Customer Reviews

ANA'S GIRLS: The Essential Guide to the Underground Eating Disorder Community Online

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I rarely hate a book, but this book was a total waste. It is written in a huge type - the actual content is nothing more then a short essay. It wastes a large section on "surveys" of girls that are on "pro-ana" websites that are meaningless and offer no insight. The information is nothing but a small bound collection of stuff you can read for free on the internet. It offers no insight on the "pro-ana" phenomenon - it merely takes from these websites and prints the information out. If someone is really curious about such websites, they can read them for free online. This book is nothing more then copies of posts and short "essays" from public websites - there is hardly any new or original information.

I'm not sure what this book's intended purpose was - was it to have a "guide to the internet" for anorexics? Or was it a portrayal of a potentially dangerous "club" for eating disordered people?

It's literally a 20 minute *very* amature read full of no new information and it's almost no original content.

If you love to nurture your eating disorder, by all means get this book. It's completely triggering and delightfully helpful in encouraging you to hold on to habits which will pave the way to an early grave.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I ordered this book. It states on the back cover that "This book does not promote eating disorders", yet the contents are basically what you'd find on any pro-eating disorder website. It is perhaps a useful book for those studying the nature of anorexia, or who want to find out more about the "underground community" but it is definitely not for anyone trying to recover from an eating disorder because some of the information is very triggering.

The book is neatly divided up into sections including posts from a pro-ana email group, a "dictionary" of code words and the "ana Creed". There are also some detailed surveys and stories from pro-ana's.

This book was a disappointment. The author basically just copied various website pages and threw them together in this book. There was so much opportunity to write a really good book on the online "ana community" that she just didn't use or do. Not worth the money, or time to read. Do your own online research and I guarantee you will get much more quality information.

DO NOT waste your money on purchasing this book, or waste your time on reading it.
It is FAR from an "essential guide" to anything ED related- "pro-ana" or not.
It's simply a bunch of copy-and-pasted random messages, posts, self-created "quizzes, etc. from websites and message boards of girls who believe they can "give" one another anorexia. My 8-year-old niece could have written this.

Sorry. But you can't just CATCH a mental illness. If the author is writing an "essential guide" to this sub-culture, then - at the VERY least - the author should have the intelligence to know that mental illnesses aren't contagious, nor are they a choice. The author is in no way a professional of any kind. There is little psychology, next to no sociological perspectives included, and does nothing to bring this sub-culture to the forefront.

This book is nothing more than someone incredibly ignorant about the truth and reality of eating disorders, attempting to capitalize and prey upon those who truly do struggle with food, body and weight issues.

I am disappointed that this book was even allowed to be published.

If you're looking for an INTELLIGENT book that truly captures the essence of life with an eating disorder, by an author who actually has knowledge and experience on the subject, read "Eli's Wings" by Elizabeth Best; "The Invisible Girl: A Father's Heart-breaking Story of the Daughter He Lost" by Peter Barham; or "TO DIE FOR" by Carol Lee -- among others.

Good luck!

Please, save your money. "Ana's Girls" is far from an "essential guide" to the pro-ana community; the vast majority of the book is excerpts from various web sites. Although the material is interesting, you could easily find it online for free. Furthermore, I was hoping for some in-depth analytical text about the community and about larger cultural issues, but the author only provided basic, common-sense, surface-level analysis. She doesn't even use secondary sources to back up what little she does have to say. If you want to learn about this community, I recommend doing a little research via Google, but don't waste your money on this book.

ANA'S GIRLS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE UNDERGROUND EATING DISORDER COMMUNITY ONLINE, says on it's cover that it is the only book to fairly present both sides of the anoexia story. In the diaries, lists, and interview questions, the young women inteviewed are pesented, not as total victims of a disease and/or society's
"evil" praising of extreme thinness --but as individual persons, some of whom are happy with their anorexa -- othess who are not.

I learnt an amazing thing from this book. That anorexics often have as HARD a time staying away from favourite foods as the rest of us do! For many of them, it's not "food is poison", but "I don't want to eat food because too much of it is bad for me...yet I still crave...." In the lists of many of them, they list THE favourite foods they have the most deifficulty staying away from!

I imagine this book was self-published -- or made to look that way. It is all in typewrite, double-spaced font, and the pages are full of honest opinions, secret opinions, and real hopes and fears.

Yes, this CAN be consdiered a "Pro-Ana(rexis)" book -- but it also presents some of the girl's fears about their eating disorder. It IS a "fairly presented" book.
Most other books are TOTALLY down on anorexia nervosa -- considering it an evil on the level of the Black Plague, ALS, or Leprosy. But unlike most other ailments, anorexia, (and bulimia and overeating), give their "victims", at least some measure of comfort. Or so it appears from the words in this book...

A long time ago, I read a book entitled, "It Is Your Life". I forget the author -- but hope to find it again on Amazon. It is a health book, with good advice, and charming and knowledgable illustrations. One illustration shows ten thin men, and ten fat men, and how many of each will reach age 70, (or 80). Statistics favour the then men --and so does this illustration.

It is not good to be either too fat, or too thin. But if I had my choice, I would be too thin. I therefore applaud the honesty in this book, the women who participated in its making, and its publisher, who has brought this book filled with TRUE feelings, and TRUE eating habits, to the public ao that all who are interested can read this insight into the reality of anorexia.

This book is amazing, having struggled with the same issues a few years back, it gives a deep insight into the disorder, from the victim's point of view. Most would not understand parts of the book, unless they themselves, or a close friend or relative had the same difficulties. Overall, amazing book, and highly recommended.

This book could have been written with half the number of pages it had. The type is not only very large, but the lines are double-spaced, like a college term paper. I read it in an hour, and I didn't learn much that I didn't already know. And I don't even have an eating disorder.

I liked a few things in the book. One of them was an entry written by an ED sufferer who still struggles on and off, and found in certain ED websites a safe place where she could talk and people would understand. She provided a rationale for not pushing these sites underground or trying to shut them down. Something else I was struck by was the general tenor of the message board posts written by people with eating disorders. They discouraged the advances of young girls who want to "become ana", and in their comments to each other, they are protective, sincere and very kind. I wish they were as kind to their own bodies, but hopefully that will come in time. The third thing that surprised me was that there were some "normal-bodied" people in the user groups. They posted their current weights and nobody criticized them for it. I guess that makes sense, since eveyone seems to be engaged in her own struggle.

This is an intriguing look at a scary reality. Acknowledging the existence of online communities such as these is so important as a way for parents, educators and concerned friends to combat a disease that consumes more and more of our youth each day.

In addition, I don't believe that it's "creepy lurking" when someone is doing research to bring a serious issue to light. I had no knowledge of these eating disorder online communities before reading her book, and I think Ms. Uca has done a very good job with this.