Andrea's Voice: Silenced by Bulimia: Her Story and Her Mother's Journey Through Grief Toward Understanding [Paperback]

Doris Smeltzer (Author), Carolyn Costin (Foreword), Andrea Lynn Smeltzer (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2006

Vibrant, talented, strong, and beautiful, Andrea Smeltzer seemed destined for a great future. But after a one-year struggle with bulimia, she died in her sleep at age 19, catapulting her mother Doris into a wrenching but ultimately rewarding journey of discovery. This unabashed account not only speaks about one family’s tragedy, but also critiques the social and personal attitudes toward our bodies and appearance that create victims like Andrea. Andrea's poetry and journal entries, combined with her mother's reflections, offer insight and understanding about a crushing disorder that afflicts far too many young people.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“This is one of the most beautiful, real, compassionate and personal books from the point of view of the eating disorder, sufferer, the family and the community. We should all celebrate Andrea’s Voice.”
— Ira M. Sacker, MD, President, Helping End Eating Disorders (Heed) Foundation, author of Regaining Yourself

Thanks to Doris Smeltzer’s courageous examination of her daughter’s illness and death, Andrea may actually empower many others struggling with eating disorders to live. Ultimately, this is a book of hope and of healing.”
— Margo Maine, PhD, psychologist and author, specializing in eating disorders for 25 years

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Gurze Books (May 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0936077018
• ISBN-13: 978-0936077017
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #282,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Doris Smeltzer was a career educator teaching throughout the K-12 and adult education spectrum until her 19-year-old daughter Andrea died after 13 months of bulimic behaviors. At that time she chose to leave her teaching position. Since then she has devoted her life to eating disorder prevention through Andrea's Voice Foundation, the non-profit she co-founded with her husband. She holds a master's degree in counseling psychology, is a Registered MFT Intern, and in addition to authoring Andrea's Voice, she writes the Gurze Books' "Advice for Parents" blog and is a co-author of a chapter in the recently published book, Treatment of Eating Disorders: Bridging the Research/Practice Gap (Academic Press, 2010). She is currently developing an educational curriculum for the eating disorder field based on interviews from her Internet radio show, "Savor Yourself...beyond skin deep." Her sought-after presentations have been heard at organizations, universities, and conferences around the world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving Must-Read Tribute, June 12, 2006

By 

Joslyn Smith (Silver Spring, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Andrea's Voice: Silenced by Bulimia: Her Story and Her Mother's Journey Through Grief Toward Understanding (Paperback)

Andrea's Voice is a moving tribute to an incredibly wise young woman and a family whose bond is inspiring. As someone who has been deeply affected by Andrea's struggle with an eating disorder and my own, this book both warmed my heart and broke it anew. There is so much here to be learned and reminded of regardless of whether or not one has been directly touched by an eating disorder. Doris' words, along with Andrea's, have the potential to begin a critical societal discussion about how we - as parents, siblings, partners, friends, co-workers, educators, treatment professionals, media personalities, policymakers - contribute to the thoughts that encourage disordered eating behaviors. As importantly, though, this book helps us begin to reevaluate and change our expectations and judgments of others and ourselves. In writing Andrea's Voice, Doris Smeltzer has given us incredible gifts: insight into her own journey and the gift of her daughter. Each person who reads this will be changed.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gratefully Affected, June 11, 2006

By 

Don Waxman "Don" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Andrea's Voice: Silenced by Bulimia: Her Story and Her Mother's Journey Through Grief Toward Understanding (Paperback)

It is hard for me to describe all the feelings I had while reading Andrea's Voice. It is a beautifully written, informative and well constructed book, which I know will become an important contribution to the eating-disorder mental health community as well as to the mental health community in general. Apart from this however, the book offers a riveting and compelling personal story that is very affecting and urgently relevant in many domaines, especially family, culture, health, therapy, grief counseling, and spirituality.

As a parent with an abiding relationship with a daughter who is exactly Andrea's age, I am shaken, instructed, affirmed, scolded, awed, emboldened, and a bit terrified by this story. However, you do not need to be a parent to be affected by this book. This story will deeply affect anyone who reads it.

Andrea's writings, which are interwoven with her mother's account of her story, are truly amazing. I choke and gasp for air when I read them. How could such a young human being be capable of expressing thoughts and feelings the way she does? While Andrea's letters, journaling and poetry very poignantly evoke what it is like for a young woman to have a mental illness from the inside out, they also go way beyond this. Her writing is inspiring soul searching. Even more so however, I find Andrea's words to be spiritually inspirational. Together with her mother's impassioned grieving and soulfully evoked searching, they form one very powerful beating heart, the sound of which is a most generous and unforgettable gift for which I cannot thank them enough.

Please read this book,it will change your life.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The story of a beautiful and talented young woman who suffers, and eventually dies from, an eating disorder, September 13, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Andrea's Voice: Silenced by Bulimia: Her Story and Her Mother's Journey Through Grief Toward Understanding (Paperback)

"Andrea's Voice Silenced By Bulimia: Her Story and Her Mother's Journey Through Grief Toward Understanding" is a final legacy organized and co-written by both Andrea's mother, Doris Smeltzer, and Andrea herself in the form of her journals and papers. This compelling account tells the story of a beautiful and talented young woman who suffers, and eventually dies from, an eating disorder. "Andrea's Voice" represents a great lesson woven from painful experience. Doris Smeltzer is co-founder of the eating disorder prevention nonprofit organization, Andrea's Voice Foundation. Through the finely crafted voices and carefully chosen writings in "Andrea's Voice," her mother presents both the deep isolationism of the disordered eater, her daughter, and the close bond that still enriches her life today, when her daughter's living voice is silenced. "Andrea's Voice" is both a deeply compassionate, inspirational tribute to the life of Andrea, and a search for clues and tools to stem the outcome in others with disordered eating. "Andrea's Voice" is both a clinical and a very human look at the relationship between Andrea and her mother, shared to help others afflicted with eating disorders -- or have loved ones who are faced with such potentially dangerous health issues.