Kim: Empty Inside: The Diary of an Anonymous Teenager

I read this when I was younger and loved it.

I used to blog about a variety of topics, including books. I wanted to catch up on novels that young adults read, specifically those related to issues such as eating disorders and self injury. Once upon a time, there were few books available that addressed such ailments. While there is now a phletoria of material available, some are better than others. This book, "Kim: Empty Inside: The Diary of an Anonymous Teenager," by Beatrice Sparks, isn't one that should be selected. I was sad to see that the so-called writer of the diary, Kim, comes across as nothing more than a boy crazy teen. This was despite the fact that she supposedly excelled in gymnastics, school and her volunteer positions. I'm sorry, but teens have interests which encompass a wide spectrum of ideas. They talk about them with friends, just as adults do. Much of the novel is spent on establishing her as a very generic, wholesome (and frankly, dull) individual. Suddenly, she is in the midst of a severe eating disorder, which sees her weight drop to seventy-nine pounds. There is no talk of the angst and guilt that victims of the disease suffer. The struggle and pain is not addressed, other than mentioning throwing up blood. Beatrice Sparks fails to address the true horror of what taking a box of laxatives does to the body. There is no way a person could do this in the evening and then perform gymnast's routines the next day. Anybody who has truly gone through this illness knows the results of laxative misuse and the fear of being far from "proper facilities." Tumbling on a mat is not going to work. Instead of hearing about Kim's struggle with bulimia, we read about boys. Ms Sparks fails to acknowledge that a common result of losing that much weight is a lack of interest in anything, especially dating. A person hates their body. They are too tired to get dressed and showered, let alone spending time obsessing over what to wear on an evening out. It is a horrible and isolating illness. Of course, Beatrice Sparks has to introduce religion as a source of strength for Kim. Yes, that will fix everything! There is little mention of the struggle to recover. No real talk of the absolute fear of food and being around it. I would not recommend this book as even a simple primer on eating disorders.

In my opinion, this book was a very good illstration of how anorexia affects the acutal person inside. Coming from an actual victims point of view, in very great detail you are taken from the begining of Kim's illness to the very end. Although I have seen the movies on Lifetime and heard the stories in my school, nothing will ever compare to reading it from the first person point of view. You will discover a lot from reading this book, to how and why Kim purges and/or doesn't eat to how and why she decides to get help. You will also learn in grave detail what effects not eating has on her body and mind. I did notice one error in the book, when she passed out in school and was rushed to the hospitals phyciatric ward and she tells the doctors she is fine and they send her home without a call to her parents. Which is false, unless your over 18 if any doctor or authority figure thinks you have an eating disorder it is their responsibiltiy to contact your parents. Other than that this is a hands on first person look at the disease anorexia-nervosa.

The format was a little weird but it was a fast read and although it's not my favorite it's a good read if you're interesting in eating disorder stories.

great

This book stood out to me. I knew it wasn't just another book that lumps all girls with eating disorders into a cookie-cutter image. It was really good! It made me cry! After I finished it, lots of my friends asked to borrow it and they all loved it. I identified with a lot of Kim's problems, especially the self-esteem ones. This is a great book.

I enjoy reading Beatrice Sparks books, whether they are true or not. In fact, I read Go Ask Alice and It Happened To Nancy twice because I thought the message that was being portrayed was accurate and something every teen and parent needs to know (and these books are what every teen and parent needs to read).With that said, Kim: Empty Inside wasn't what I am used to reading when I read Sparks books. It didn't stay true to her form and I didn't enjoy it half as much as I did the previous two. In my opinion it didn't delve much into why she was doing what she was doing. The reasons seemed a bit shallow and I wish Sparks would have dug deeper into the issues. The other two books I mentioned made the stories believable. You could see why the main characters did what they were doing and the stories were very realistic. This one, however, wasn't so I was a bit disappointed.Another thing that really bugged me (because I am OCD) is the fact that Sparks dates and times didn't add up. Things like that mess the flow of the story up for me.....especially when it happened frequently throughout the story.

An anonymous teenager's diary: 'Kim: Empty Inside' is a lesson for all teens. This powerfull book tells the true story of a weight conscience college girl named Kim. In the diary Kim starts believing weight is everything, and gets so caught up in wanting the "every teens dream body." She starts to lose herself mentally and physically. For being a fit gymnast, Kim's weight should not be an issue. But inside her mind it is. With incredible characters and a powerful storyline, this book touches many. Kim is homesick for her Arizona home when she leaves for UCLA. While trying to fit in, get her love life straight, and just make it through college, she doesn't even notice her dangerous eating disorder. This marvelous story touches all. The true storyline is superb. This novel is for mature 13 year olds and up. Other diaries by anonymous teenagers are 'Go Ask Alice' and 'It Happened to Nancy'.

Though I have read many disturbed books, I was inquisitive to find out more in the ED section and found it interesting. It's very simple to read in diary form, however I felt that some parts were a bit less exciting than most other parts of the story.

great read