Review Kim Empty Inside

KIM : Empty Inside - Buku Harian seorang remaja penderita Anoreksia-Bulimia

by Beatrice Sparks (Editor)

Kimberly, putri seorang dokter yang kaya namun kesepian. Jauh dari kakak-kakak yang disayanginya, jatuh hati pada pemuda yang ternyata seorang gay. Dia merasa tak punya kendali atas hidupnya kecuali kendali atas makanan. Ia pesenam berbakat, dan terobsesi menjadi kurus agar tak didepak dari tim senam. Segala macam cara dilakukannya demi memenuhi obsesinya, namun hidupnya justru kacau balau.

Obsesinya membawanya untuk berpuasa dan memuntahkan makanan, namun sekaligus kelaparan yang menjadikannya melahap makanan secara membabi buta. Pikiran bahwa ia mampu mengendalikan makanan justru membawanya ke bangsal perawatan psikiatri.

Gramedia Pustaka Utama 2007

Brenda: I absolutely loved this book. It is not something you read about every day, but yet something interesting and common in many people. My favorite character of the book was Jade. Jade is brave, and likes helping others. She like every person has flaws, but they’re few and she does her best to correct them. She has a lot in common with Kim, which is why they get along so well. My least favorite characters were Rod and Mark. These guys make Kim’s life more complicated and traumatizing. They are two selfish guys who only want one thing, and they will go to any extend to make it possible. If this book was made into a movie I would have no specific actors. All I would ask for is that they seem as an everyday simple kind of person.
The reason I kept reading this book was because everything seems so real, something we can all relate to in some way. And overall it is something that could happen to anyone. In some way I was not able to predict the end of the book. I thought that her illness was going to be more serious, but fortunately she had many people who cared for her and helped her through.

“For the first time in since I was little: I feel good.I feel “right.” It might take a long time to completely HEAL BUT… With the help of Mom, Dad, Lawrence, the twins, Susan, and my friends, I can do it!”

This book had a little of everything. In some cases I would feel happy and excited, but in other cases it would make me feel sorry for Kim, and I felt upset. I would recommend this book to teenage girls because this book opens your mind in many ways. It also helps you establish your world to a world you want to live in. And it also teaches you that there are many people you can go to for help that you hadn’t realized before.

The title says it all. Kim seems perfect to the world, but no one really knows her inner thoughts she struggles with her confidence and self-esteem. This is what captivated my attention. And in my opinion, that’s the reason the author wrote this book. I think the author wanted to teach young girls today, that appearances are nothing, and even though one thinks we have nothing we really have everything.

Beth: It's amazing - the voice of the teen in this anonymous diary is the exact same immature and ignorant voice of the teen in Treacherous Love, the last book Sparks "edited!" Kim, a fan of excessive exclamation points, just wants to be thin and have a boyfriend. Throughout the journal, we learn of Kim's college applications, crush on a boy who turns out to be gay, struggles with gymnastics, and move into her mother's old sorority's house in college (er, do you automatically get accepted if your alumni parents were members?). Kim deals with all of her problems by binge and purge cycles, or by fasting. She is astute enough to recognize that food makes her feel good when she is down, and that she is using food to celebrate or make herself feel better in certain situations. She also recognizes that as a competitive athlete she needs to eat healthy, but those phases only last a day or two at most. The mandatory hospitalization and ensuing therapy put Kim on the path to recovery when she realizes that all she really suffers from is low self-esteem.

In spite of the inauthentic voice and multitude of problems, Sparks manages to deliver some important information through the cheesy narrative. It is surprising that Sparks doesn't mention the recent trend of websites promoting eating disorders. To give her credit, she never mentions a specific weight until the very end, when we learn that Kim only weighs 79 pounds and still perceives herself as fat. This makes the narrator a bit more acceptable as everygirl, and won't make readers of a healthy size question their own weight. A list of warning signs and associations to contact for more information make this a bibliotherapy title.

Kim: This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Jessica: This was written in the manner a teenager truly would write their diary, which was very appealing to me. It brought back silly memories of doting over boys, and bonding with girlfriends.

I initially picked this book up because the main character, Kim, is a gymnast. I hoped to read all about her experiences with the sport, as a former gymnast, and coach myself. It turned out that being a gymnast was just one aspect of who she was and really had very little do to with the self-esteem problems that the book centered around. While eating disorders are a phenomenon in competitive gymnastics, the book didn't link the two together as much as I had expected.

I have had, and still have several very close friends in my life who have battled or are battling with eating disorders which made this book close to my heart. I was able to get some insight into the thought patterns of those struggling with this disease. I give it 3-1/2 stars.

Eva: I didn't finish this- I got a little before the halfway mark this morning after picking it up. I was planning on finishing it after starting because it's better than the last Sparks book I tried to read, Finding Kate.
The thing is, there is only so much folloshness I can read. "I feel like a grunt, grunt, pig."? Um, yeah. "spoiled brat little squirty me"? wtf?

Get the hell out of here. I can't read that. I'm actually a little pissed off right now that this is indeed a book. This person is supposed to be almost 18 years old. Now, I may have been a little too street and world wise by that age but come on. Even the most sheltered kid, and I did have some sheltered friends, don't speak or write like that. Sparks should be ashamed of herself. If she's trying to help kids than she should try to make the "person" who wrote this diaries a little more relatable. I'm giving this two stars because it didn't suck like Finding Kate and that's about it.