsidianfire avatar reviewed Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self on + 133 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
Moving story about a girl's struggle with eating disorders.
booklit avatar reviewed Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self on + 473 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
An eleven year old's diary of how she saw herself as fat and could not stop dieting. A book that looks at anorexia close up and personel. A good read for anyone who wants to understand how someone could starve themselves into nothing but bones and a thin layer of skin. A good read.
reviewed Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self on + 145 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
A Young girl's journal showing the pressure society places on young girls to be thin.
ilovedale3 avatar reviewed Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self on + 524 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Amazingly written story written by Gottleib when she was only 11 years old (these were entries in her diary) about her fight with anorexia. ONe minute, she is ultra-mature and intelligent and the next she is worried that breathing in food smells will make her fat. A very interesting read!
taaza avatar reviewed Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self on + 56 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Autobiographical account about a intelligent 11 year old girl from a relatively well off California family and her struggle with anorexia in the late 1970's. This was written in a loose diary type style and was well written and while at times tragic, and at times humorous, you really felt for Lori. I thought her mother and father were messed up, especially the vacuous, self centered and thoughtless mother. I wanted to strangle the mother. It's no wonder Lori ended up anorexic. A good, quick read.
Read All 15 Book Reviews of "Stick Figure A Diary of My Former Self"

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marcijo28 avatar reviewed Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self on + 320 more book reviews
This is the true story of an eleven-year-old that is trying to find self worth in a world where looks and body shape is ever important. The way Gottlieb portrays her family as well as herself is comical, yet she still somehow manages to get you to think about the tougher issues. I would highly recommend this book!
reviewed Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self on + 3 more book reviews
This book fascinated me because I read Lori Gottlieb's articles these days in magazines and find them well written and entertaining. I got a glimpse into her childhood and could relate to her on some levels. I enjoyed reading this book with her frank and dry wit as a child. She touches on issues that teens these days are facing more and more. I recommend this book not only for teens and their high school reading lists but for adults of teens and pre-teens as well. I read it in two days.
reviewed Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self on + 35 more book reviews
definitely a gripping story, but it definitely wasn't written at the level of an eleven-year-old, even one as smart as Lori was supposed to be. Believable, but I don't know if four-weeks is *really* a realistic turn-around time for an anorexic, no matter how strong their resolve is.
raksha38 avatar reviewed Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self on + 203 more book reviews
This book is a sort of memoir of anorexia. It's selections from the diary Lori Gottlieb kept at that age, when she developed an eating disorder. Unfortunately for her, she developed this eating disorder during the 70s when the medical understanding of and treatment for anorexia was even more dismal than it is now. I think she actually recovered in spite of her treatment, rather than because of it. Only one nurse, Elizabeth, who was genuinely kind and actually listened to what Lori had to say (unlike every single other person in her life), seems to have done any real good for her. One thing that struck me is how all the other women in Lori's life (including the nurses and nutritionist at the hospital) were just as messed up about food and engaged in the same behaviors as she did. The only difference was that Lori was successful at it, and actually engaged in all of everyone's "dieting" advice at once.


While any book about eating disorders can be triggering for someone in recovery, I didn't find this one particularly triggering. Most of the discussion is about her life and the people around her, not so much about numbers or stats or descriptions of her body or the physical feelings associated with her starvation.
formia avatar reviewed Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self on + 20 more book reviews
Funny, touching... so much better than I expected!


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