Hungry: A Young Model’s Story of Appetite, Ambition and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves

5 Responses to “Hungry: A Young Model’s Story of Appetite, Ambition and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves”

1. Redheaded Pirate says:

   August 28, 2010 at 1:47 pm

   While I really loved this book, and was impressed by the writer’s thoughtfulness, I’m not sure I agree with her on every point. I’ve been anorexic and bulimic, massively underweight and reasonably overweight. At age 39 I loved my only pregnancy so painstakingly I didn’t want it to end. I gave birth to a wonderful gorgeous daughter, and it is the best thing I ever did.

   Afterwards, I lost the baby weight, regained it, dieted it off with a legendary diet program, place it back on and then some, and have now re-lost 15 lbs of it. I thought I was pleased to be a size 14, but I saw myself on video and in pictures, and I was horrified. What happened to the graceful, slender, light as air woman I was, with the tiny graceful ballerina arms and incredibly tiny waist?

   Of course, now I’m 45, and don’t expect to be the size I was in high school. (A excellent thing, considering I’m 5′6″ and weighed 102 lbs at the time.) But now that I’m aging and perimenopause has arisen, I wish that I’d kept the weight off. Loss of estrogen has caused my skin to start losing elasticity. My once proud curvy behind and full voluptous breasts are now racing towards the floor.

   If I’d been thinner when perimenopause started, I would not have as much flesh to sag. I permanently loved going lacking a bra before; now it feels excellent, but I’m certainly not pleased with my nipples being at the level of my elbows. That’s not a excellent look for anyone.

   As an ardent feminist, I’ve permanently been about long-suffering your body and loving it the way it is, not altering it with invasive medical procedures or treacherous toxins. Yet if a name offered me a free breast lift, I’d certainly be tempted.

   I marvel how Crystal will feel in 20 or 30 years when her curves head south and transform from sexy erogenous zones to huge lumps of sagging flesh?

   I have to remind myself that Ms. Wrenn is only 23; she has, like the majority of us, a less than ideal childhood. Yet she is still so young she seems to be in denial of the primal loss she veteran when her mother abandoned her and her total lack of any father figure. To be honest, this isn’t an issue most twenty-somethings are psychologically prepared to delve into. I certainly wasn’t prepared to plunge into my gulf at this age.

   I hope as Ms. Wrenn ages she is willing to plumb these depths and go a small farther on her healing journey.
   Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
2. Lisa Warner says:

   August 28, 2010 at 4:28 pm

   I tried to read this book, I really did. But her constant ramblings about her exercising and anorexia, over and over and over and over….got very dull. She also said so many times that she is a plus-size model. Blah, blah, blah. She is 5′ 9″ and weighs 160 (approx.) pounds. I don’t find that plus-sized; most women in America are around this same size. And she went from adage she only ate lettuce and a stick of gum every day to telling us her food routine, which was about what I eat every day. Was it lettuce or real healthy food? She is a gorgeous woman, as she points out regularly (between the lines), but I reflect she looked better thinner. I’m 5′ 5″ and weigh 165 lbs. I am not gorgeous. I was a size 2 to 4 my entire life until I hit 44 year’s ancient then my metabolism changed drastically. Within 6 months I went from 110 lbs. to 165 lbs. I was eating the same things I permanently ate. Now I despise my body because the stout on me feels like a heavy coat. Because she is tall, she can carry that extra weight and not look as stout. So excellent for her that she can name-drop all the top designers who just LOVE her (non) plus-sized body. I couldn’t even end the book and I returned it because it was so “please feel sorry for me because I’m a emaciated, rich model” and “please be pleased for me because I’m a rich plus-sized model.” Oh yeah, and so so so gorgeous. Jeez, get over yourself.
   Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
3. B. A. Herzhaft says:

   August 28, 2010 at 5:22 pm

   Although Crystal Renn’s tale is an inspiring one, I feel that
   
   she is not telling the entire truth. Yes, she is a plus size model,
   
   but, it is safe to say with certainty that if she gained ANY
   
   more weight she would not be able to have any success is modeling –
   
   anywhere. Hello? She is a size 12 or 14 – she is NOT mordantly obese.
   
   She is a healthy size and has a healthy lifestyle as well. But no way
   
   no how would she *dare* get any larger – it would not work, and this
   
   is not addressed. Meaning: if being “right” to herself had meant being
   
   a size 20, she would be stuck back in her hometown and having no success
   
   in modeling – so I feel that her message is a small disingenuous.

   I certainly hope that obese people or people with an unhealthy lifestyle
   
   do not use this as an excuse to stay that way.
   Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
4. BB says:

   August 28, 2010 at 7:26 pm

   I did delight in this book. The tale itself was generally a excellent read. It was appealing to read and learn of what really goes on inside the modelling industry. Some of it was shocking and defies belief; that the industry is that shallow and obsessed with the weight of its models to the point of extremes.

   I wasn’t momentously taken with the opinions of the leader and her belief in the definition of a normal weight. Sometimes I felt that she justified people being overweight and unhealthy because she felt it was how they were born to be. I’m very long-suffering of all sizes of people but I couldn’t help feel the leader kept drumming home the fact that some people are meant to be stout, like this was an excuse or nearly an out for her?? If she’s pleased, more power to her but I didn’t delight in the constant raving about how it’s ok to be stout, stout isn’t unhealthy, stout is excellent. I recall reading one statistic (one of many) in which the leader claims or implies that stout people really live longer than emaciated people and are in fact in excellent health!

   I guess I was hoping for more of an insight into her actual life and not her research of obesity and being overweight and her defensiveness towards it.
   Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
5. Michele L. Ford says:

   August 28, 2010 at 8:06 pm

   I received the book in a very timely manner and was pleased with the condition of the book.
   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5