Rosalind Wiseman

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

I am probably not the first to tell you that Hungry is a must-read this fall. The book is a first-person narrative of plus-sized model Crystal Renn and her struggles and triumphs with the modeling industry and the relentless pursuit of weight perfection. Renn was a teenager in small-town Mississippi when a talent scout gave her the opportunity to move to New York–as soon as she lost 10 inches off her waist. What follows is an account of how her obsession with becoming fashion royalty consumed her life and led her to drop 40% of her body weight until only 95 pounds remained on her 5’8″ frame.

Renn is a fantastic writer and her voice is universally relatable. Perhaps not all of us have been on the fast track to a modeling career, but most women can relate to the temporary (or unrelenting) insanity that comes from feeling inadequate in your own skin. Renn’s story is also inspiring as she makes the decision to become a plus size model so that she can be the weight her body is naturally, and learns to weather the judgments of her industry even as she continues to achieve great commercial success.

The modeling industry and its unwavering support of one waifish body type has been a topic of discussion for years now, but Renn’s book arrives at a time when we’re seeing some of the seams let out to make room for beautiful women whose bodies look more like the rest of us.  Maybe this will be the tipping point.

More on Hungry

• Crystal Renn interviewed on Good Morning America, September 8, 2009.