A Very Hungry Girl
How I Filled Up on Life...and How You Can, Too!
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
We’re all hungry—hungry to look good, feel worthy, be loved, and fit in. Our hungers are deep and insatiable. We try to fill up by using food, alcohol, drugs, sex, relationships, careers, or money. No matter what we look like or where we came from, we all share the same intense need to fill up on life, but not many of us know how.
A Very Hungry Girl chronicles the journey of Jessica Weiner, who spent most of her life hungering to be someone else. She was so desperate to be accepted and valued that she spiraled into an eating disorder, experiencing the attendant lack of self-esteem that rules—and almost ruined—her life.
This compelling book relates Jessica's very personal story, and also captures her unique persona as she travels the country as a performer and motivational speaker listening to thousands of other people's stories.
Through her work, Jessica has become the voice of her generation and speaks with a relatable and realistic point of view. Jessica's work has received national attention by The Washington Post, CNN, MTV and Teen People Magazine.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Twenty-eight can be a bit young to write a successful memoir, and, in this case, the author, a performer and motivational speaker, would have done well to get more life experience before attempting it. Although her parents were very supportive of her, she was picked on by classmates who disrupted her elementary school years and eroded her self-esteem. By the time she was 12, Weiner had become dissatisfied with her body and quickly developed an eating disorder that led to a seesaw of starving, bingeing and getting sick. She attended a performing arts high school where she enjoyed acting, but spent her free time with girlfriends who binged together in order to maintain the ideal body Weiner felt society demanded of females. She describes her relationships with boyfriends in college, including one that turned briefly abusive. Therapy helped with the eating disorder, and Weiner began performing theatrical pieces that dealt with body image and violence toward women. In 1995, Weiner created the ACT Out national theater company, performing these pieces for several years at colleges across the country, and she details the feedback sessions held with troubled students after the show. Weiner's personal story comes from the heart and may help others with eating and self-esteem problems. Her writing, however, is often unfocused, and the many testimonials from students included throughout the narrative smack of self-promotion.
