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40 reviews for:
Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition, and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves
Crystal Renn
3.4 AVERAGE
40 reviews for:
Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition, and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves
Crystal Renn
3.4 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
A quick read, this book was a pretty well-done memoir of anorexia. The author took great care in trying to not let the book become a trigger. And she also peppered the book w/ research regarding set point, which I thought was interesting. And I loved the inclusion of pictures.
Crystal Renn is a successful editorial model known for being one of the first plus-size women in her industry to walk high-fashion runways and book covers of leading fashion magazines. An outspoken advocate of embracing natural beauty, Renn’s history of anorexia has been widely reported. In Hungry, Renn tells her story, from a childhood in Miami with an absent mother to being “discovered” as a Middle Schooler in rural Mississippi, and from her most unhealthy days, existing on plain lettuce and sugar-free gum, to learning how to embrace food and her body again.
I have such mixed emotions about this book. On one hand, I love the body-positive message Renn learns to adopt and project in this book, but on the other, it feels a bit disingenuous knowing she has lost a significant amount of weight once again since this book was published. Her personal love story, shared at the end of Hungry, has also crumbled in the past 6 years since this book was published. On one hand, I feel a bit deceived after reading how big girls can get a happily ever after and how important it is to listen to your body as it tells you its happy weight and not try to force it into doing something unnatural. On another, I feel like a real bitch, because Renn is a human being and shouldn’t be criticized for changing her mind like everyone else does.
Those feelings aside, Hungry tells a compelling story of embracing yourself for who you are. Renn summarizes some research regarding anorexia and gives valuable insight into what its like for a new model to get signed and start going to go-sees. There were quite a few dry parts when she goes into some of the deeper details of research, and I found myself skimming quite a few pages, which is something I never really seem to do when I’m reading. Sometimes Renn’s personality came off as a bit pretentious, too, which also kind of turned me off while reading.
I think I’m still undecided about this book. I didn’t hate it, but I for sure didn’t enjoy it very much. If you’re interested in modeling or have a more personal experience with eating disorders, this might be worth your time, but I wouldn’t recommend it as a whole.
I have such mixed emotions about this book. On one hand, I love the body-positive message Renn learns to adopt and project in this book, but on the other, it feels a bit disingenuous knowing she has lost a significant amount of weight once again since this book was published. Her personal love story, shared at the end of Hungry, has also crumbled in the past 6 years since this book was published. On one hand, I feel a bit deceived after reading how big girls can get a happily ever after and how important it is to listen to your body as it tells you its happy weight and not try to force it into doing something unnatural. On another, I feel like a real bitch, because Renn is a human being and shouldn’t be criticized for changing her mind like everyone else does.
Those feelings aside, Hungry tells a compelling story of embracing yourself for who you are. Renn summarizes some research regarding anorexia and gives valuable insight into what its like for a new model to get signed and start going to go-sees. There were quite a few dry parts when she goes into some of the deeper details of research, and I found myself skimming quite a few pages, which is something I never really seem to do when I’m reading. Sometimes Renn’s personality came off as a bit pretentious, too, which also kind of turned me off while reading.
I think I’m still undecided about this book. I didn’t hate it, but I for sure didn’t enjoy it very much. If you’re interested in modeling or have a more personal experience with eating disorders, this might be worth your time, but I wouldn’t recommend it as a whole.
I like an eating disorder memoir as much as the next gal, but this was poorly written and apparently not edited, and I had a hard time getting over that and hearing her story. Renn is still very young and this book sounded as much. What you need to know: she is in recovery (great!), and the modeling industry pressures young women to be unnaturally thin (and I didn't know this already?). Following my new motto, "Life is short, don't read bad books," I didn't actually finish this one.
Really a wonderful book. Renn gets at the core of the pursuit of thinness, and her approach is ultimately so, so healthy. When I have daughters, this will be on the required reading list.
I'm already pretty familiar with Renn's mission to infuse the modeling world with non-straight size women, and I believed that this book would approach her beliefs in innovative ways.
However, I could barely get past the first few chapters. Renn is not a writer, and her memoir definitely shows her lack of expertise. Disconnected editing and an inexperienced writer make reading this book a chore.
However, I could barely get past the first few chapters. Renn is not a writer, and her memoir definitely shows her lack of expertise. Disconnected editing and an inexperienced writer make reading this book a chore.
A nice light read if you're interested in the modeling industry and how it's affects women's eating disorders.
I have finally finished this book that I picked up months ago at a Barnes & Noble. It was $15 but I bought it, which is strange for me since I rarely buy books, most of the time I go to the library. I was right though, this book was worth it twice over. This was an amazing book and I'm happy that Crystal Renn decided to write her story down. From anorexia at 14 to the point of dying at 17 due to a diet of lettuce and steamed vegetables for three years.. This story is about that struggle for a young girl in overcoming her anorexia and the circular and constantly harmful mindset that keeps many women anorexic. Renn also talked a lot about America's relationship with weight and the obsession with skinniness.
