THIN by Lauren Greenfield

This is Lauren Greenfield’s story of the girls and women of the Renfrew Center, a residential facility for eating disorders in Coconut Creek, Florida. There is an accompanying documentary film. Thin provides snapshots into the hearts and minds of the women of Renfrew, focusing more in-depth on four patients known as Shelly, Polly, Alisa, and Brittany. The book offers an honest, unbiased look into the lives of these women. Packed with photographs and actual journal entries, the readers becomes immersed in the culture of the Renfrew Center.

I came away from this book with a much more thorough understanding of what it means to struggle with an eating disorder. I was horrified to read the statistic that 1 in 7 women suffer from an eating disorder. This would be a useful book for a health course, or for family members of an eating disorder victim to read to better understand the problems that contribute to these debilitating diseases.