This memoir may be a quick read for students. Written in a journal format was a refreshing style since it was easier to follow along with than "Lucky Man". As an eleven year old, Lori gets a lesson early in life about what women feel about eating. Her mother skips desserts, tastes from her husbands plate and mentions how important her appearance repeatedly. Definitely a problem in society during the 70's and perhaps still an issue today in 2010.
I was amazed at how young Lori was when she wrote this journal as well as how quickly she deteriorated. I was very surprised at the awareness of eating habits that an eleven year old girl noticed. The relationships in this memoir between Lori and her friends, her parents, andf her doctor all played a role ub her eating disorder. The one relationship that played an important factor in her getting better was with the terminally ill, Nora. I think this story will appeal to students because they can maker connections to Lori about appearance and how peers relate to them.
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I really enjoyed reading Lori's book. I found reading it to be easy and fluid. Her writing style captured and held my attention. The subject- matter was less depressing than I thought due to the way Lori presented her experience, using her diary entries to tell her story. This book would be a great read for students in school. Even though Lori was only the young age of eleven, her outlook on life as she experienced it is one a middle or high school student could relate to, more so females of course. What was remarkable was that Lori needed unconditional love and adult acknowledgment so desperately, and only really seemed to find it from a nurse during her hospital stay, Elizabeth. Her mother's hug in preparation for her brother's graduation broke my heart, because it meant so much to Lori but still missed the mark. It only goes to prove that a genuine interest in anyone, in our case our students, can make a world of difference for the positive!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the book Stick Figure and the diary entry style of Lori's former self. It was a quick read about a hard topic, that was captivating, emotional and honest story. I think it would be a captivating book for teenage girls in the middle school or high school. I think they will find it witty and very candid.
ReplyDeleteIt was really sad for me to acknowledge that Lori was only eleven years old and weighed less than 60 pounds when she was in the hospital.
There were so many parts of the story that were heartbreaking and eye-opening. The mother and her comments were really upsetting to me and made me very angry. She was definetely part of the problem -calling Lori unique as if it was a bad thing -saying that she was embarressing, selfish,and would never find a husband like the way she looked, and people should only wear white on their wedding because otherwise you look fat and on your wedding day you look beautiful because you have been dieting for 6 months prior to your wedding. As if an 11 year old girl should be thinking about getting married, having a husband and worring about having a career as a Translater so she could move to Paris to have a good life. He mother seemed a little heartless and crazy. She wa sa horrible role model. She constantly wanted to change her - look like this, dress like this, escuse yourself from the table like this and never had anything positive, encouraging and supportive to say. I think that it was the mother that was selfish.
There are two parts of the story that are still bothering me and weighing heavy on my heart. The part where Lori didn't recognize herself in the mirror and didn't recognize that she was sick. She only saw and defined "sick" as the boy in the hospital in the wheelchair that was balled and other people who were hooked up to machines. AND the mothers hug... It just shows that at no matter what age we all need to be hugged, feel a sense of belonging, and an encouraging support systems where they believe in us and see being unique as a strength. It further reinforces the importance of this in the classroom because sometimes we are the only person encouraging our students or the only positive role model in their life, like nurse Elizabeth in Lori's life.
This would be a good book to recommend to students. The writing style is easily accessible and entertaining. Lori manages to combine humor with frank honesty about a very serious condition. I think students would relate to her observations about life, personal relationships, and our society's strange relationship with food. How many of our own female students are fighting private battles with growing up, parental expectations, body image, and fitting in with the crowd?
ReplyDeleteI agree that Lori's mother was self absorbed and often sent mixed messages to her daughter. Just when she needed a mother the most, Lori could not rely on her for emotional or intellectual support. There also seemed to be an extreme push to grow up fast. At times I had to remind myself that she was only 11!
Once Lori started restricting her food intake and visiting doctors, I was surprised that no one explained medically what was going on with her. She was an extremely intelligent girl who could obviously handle the information. I kept thinking, talk with her, find out how she feels, explain what anorexia is, discuss the facts. Several times she seemed ready to open up, if only someone would keep the conversation going and really engage her.
Just as Lori stated in the end, reading this book is a great place for students to start the conversation and ask the questions.
