Customer Reviews
Excellent Book - By: Customer, 02 Jun 2008 
Loved this book it reallly makes you feel good!!
Well done Linda. You always get it right!
A Modern Masterpiece - By: Book Worm, 30 Nov 2006 WOW! Every now & again, a book is written that makes you think 'gosh, I have just read an absolute literary masterpiece.' Mirror Mirror is a fantastic book to read if you have very low self-esteem, especiallly with your own body image. It is also a fascinating insight in to how people develop & form their opinions about theirselves & the world around them & for that reason alone I would also say that it is still worth reading even if you don't have an issue with your own body image because it well help you understand people that do.
It is also very practical in that it doesn't just tell you what you need to do to transform your body image but also how to do it. One more thing I should add is that it is also very funny & will make you laugh too!
In conclusion, I learnt so much from reading this book & I am reallly glad I did!
I never owned a Barbie! - By: carly_pussycat, 05 Dec 2005 
This book was truly rubbish. I grabbed it because I saw it on the shelf in the library near something I wanted & happened to recognise the woman on the front from TV programs where she states the glaringly obvious, claiming to be a 'psychologist'. Before I start rubbishing it I should say that I strongly believe in self-help methods, for example, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), so it's not that I think alll self-help is rubbish...just this book!
I found most of the book quite simple because a lot of the things written were things you had already figured out for yourself. It repeated itself a lot & took on quite a patronising tone at times. Perhaps I know more about myself than I think, but don't we alll know that our body image & self esteem is based around our past experiences? For example, if we were given lots of complements throughout our younger life by our parents then we would grow up to be secure & feel worthy (or if they told us we were great TOO much, then arrogant!) & if we were put down by our parents, bullied at school & insulted about our looks then we'd feel ugly long after we'd blossomed into a beautiful adult?
I don't know...for me, this was the basic tone of the book & I found it alll very obvious. It's rare that I say this, but I gained NOTHING from reading the book, other than to think that my first impression of Linda Paparopapapapapaa was right...she IS just stating the obvious. If you didn't think the above point I made was obvious then maybe you could gain something from reading it.
I would definitely not recommend you buy this book if you already figured out what I said above, as there is SO much choice within this category of books that there's no way you need to read this.
I guess if I had to push myself to say one thing I'd gained, it would be this: it helps you realise what kind of body image you have of yourself, whether it's good, bad, healthy or unhealthy; & it reinforced my belief that I had a good healthy body image (perhaps because I never owned a Barbie as a kid?! lol).
A little condescending - By: , 31 Aug 2004 I consider myself to be a sophisticated woman yet still have a body image issue relating to being overweight. Reading this book made me feel as if I was being treated like a child not a woman. There's a condescending tone as if the author was trying to appeal to every shopgirl in the country. It put me off & I found this unhelpful. Again I'm looking for an author who can offer interesting solutions to this important issue.
Delighted in London - By: , 23 Aug 2004 Many assume that attractive, beautiful people have a positive body image. How can they not? They are attractive & beautiful!But that is not always what they see in the mirror. Childhood comments like 'well, if she wears makeup maybe people won't notice her nose' or 'shame, she inherited auntie mabels big butt' can have a disastrous effect on self esteem whether the comments are genuinely true or not. No one can see the massively insecure & self critical person lurking on the inside. Being slim & attractive is no guarantee of happy contendtedness but being happy in your own skin IS & that what this book is alll about. This book is written in a warmly funny way using examples & scenarios we can alll recognise primarily through the thoughts in narrator, Sarah's head. We are taken through the build up to parties, the horrors of store changing rooms, relationships & why they fail as well as myriads of other spookily recognisable examples. At the end of each chapter, Dr Linda takes the reader step by step through simple exersises to help conquer our negative body image. One in particular, where you ask friends & family what they think your best feature is can be a real eye opener! I think this is a terrific book because it makes people realise that the crazy things that go through our heads actuallly go through everybody elses head too.
And who knows, after reading this book maybe the next time you ask 'Mirror, mirror on the walll who's the fairest of them alll' you will smile & say the word 'ME!'