What surprised me most about this book was how lush it was. She talks about how and why she fell in love with fashion, clothes, and why it really can be art. Here is a passage that I just found absolutely romantic, in a haunted but real sort of way..
'For another shoot with Ellen, I went to the beautiful country-side outside Paris, where we shot at a glamorous old chateau. Ellen had all us models rolling around in the mud - it had been raining off and on - in fabulous clothes. We were filthy. Mud was everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. Ellen went back to Paris for the night, and we models were supposed to return to our hotel in a nearby town to sleep. But just before we were scheduled to leave, a giant rainstorm rolled in. We were trapped at the chateau. We showered off the mud, but we had not fresh clothes. So we just gathered around the fireplace, all of us wrapped in towels. As the rain slashed against the stained-glass windows of the castle and lightning lit up the sky, the chateau's owner brought us a huge, antique platter of glorious French cheeses and grapes. I played Fur Elise on the piano, and the other models lounged about, licking their fingers, the towels now abandoned on the two-hundred-year-old carpet. I thought, This is a moment. Always remember this.'
What surprised me most about this book was how lush it was. She talks about how and why she fell in love with fashion, clothes, and why it really can be art. Here is a passage that I just found absolutely romantic, in a haunted but real sort of way..
'For another shoot with Ellen, I went to the beautiful country-side outside Paris, where we shot at a glamorous old chateau. Ellen had all us models rolling around in the mud - it had been raining off and on - in fabulous clothes. We were filthy. Mud was everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. Ellen went back to Paris for the night, and we models were supposed to return to our hotel in a nearby town to sleep. But just before we were scheduled to leave, a giant rainstorm rolled in. We were trapped at the chateau. We showered off the mud, but we had not fresh clothes. So we just gathered around the fireplace, all of us wrapped in towels. As the rain slashed against the stained-glass windows of the castle and lightning lit up the sky, the chateau's owner brought us a huge, antique platter of glorious French cheeses and grapes. I played Fur Elise on the piano, and the other models lounged about, licking their fingers, the towels now abandoned on the two-hundred-year-old carpet. I thought, This is a moment. Always remember this.'
This book is a haunting look at what our culture does to girls with respect to body image. To look at a healthy, young girl and tell her, "You can be a super star, but you'll have to lose weight first," simply opens the door to self-destructive behaviors. Each of us has a different body type and should be celebrated for who and what we are.
By way of critique, I found it distracting that Renn (or rather Marjorie Ingall, who actually wrote the book) quickly switches from a chronological telling of the story to telling the themes of the story years ahead and back to a chronological telling. It was hard to follow, and I kept having to reread or just guess what year we were talking about.
SPOILER:
Also, once Renn embraces being a plus model, she writes a lot about how each person's body has a set point weight. She says that dieting never works because we are trying to force our bodies below our designed set point weight. She also discusses the "obesity epidemic" in the United States. While I don't dispute her point that the parameters of obesity have changed, thus pushing millions of Americans, including professional athletes, over the edge, I do think that it is unhealthy to be too far into that category. After reading her book, it appears that Renn is saying that you are "healthy" or at your "set point" regardless of what size you are, if that's where your body has settled and a weight that you don't have to work too hard to maintain.
I think that this is also the wrong body image. I do agree that some women who are 5' 9" should naturally weigh 140 pounds while others are naturally their healthiest closer to 175. It's hard to believe, though, that 225 pounds would be the natural set point for a woman of that height. I wish that Renn would have focused more on eating healthfully and exercising and letting that determine your body's healthy weight. Once she gave up her anorexia, she naturally fell into a healthy pattern of eating and worked to regain healthy exercise habits. For many women (and men) in America, healthy eating is the problem. either we fall into anorexia or we fall into binging. Neither one will give you a healthy body.
By way of critique, I found it distracting that Renn (or rather Marjorie Ingall, who actually wrote the book) quickly switches from a chronological telling of the story to telling the themes of the story years ahead and back to a chronological telling. It was hard to follow, and I kept having to reread or just guess what year we were talking about.
SPOILER:
Also, once Renn embraces being a plus model, she writes a lot about how each person's body has a set point weight. She says that dieting never works because we are trying to force our bodies below our designed set point weight. She also discusses the "obesity epidemic" in the United States. While I don't dispute her point that the parameters of obesity have changed, thus pushing millions of Americans, including professional athletes, over the edge, I do think that it is unhealthy to be too far into that category. After reading her book, it appears that Renn is saying that you are "healthy" or at your "set point" regardless of what size you are, if that's where your body has settled and a weight that you don't have to work too hard to maintain.
I think that this is also the wrong body image. I do agree that some women who are 5' 9" should naturally weigh 140 pounds while others are naturally their healthiest closer to 175. It's hard to believe, though, that 225 pounds would be the natural set point for a woman of that height. I wish that Renn would have focused more on eating healthfully and exercising and letting that determine your body's healthy weight. Once she gave up her anorexia, she naturally fell into a healthy pattern of eating and worked to regain healthy exercise habits. For many women (and men) in America, healthy eating is the problem. either we fall into anorexia or we fall into binging. Neither one will give you a healthy body.