Unwell

by Leslie Lipton

"This is an important read for anyone dealing with an eating disorder: the individual, the family or friends. Ms. Lipton conveys a touching portrayal of the struggles involved with trying to overcome this illness." -Cynthia R. Pegler, MD, Adolescent Medicine Specialist

"A riveting and sensitive journey into the world of a teenage girl plagued by Anorexia Nervosa. A detailed, realistic account of the internal struggles and conflicts that exist in the mind of someone with an eating disorder. An important book to read for anyone dealing with a loved one with anorexia." -Jane Karp, MD Psychiatrist

"Lipton's 'Unwell' is extremely well written and invites the reader into the candid journey of an eating disordered girl and her thoughts. This is a valuable read for parents as they try to understand this complicated illness from the inside out." -Lynn Grefe CEO, National Eating Disorders Association

Genres: Mental Health, Mental Illness, Fiction, Young Adult, Psychology, Contemporary, Health

312 pages, Hardcover

First published October 18, 2006

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ page 56


1 star.


TRASH! This book is going in the trash. (Not really, I could never do that to a book but it's going into my sell or charity pile) Rant ahead.

This book is so freaken infuriating!! I feel like screaming. The people who have given this 4-5 Star reviews are either VERY new to eating disorders or/and are around the ages of 9-12

This gave me this shits. The girl's name gets said about a million times and becomes just annoying. Like OK, I get it, I know her name. Far out, shut up. You don't need to have her name written at just about the beginning of every sentence.

It hits nearly every single stereotype of Anorexia and that pissed me off because while some of the factors are definitely relevant, this is not a good example of what Anorexia is really like. I rolled my eyes and gave this book stares that said, 'are you kidding me?!'

I also got annoyed at the fact that after 24 hours she had expected to see a huge result. Like seriously?! Most Anorexics are not like that. We all know weight loss takes time, we are rather patient. We know that burning off a calorie defect of say 800 calories will not magically change your body and will, all of a sudden, produce your bones to stick out. *insert swear word* really?! If weight loss was that fast and easy the diet industry would be broke and obesity and morbidity obesity wouldn't be an issue any more.

This book gives such a bad example to people who are wanting to get inside the anorexic mind. It also reads like it's a step by step guide. It reads like it was written for people whose first (second or third, forth or fifth) language isn't English. It's actually annoying.

I was diagnosed with Anorexia 20 years ago and still have it. I've meet so so many people with some kind of eating disorders, (anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder) or disordered eating and I can say that most will see the immaturity of this book and find it very stereotyped and I think I can fairly accurately say that a lot will agree with my thoughts on this.

This is probably my harshest review of a book but it just really gets to me that young, children really, can read this and think that this is exactly what it's like. In the very beginning it is similar to a degree but it's also not.

End rant.

[Sasha C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was...genuine. It was true. I felt that the author really knew what she was talking about. It was as if she actually went through all those emotions, because she depicted them in such a realistic, genuine way. And frightening. It was amazing what Leslie Lipton did with words, as though taking them straight out of the teenager's mind. Read this. Everyone I think has to read this book, because eating disorders are an impending problem in the current young adult society...a scary problem...because it is mental. It is impossible to know what someone is really thinking, and I think this book brings the importance of KNOWING that something is wrong, something that everyone should be able to sense, to realize...I'm going off a tangent right now, really, because the human brain is really difficult to sum up, to describe in a few short phrases. In this novel, we see how terrible and cruel the human brain can be...
almost inhumane.
But I'm not leaving off at that sad note.. this story brought hope that something like this doesn't have to end in tragedy, as it often does. There's always hope. And we have to fight for it.
Amazing, extraordinary book.

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horribly written and painfully inaccurate.

[louisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW. I didn't expect this book to be good. I really didn't. But wow.

I related to Stefanie in so many ways. I felt like the author was writing myself in this book. It was hard for me to get through and I was very emotional when Stefanie explained how Sarah died. I expected one of them to die but I didn't expect she's make two of them die. Wow. I couldn't even read the last few pages because I was crying so hard. I think I related too much to this book. With that being said, I probably won't reread this ever again.

It was very realistic, so I highly recommend it.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book felt very authentic. Definitely one of my new favorite ED books.

[Alison Whiteman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is trite and poorly written. The characters have no emotional depth.

[chels marieantoinette]

This one was ED development on speed. Stephanie starts out hating diet commercials and models in magazines then- after reading one paragraph in her psychology book- a flip switches and she’s anorexic. In a little over 2 months she loses 27.5lbs and is hospitalized. Her friends were rude, her mother was oblivious, and her doctor was blunt & unsympathetic. I felt frustrated for Stephanie, and as a person who’s struggled with EDOs my entire life, I related to her, but I found this book entirely unrealistic.
I guess I’d recommend it to parents who’ve just noticed their child struggling with body image or an individual who hasn’t fallen too far down the ED rabbit hole, but for anyone with a real, long-term struggle, this book was a little too neatly wrapped for me.

