Stick Figure:
a diary of my former self

Lori Gottlieb

A Hodder Book 2001

240p pbk $21.95

ISBN: 0-7336-14213-X

Stick Figure by Lori Gotlieb is an autobiography in diary form. It is a true story about a girl who suffers from anorexia nervosa. The book is set in the 1970s when young girls were encouraged to be thin and beautiful so they would find husbands. Lori is eleven and is very intelligent but after hearing comments from her mother and father she starts to believe that she is fat and has to lose weight. Lori starts eating small amounts of food that she believes are low in fat and buys diet books which she thinks will help her to lose weight. After refusing to eat anything at all, her parents become worried and send her to a doctor. She eventually gets so thin that she is sent to a special hospital. She becomes so unhappy there that she tries to take her own life.

Stick Figure is an emotional story that really involves the reader. I thought this book was really great, it shows the reader the pain felt by both the anorexic person and their family. This is book is a good read that I think would be valuable for young girls entering adolescence to read.