23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Sad Chronicle of a 10-Year Suicide, August 5, 2005
Out of a sea of hundreds of titles on anorexia nervosa, Slim to None serves as a heartbreaking reminder of a cold reality. For every recovering anorexic who achieves long-term health, there are untold numbers of others who don't make it. There's an old saying among therapists that there are four barriers to recovery--health, wealth, youth, and brains. Unfortunately for Jennifer Hendricks, she had an abundance of all four. Part Shakespearean-style tragedy and part psychiatric case study, Jen's story is both fascinating and disturbing all at once. With the loving help of her father Gordon, Jen's voice rises from the grave through a series of journals kept over a ten-year period, from her high school days until her untimely death at age 25.
On the surface, the Hendrickses lived a life you see only on television. A close-knit family with five children (Jen is #3), the father had a nice steady job; the mother devoted herself to home and church. The two oldest children had already spread their wings and headed off to college. Jen herself was an honor student who later graduated valedictorian of her high school class. She had everything to live for. So what on earth would cause Jen to develop such strong pervasive feelings of disgust and self-loathing and to wish she were dead? There is no single answer, although her therapists certainly tried to invent one.
Jen bounced from many psychiatrists, therapists, and treatment centers. At one point she encountered a rather bizarre self-proclaimed faith healer, who attempted to perform a slipshod exorcism. Nothing seemed to help. Anorexia is like alcoholism in many ways. It is strong, chronic, and vexing, and it defies rehabilitation. There is considerable debate over whether anorexia has a biological base, is an outward symptom of deeper pathology, or is the result of external conditioning in a society obsessed with weight and beauty. Does an anorexic really "choose" to stay sick? Jen tries repeatedly to answer these questions herself. Maybe deep down she truly wanted death, because she lacked the inner resources to cope with life. Jen tried to hasten the process on a couple of occasions by cutting herself or swallowing pills. But she survived every overt suicide attempt, as someone always found her in time.
Although anorexia literally means "without appetite," Jen was hungry, hungry, HUNGRY. Starved for love and approval, she seeks them from an emotionally distant mother and equally distant and sometimes cruel psychiatrists and mental health workers. Jen often flashbacks to graphic images of profound physical and sexual abuse suffered at the hands of both relatives and family friends. In some parts though, it would appear that Jen developed a severe case of False Memory Syndrome. I personally believe she was somehow traumatized as a child; however, her memories may have been magnified and embellished in therapy. One reviewer surmised that Jen had Borderline Personality Disorder; while Jen may have displayed BPD characteristics, I am not qualified to make such an assessment. There is no doubt that Jen had Major Depression, and no one could come up with an effective treatment plan.
Jen may have reached numeric adulthood, but she remained a child, both in body and in mind, and a wounded child at that. She kept saying she wanted to get better, but anorexia was too ingrained in her very identity. And no one would or could help her carve out a new self-image that did not include anorexia. By the time Jen reached a real turning point--that she was "sick and tired of being sick and tired," and we see a true glimmer of hope for the first time ever, it is too late. Jen's body shuts down, tormented from years of abuse and having cannibalized itself just to make it to the next day. There was nothing left.
Overall, I am glad I read this book, for giving me new insights into the mystery of anorexia. Jen left us a valuable gift. However, my criticisms are based mainly on presentation and style. There were times when Jen went for months without a single entry. Gordon Hendricks attempts to fill in the gaps by recreating scenes and dialog that he personally witnessed, as well as hypothesizing what went on in Jen's therapy sessions. The connections are very choppy in places, and I had a hard time following--sometimes having to backtrack several pages to remind myself of where we were.
Also, while Jen's entries are dated, year stamps are noticeably absent. I suspect this was done intentionally, to give the book a "timeless" feel. However, there are clues as to the time period (e.g. references to movies, TV shows, etc.). My guess is that the action takes place from 1979 to 1989 or 1990. Anorexia was only just starting to come into the public consciousness. Without defending poor medical practice, which is pervasive throughout, if Jen's health team seems ignorant of anorexia, it's because they are! We have come a long way over the last twenty or so years.