[Willen P · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't sympathise with the main character but apart from that it was a good read. However, a few typos, she said Olsen instead of Olson, also how could she be 16 already if she was born in 1985? I found the bones lyrics repetitive and annoying. Wait, the song 'Unwell' wasn't even released until 2003,so how could she have been listening to it? Someone should have proofread this before publishing.

[Sarah Kvas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, to me, got very real, raw, and emotional in the process of recovering from an eating disorder. I loved the fact that it showed that recovery is not easy, and that just because you relapse here or there does not mean you should give up entirely. As one who has struggled like Stefanie, I relate to this book quite a bit and to me it was a wonderful read.

[jazmyn haiayiele · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good book about reading disorders. If you or someone you know is currently experiencing dealing with an eating disorder, I recommend reading this. Or, if you just like the topic of it, even.

[Trigger Warning Database]

Trigger & Content Warnings

Eating disorder (anorexia nervosa)
Psychiatric hospitalisation

[Liralen · Rating 2 out of 5]

As the story opens, sixteen-year-old Stefanie is feeling isolated, inadequate -- and a bit fat. (Nobody has explained to her, apparently, that fat is not a feeling.) A diet, she decides, is in order. As it happens, her health class is learning about eating disorders, but -- ha, ha! -- she'd never take things that far, of course.

It takes about two days for her to go from 'diet' to 'disorder'. A month later, everyone is worried; a month after that, off to hospital she goes.

I can live with the rapid development, I suppose (and anyway, it's not exactly rare in this kind of book), but I don't think the story's terribly well done. It's not awful or anything, and I actually think there are a number of quite perceptive moments...and I appreciate that Stefanie doesn't go to hospital and have her come-to-Baby-Jesus* moment and never struggle again; she does struggle. So there's stuff that feels quite honest.

But overall...more telling than showing, by a long shot (including when it comes to important conversations). Sometimes preachy. Needed better proofreading -- just little things, but they niggled (Stephanie instead of Stefanie on page 4, Starbuck's Frappacino's on page 3). Hospital is a very weird mix of controlling (prescribed times for the bathroom, etc.) and stupidly permissive (patients are expected to self-report how much of their meals they didn't eat -- and they all comply). Really overdramatic in places (see quotation below). Managed to work in just about every stereotype and cliché I can think of -- and that's saying something.

In a month's time, she had seen things that none of her classmates would ever be exposed to in the chambers of their safe, privileges little lives. She'd befriended a depressive. She'd counseled a cutter. She'd seen four-point restraints used on patients throwing tantrums. She'd heard alarms sound all over the building, sending nurses' heads snapping up and guards running -- burly security men who were hardly necessary to contain the [...] terrors who inhabited Tower 3 North. Vomit on the floor, stark white walls, deceit, fighting, and threats had all become part of her world. (228)

She's right that most of the people at her prep school are unlikely to see four-point restraints in use, but we didn't see the alarms or security or anything, which leads me to think it's only in there for (over)dramatic effect. And 'befriended a depressive'? Really? Because there's never been a person with depression at a prep school, or at the Ivy League colleges they all want to go to? Humbug.

*Actually a thing in the book.

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book never gets old either I've read this one multiple times as well. I just like how they am describe and write about eating disorders. It gives u a good luck of what it's like to live with one and the hell and torture the ppl who suffer go through. Just like me yes I suffer from anorexia.

[Jessica Boyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

This book was alright. Nothing spectacular. It's a basic story of an eating disorder. Stefanie was a bit annoying in the beginning with the bones but I came to relate to her. I also have an ED. When she went into the hospital, it got slow. I've been in a hospital like that before so it wasn't super interesting, the other characters kind of fell flat. When the thing happens, I saw it coming and I was completely unmoved.

All in all, it was okay. Would recommend if you're into reading about that state of mind and how an eating disorder feels.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really couldn't get into this book. I felt it braced the subject of a serious eating disorder in quite a naive way, and could actually be quite damaging to people really going through this. I didn't really enjoy the style of writing, and found it almost too simplistic, in juxtaposition to the subject. I found it fairly similar to Wintergirls which I never really connected with either, so maybe this book just wasn't for me.

[Mandi Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.7 stars. So I really liked the story, but I had a problem with the writing style. Most of the time I felt disconnected from the story. Emotions and just the general story telling seemed to jump around a lot. Don't get me wrong, I really liked the story, I just wasn't the hugest fan of the writing, but I'm also very critical to novels when it comes to stories about eating disorders.

[Julia Tell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! I was very good friends with the author.

[Rhiannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insight into the mind of a patient with anorexia nervosa. Interesting to see how it all starts, and the gradual path to recovery.

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took longer than expected to read due to small print and 90% descriptive paragraphs with very minimal dialogue. Overrall an ok read.

[Ptreick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Show, don't tell.