ARRRG! I just lost the comment I wrote; now I have to try and recreate it. Technology is wonderful, but frustrating! I thought Stick Figure was a quick and satisfying read, but I have to question whether this is really the work of an eleven year-old girl, it seemed too polished, mature and insightful…even for a precocious eleven year-old. Perhaps this work is a polished recollection of her 11 year-old self? If it is, I would have liked her to acknowledge that. Having said that, I do have to agree with the blogs so far…this was an extremely readable book that would appeal to many young adult girls.
ReplyDeleteAs I read the book I found myself wondering if our society has improved at all since the 70s, or gotten worse? It seems we are still sending these damaging messages to young girls. Have we learned nothing? I was struck by how young Lori was…11 seemed to be extraordinarily young to be worrying about weight and appearances. I always thought of anorexia as a teenager’s disease. Maybe it’s worse living in Beverly Hills, or maybe I need to get my head out of the sand? I too abhorred the adults in Lori’s life…especially the mother and the therapist. I tried to remember that this was the reflection of an 11-year-old girl; perhaps her memories do not reflect the reality, but rather her view of the situation- which could be distorted. Could they really have been THAT horrific and clueless???
The one thing that bothered me about the book was the ending. It seemed too contrived. All of a sudden she just decides, okay, I’ll start eating now. I know that there are circumstances that precipitate her decision, but it seemed too easy. I don’t think patients recovering from this disease have it quite that easy. And she seemed to go too quickly from smart, creative, athletic young girl to "stick figure."
Overall, I thought the book has a lot of potential and wide appeal. I think the message for young girls is a good one, and one they need to keep hearing. I will definitly recommend it to anyone looking for books on this topic. And lastly, I agree with Yvonne, we can have such an impact on young people’s lives, like Elizabeth does on Lori’s life. We need to remind ourselves that we may be the only positive influence in a student's life!
I would be interested to see what those of you who have daughters think about/deal with body image issues.
I really got into this book. I thought that it was just a quick read but the contents really started to bother me as I read more and more. I find it hard to believe that Lori was just 11 when she went through this. I know that young girls are pressured to be thin and look perfect at an early age but 11?! I was still running around outside and playing dolls at 11! But maybe that is the difference between Rochester and Beverly Hills
ReplyDeleteI was utterly horrified with Lori's mother. She didn't seem to be a mother at all, so Lori was left without a true role model to look up to. All she had was a mom "playing house" and trying to be the perfect trophy wife. I was very upset at the fact that Lori's parents (or the doctors) never explained her condition, what it was a result of, or the long term effects to Lori. They just all acted as if Lori was doing this on purpose as a form of revolt or something.
I was not pleased with the ending of the story. I felt that it would have been extremely shocking if Lori just woke up one day, looked at herself in the mirror and decided to eat again. The book also never mentioned what happened to Lori the next year or further down the road. It was just a look at a quick year in the life of Lori and I wished the author provided some follow up concerning her own progress and future.
I agree with Kathy and Cherie about the problematic "epiphany" moment for Lori. It just seemed too easy. I had to keep going back and re-reading the paragraph where she decided to stop being anorexic. Is that realistic? It was, to steal Kathy's word, contrived. It was like the classic "deus ex machina" in Greek tragedy that drops down from the sky and magically rights all wrongs and all conflicts in the story are over. Not believable. Which was disappointing because I found Lori's candor throughout her narrative to be refreshing for the most part.
ReplyDeleteI was also disgusted by the adults surrounding her, but mostly by her mother who was a vapid woman who should not have been surprised in the least that her daughter became as weight conscious as she did. Even down to the very last page where she made Lori excuse herself from the table like "all young ladies do." Really? It was disappointing to see the mother gain nothing from Lori's journey.
This book would appeal to teenagers more-so than Fox's book. It's a relevant topic to our students and her style was accessible and entertaining. I enjoyed reading this book.
I really enjoyed Stick Figure. Anorexia is such a rampant problem among teen-aged (and preteen) girls. As a coach of 7th graders, I know that several of my young players did not eat a healthy lunch. I remember one girl in particular who was complaining that she didn't feel well during a game because she felt hungry. When I asked her what she had for lunch, she responded that she hadn't eaten any lunch, and usually doesn't. She stated that sometimes she has a bag of chips, but that is usually the extent of it. We had to have a whole team meeting about the importance of eating not only a healthy lunch, but a lunch at all. On more than one occasion I overheard some of the girls complaining that they were fat. It is scary to think that even by 7th grade girls are so concerned with their weight.