For that reason, I am less concerned about fledgling anorexics using this book as a "how to" manual, and more worried that some people might see this book as Exhibit A of anorexia treatment. This in turn might prevent patients and their families from seeking the help that they so desperately need.
One other thing--we need to remember that Jen's story is viewed strictly through the lens of a sick girl and her grieving father. I would have liked some commentary from the mental health profession, like from a psychologist or psychiatrist who specializes in eating disorders. There were times when Jen's parents were advised to stay away from her, but that recommendation was likely more for the sanity of the parents than for the treatment of Jen.
Verdict: It's not a literary masterpiece, like "The Diary of Anne Frank." However, it deserves a spot in every high school, public, and medical library, as a chilling testament to one girl's life that went hellishly wrong and the betrayal by the very safeguards that had been set up to protect her in the first place.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A compelling but very troubling book, March 30, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Slim to None : A Journey Through the Wasteland of Anorexia Treatment (Hardcover)
"Slim to None" is a very compelling read, but should also be a very disturbing one for anyone involved with the treatment of eating disorders. Jennifer's diaries, interspersed with commentary from her father and narrative history of some of her treatment experiences, provide a fascinating glimpse into the inner life of a young woman caught up in the throes of a serious, and eventually fatal, eating disorder. They also provide a clear insight into how far off-track the treatment for these complex and difficult disorders can get, and how devastating the results can be. Doubtless a useful warning for many. However, the book also poses, indirectly, many important ethical questions which would probably in some cases apply to many mental disorders. Chief among them is the whole issue of when a patient should be allowed to refuse treatment, even if that refusal is tantamount to a slow suicide. Unfortunately the book never addresses the question directly, leaving the reader hanging in mid-air on this issue. I also would have liked to have read some of the views of the doctors and therapists who tried to work with Jennifer during her illness. The insights of the patient and family are valuable, but it would have been interesting to read how the professionals viewed her illness and the treatment available to her.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who works with those suffering from eating disorders. Unlike some other customer-reviewers, however, I would strongly discourage anyone currently in the throes of an eating disorder from reading it. I think the many emotional triggers it contains could actually harm some sufferers.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Like reading my own diaries from the past, July 2, 2006
This review is from: Slim to None : A Journey Through the Wasteland of Anorexia Treatment (Hardcover)
I am a recovering anorexic. I was hospitalized numerous times before something inside of my mine just snapped and I was ready to let go. Really ready. And I am one of the very few lucky ones.
I love this book. Jennifer's father reminds me of my own and the struggle he put up to keep me alive.
My father never gave up. Jennifer's father held on until the very end when he finally gave in and knew she was going to die. My heart breaks for him, and for Jennifer.
Eating disorder treatment has come a LONG way since Jennifer's struggle, but it is still severely flawed. Insurance companies are atrocious and refuse to pay for long term care. Families without means to pay for repeated and extended treatment are left stranded. Every single person in my family, including extended family, took out a loan and combined their money to pay for my treatments. One private hospital took me in for free after my dad pleaded with them and my doctors had said I would die. This hospital, my family's love, and luck saved my life.
It shouldn't be so difficult to obtain treatment for a fatal disease. That's the message Jennifer's father is trying to get across. I've read some other reviews who express concern that people criticize treatment, and may be less inclined to seek it after reading this book. But I think it is a powerful statement that has been a long time in coming.
When are we going to view eating disorders as biological illnesses that cause psychological illness? When are the doctors and hospitals and insurance companies, not to mention society in general, going to see eating disorders for what they are?
Medical. Fatal. Diseases.
Like cancer of the mind. They must be fought early and aggressively. And it must be POSSIBLE to do that. For anyone who suffers with an eating disorder.
Thank you, Mr. Hendricks, for writing this book. Thank you.
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