Customer Reviews

Thin

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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This book is beautifully put together. Like a picture story book, this documentary of women struggling with/recovering from eating disorders is an eye opening look at how quickly and deeply someone can lose themselves and become a hollow shell of who they once were. It's an honest portrayal of a serious disease and its sufferers. The photographs, as all of Lauren Greenfield's photography I've seen, are beautiful and haunting. **Possible trigger for those in recovery. ** I highly recommend this book.

As someone recovering from an eating disorder, I have noticed that there is a continuing problem with much of the eating disorder literature and media available today; while it effectively serves as an educational tool for those trying to understand the dark world of eating disorders, it can often serve as a trigger for those trying to recover from an eating disorder. However I have found that Lauren Greenfield's work, both on her Thin documentary and book, does not do this. In fact, Greenfield's work is the first piece of information on eating disorders that has truly repulsed me from the very condition of having an eating disorder. This is the first time I have ever felt this way, and that is very significant, because the difficult part of breaking away from disordered eating is actually seeing that it is a repulsive act.

For this reason, I highly recommend both the book and the documentary for those who actively want to recover, and need inspiration, and to those who are having a difficult time understanding why a friend or loved one is going through it. Greenfield pulls no punches and does not sugar coat any aspect of the girls recovering at the Renfrew Center in Florida (to my knowledge there are no males shown at this facility when the filming occurs, despite the fact that there are men with eating disorders too) Be warned the footage is graphic - there is a lot of vulgar language, views of these women throwing up (one even literally tosses her small dog out of the bathroom, then locks the dog in a crate just so she can have privacy while she vomits), and both the book and the DVD show women's scarred bodies both from self-mutilation and from suicide attempts.

All in all, I am very impressed with Greenfield's work. Well done.

As a former anorexic (purging type--in recovery for ten years and two months exactly!), I bought this book partially expecting to be triggered by the graphic pictures of women who reached weights that I never "achieved." Instead I found an honest, raw and, ultimately, tragic portrait of what it's like to still be in the grips of an eating disorder. I didn't expect this book to make me feel this way, but I'm so grateful to be recovered--even when I think my stomach sticks out and that I have thunder thighs!

Thanks Lauren, for reminding me of what it's like to be embroiled in an all-consuming obsession with food and weight and worth--of never being good enough, of letting an inanimate object (food) determine my value. I'm happy to be free, even though I never got deathly "thin." I was thin and am thin . . . enough.

'Thin' was written as a companion to the documentary with the same name. I saw the documentary, which is just as noteworthy as the book, but I find the book to be a lot more intriguing. While the doc. only follows four girls the book holds the stories of numerous girls staying at the Renfrew Clinic in Flordia. The book is informative and has the girls stories along with pictures.

While I find the book to be informative and captivating it is also very triggering. The pictures and stories may cause ill feelings for those suffering from the disorder. At the same time it may help someone cope with the disease if they know someone suffering from Anorexia, Bulimia, Complusive Exercising, etc.

I highly recommend this book and all the knowledge that it holds.

Photographer Lauren Greenfield has produced other projects capturing youth in color, but THIN is one of her most ambitious projects yet, capturing the faces and results of eating disorders in all ages. The Renfrew Center in Florida serves as the source of her inspiration, with chapter profiling four patients at Renfrew ages 15 to 30, and including some fifteen others. Her interviews with these women supplement their own art and journal entries and provide a strong visual testimony to the unhappiness and power of eating disorders. Any health library, especially those with a few standard texts on the subject, must have this unique visual approach.

This book is the most honest book ive ever read on eating disorders. I have quite a few family memebers with anorexia and bulima. I watched them waste away, go into to hostpitals and come back from the time i was 5 untill 19. Most have recovered, or are still in recovery. One of my cousins put it to me this way "once an anorexic, always an anorexic" even though she is at a good weight (still 5 lbs underweight) and is now 29 she still has trouble and daily struggles. Most books ive read in this subject all kinda have the same ending, they are finally hospitalized, recovered and then last page is "THE END" which is far from the truth.

Lauren Greenfield has truly Captured the Day to Day life with older, teenagers and young adults suffering from eating disorders. The details are graphic and the photographs in this book actually made me cry, but it was a eye opener. I reccomend this book to anyone who has a loved one or friend that has an eating disorder. Alot of people do not understand or can even commprehend why anyone would choose to starve themselves, This book can really give enlighting information to the desperate person trying to cope/understand their loved ones eating disoder. To anyone who is curious and just wants information in eating disorders. This is the book! the author holds nothing back. Excellent is all i can say! buy this, you will not be dissapointed. I hope this review was helpfull.

As someone who is went through treatment at the Renfrew Center, I find this book extremely well put together.

I really enjoyed this book. This book is the first ED book I have read that has color photographs of real girls who struggled with EDs. It made the illness (yes, ILLNESS) much more real. I think that everyone should read this book to understand the inner battles that people with EDs go through. Totally recommend this book.

I've watched the movie probably 10+ times. This book really point out to me some of the things that i never knew. It is alot of the same about the main girls, but it gives you insight into the other girls. At one point in the movie, shelly is accused of the garden burger situation, and they mention stephanie i think. I instantly grabbed my book and looked at who it was. It really ties well with the movie, but dont expect more from the main girls. I didnt know it was a big book, its the size of a sheet of paper, 8and a half by 11. This book really does show you how the other girls feel, the images are powerful, and the biographies of the other girls make you crave more of them. Love love love this book. in my top 5 of favorite books.

(i am a recovering anorexic, and i did not find this book very triggering at all, some photos were tough, but mostly the words didn't bother me) Its such a beautiful picture book.

thank you lauren greenfield for giving me this insight into eating disorders. this let me know what recovery was like, it made me fear it alot less.

There are plenty of comprehensive reviews for this book already, I just wish to say that I purchased this book in order to feel a little less alone with my own disordered eating. Is it entirely healthy for me? probably not, but reading the stories and seeing these women and girls' struggle helps me look forward to my own time in recovery.