Kim: Empty Inside [Book Report]=))

The book that I read this week was called Kim: Empty Inside The Diary of an Anonymous Teenager, By Beatrice Sparks. This book is based on the terrible eating disorders of Anorexia Nervosa/Bulimia Nervosa. I don't really read books in diary form, or have read any about anorexia, but this one caught my attention so I decided to give it a try. I actually really enjoyed it.

It starts off with typical teenager Kim who is a recent graduate and is going off to college at UCLA. Her life seems to be getting out of control because in a way she doesn't feel ready to move away from mom and dad and start her whole new life at college. She's in Gymnastics at college and she feels insecure because the other girls in her gymnastics team seem to be just a little bit thinner than her, she also has fear in accepting her own sexuality because she never had a boyfriend so that starts to freak her out more. The only thing she seems to control in her life is food, but even that gets out of hand. Doing terrible things, like being so starved having to eat food from a dog bowl, to using a whole box of laxatives in one night Kim can't realize that her eating disorder is a problem until it was almost too late. With her hands pretty much tied Kim finally accepted her problem, she had help from her friends and family, but she knew only she can save herself.

At some point I thought this book was a little irrelevant because I think that people that suffer from eating disorders wouldn't have time for all the party and fun that Kim herself had, but then I don't know because I, myself fortunately haven't had an eating disorder. This book though, does, however relay to the life of most teenage girls because dealing with the fact that you have to grow up and create your own life can be very difficult, and at a point you don't know how to control things anymore. I recommend this book because I think that anyone can learn a little something about it. Like how to appreciate and love your body, and how the love of family and friends can overcome any obstacles