A Very Hungry Girl

June 16, 2003
Twenty-eight can be a bit young to write a successful memoir, and, in this case, the author, a performer and motivational speaker, would have done well to get more life experience before attempting it. Although her parents were very supportive of her, she was picked on by classmates who disrupted her elementary school years and eroded her self-esteem. By the time she was 12, Weiner had become dissatisfied with her body and quickly developed an eating disorder that led to a seesaw of starving, bingeing and getting sick. She attended a performing arts high school where she enjoyed acting, but spent her free time with girlfriends who binged together in order to maintain the ideal body Weiner felt society demanded of females. She describes her relationships with boyfriends in college, including one that turned briefly abusive. Therapy helped with the eating disorder, and Weiner began performing theatrical pieces that dealt with body image and violence toward women. In 1995, Weiner created the ACT Out national theater company, performing these pieces for several years at colleges across the country, and she details the feedback sessions held with troubled students after the show. Weiner's personal story comes from the heart and may help others with eating and self-esteem problems. Her writing, however, is often unfocused, and the many testimonials from students included throughout the narrative smack of self-promotion.

August 1, 2003
In a work that is partly memoir and partly inspirational, actor and dramatist Weiner relates her struggles during her high school and college years to control her weight, gain self-esteem, and recover from eating disorders. During this time, Weiner, an acting student, was writing skits, plays, and performance art based on her own experiences and uncertainties. After college, she moved to Indianapolis, where she started the Youth and the Arts Program and the ACT OUT Ensemble, which uses social issues such as sex, violence, suicide, and alcohol and drug addiction as starting points for dialog and discussion. A performance artist and motivational speaker, Weiner has been called on to address young people in crisis, including high school students after the Columbine massacre. Through an engaging style, she tells poignant stories of her work and offers "take-away tools for change," e.g., "society is not some room down the hall" (stop blaming others and take responsibility), "change your words and you change your life" (shift the language you use every day), and "plant the seeds and watch them grow" (be patient, serve others). Recommended for self-help collections.-Lucille M. Boone, Martin Luther King Jr. Lib., San Jose, CA

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.