ReplyDeleteI think that all adults who work with teen and preteen girls should have to read this book. Though I agree that I often found myself questioning whether or not this was the actual work of the author's eleven-year-old self, I still found it to be an insightful look at the thought-process of young ladies and their perceived ideas about the expectations of society.
I'd also recommend it to teen and preteens possibly as part of a health class or just as an independent reading choice. There were so many times throughout the book that I found myself thinking, "how can she possibly think that?" As an outsider looking in, it is so much easier to recognize when someone else is having a problem. When you are the one with the problem it is often easier to make excuses and justify your actions to yourself. Maybe by reading this book, students will be able to see how ridiculous Lori was with her thought process and because of that they will be able to examine their own thoughts and ideas about weight issues. At the very least, maybe students will be able to recognize some of the signs in case one of their friends has an eating disorder.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book and think that students would too. It was easy to read, entertaining and shockingly insightful.
Well, I guess I’ll be the odd one and say that I just didn’t like this book. I really had to struggle to get through it. Its message is significant and I do agree with everyone’s comments. The fact that we have so many teenagers dealing with this illness is a wake-up call to us as a society. How can we have so many girls completely obsessed with how they look, completely disconnected from the importance of the “inner self” when we’ve supposedly invested so much concern in our kids’ self-esteem? Where have we gone wrong?
ReplyDeleteI did not feel this was an eleven-year-old perspective at all. I agree with Kathy that it read like a polished-up version. (I realize editors force us to polish up our writing for publication but how polished should the journal of an eleven-year-old be?) Would it have made a difference if we had been told this was a journal from a fourteen-year-old? Maybe not. But if the author wants this to be a book that helps other girls (or women) then it’s got to be believable. I just found myself questioning the integrity of the experience. I’m not saying that Lori didn’t speak her truth as truthfully as she could. Maybe I’m just questioning how effective the journal format was for this endeavor. I believed what I was reading but questioned if it was Lori’s re-worked version.
I had a problem with the ending as many of you did. You don’t just wake up and “get over” an eating disorder. I just wonder what message is sent when the whole thing is wrapped up neatly like a Christmas package. Yet, I have to admit the entries all the way through were laced with evident pain and this is realistic. So after reading this book only an idiot would think an eating disorder is a joy ride…or a great attention getter…right? I like happy endings but this one disturbed me. But maybe not as much as that crazy mother! Her self-absorption and negligence made me so angry. I actually had a hard time believing she was for real. And the last paragraph in the book is Lori’s acknowledgement of her parents. She thanks them for buying her diaries and for understanding her “desire to share them as an adult.” Should she be thanking her parents or suing them?
I actually finished this book very quickly. It held my interest, but the ending was too easy for me. I really don't know if I would recommend this book to a student. The mother is a complete idiot. I know that there are still women like this around, but it is ridiculous. One thing that made me feel better about the book was the end, where she justified her reasons for writing the book. That did make sense to me. I guess I was able to accept the book a little more because she came out to say, "It is to raise awareness." My daughter is in kindergarten with a girl by the name of Arianna. Arianna tells Anna at snack time that her bananna is too large; it is bigger than a snack serving. She also told Anna one day that 100 Calorie Snacks were as bad for you as McDonals. From where do you think Arianna is getting her information?
ReplyDeleteYikes! I am reading Jen's comments...tales from a kindergartener? How do they even know what a 100 calorie snack is??? I was so saddened to hear this. And we wonder why eating disorders are rampant! I was pleased to hear that Kathy, you took the time to address this issue with your team. And I agree with Pam's comment, how could Lori be thanking her parents??? Wow.
ReplyDeleteI too was amazed at how young she was when she became obsessed with her weight. I do remember those early diet books and people trying to live on celery sticks. Healthy wasn't the objective, skinny was. It took a while for the seriousness of her disease to hit me. I had to go back and re-read some of the beginning. My only wish is that the author would have continued into her recovery period longer. I would think the recovery would be as long as the prelude to her anorexia. I was really starting to appreciate the extent of her situation when it ended suddenly.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Wendy! The book ended so abruptly that I was wondering, "Is she really recovered? Does she have a relapse a few weeks, months, years later?" Issues this devastating can't possibly be overcome that quickly.
ReplyDelete...and Jen's comments are really frightening! You know that child is hearing this "diet talk" from women she admires and trusts. I wonder if they realize how she's taking it?
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