*A BookMovement Group Read* **A People Pick for Best New Books** Yara Zgheib’s poetic and poignant debut novel is a haunting portrait of a young woman’s struggle with anorexia on an intimate journey to reclaim her life. The chocolate went first, then the cheese, the fries, the ice cream. The bread was more difficult, but if she could just lose a little more weight, perhaps she would make the … little more weight, perhaps she would make the soloists’ list. Perhaps if she were lighter, danced better, tried harder, she would be good enough. Perhaps if she just ran for one more mile, lost just one more pound.
Anna Roux was a professional dancer who followed the man of her dreams from Paris to Missouri. There, alone with her biggest fears – imperfection, failure, loneliness – she spirals down anorexia and depression till she weighs a mere eighty-eight pounds. Forced to seek treatment, she is admitted as a patient at 17 Swann Street, a peach pink house where pale, fragile women with life-threatening eating disorders live. Women like Emm, the veteran; quiet Valerie; Julia, always hungry. Together, they must fight their diseases and face six meals a day.
Every bite causes anxiety. Every flavor induces guilt. And every step Anna takes toward recovery will require strength, endurance, and the support of the girls at 17 Swann Street.
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Anorexia has always been one of those disorders that people dislike talking about. It isn’t talked about enough. Anorexia and bulimia (as well as compulsive overeating and other food/exercise related disorders) need to be talked about. They shouldn’t be swept under the rug. This disorder needs to be front and center. It needs to be talked about.
I sat and read this book within 2 hours. I didn’t plan on sitting and reading it in one sitting. It just happened. The Girls at 17 Swann Street is a fast read. It is an emotional read too. At one point, I was mad at myself because I didn’t have a box of tissues on hand to wipe my eyes. What got me was how raw Anna’s emotions were.
I will point out that the book is written in a way that might annoy some people. It would have annoyed me if I wasn’t so taken with how the book began. The book goes between past and present with little warning. I would normally moan and groan about that but not this time. It actually worked with this book. The author was able to flawlessly go between present and past. The only issue I had was reading the clinical observations. I want to say that they were supposed to be the beginning of chapters. But because the formatting of the book was off, they ended up being in the middle of the book.
I liked how Anna’s time in the program was realistic. She had her good days and her bad days. She made progress and she regressed. There were times in the book, mainly when the stuff happened with Valerie, that I thought she wasn’t going to make it. That she was going to be a regular.
The girls in the program touched my heart also. The background that was given on some of them was heartbreaking. I also felt for the staff. They had to counsel the girls. They had to force them to eat. They had to insert feeding tubes for the ones that refused. It must have been so draining for them. But they came back day after day to help those girls.
I liked the statistics that were sprinkled in throughout the book. There were some that I didn’t know. There were some that made my heart hurt.
I also liked how the author showed how Anna’s progression into anorexia was. From the impossibly high standards that the ballerina world holds to the ex-boyfriend who was cruel about how much Anna ate to the anxiety and guilt over her brother’s death, it was all there. It also showed that Anna’s husband chose to ignore how skinny she was getting. Chose to overlook her only eating apples and lettuce. Chose to overlook her excessive exercising. Chose to overlook those things until it was almost too late.
The ending was what kept this book from being a 5-star review. It seemed too perfect. I am not going to get into why it seemed too perfect. All I have to say is that I was kinda “meh” about it. It was not real life.
What attracted me to this book was the fact that it was about a ballerina. Anna, the ballerina suffered a knee injury and had to be sidelined for a while and was suffering from anorexia. Anna and her husband, Matthias, were living in Paris and he was offered a job in the United States which he accepted. Once in the US, Anna enters a residential treatment center for eating disorders at a weight of 88 pounds. There are 6 other women in the center with eating disorders. I was disappointed in this book. I did not care for the characters and/or the people working at the facility. I had a hard time getting into this book and I am not sure how accurate the treatment delivered at the center was. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.
I am obsessed Yara Zgheib’s, The Girls at 17 Swann Street. It offers a raw, sensitive and insightful glimpse into the lives of those impacted by eating disorders. The story follows a 26-year old Anna, a former ballet dancer, with a tragic family history. Ana falls in adorable giddy love with Matthias, marries him, and relocates from Paris to Missouri for his job. Eventually she ends up in Room 5 of a residential treatment facility for those suffering from eating disorders. Anna’s story is in equal parts heart-wrenching, haunting, and uplifting. Through Anna, we also get glimpses into the lives of the other residents battling their demons one mouthful at time. Each character could have a book of her own; I loved them all and was moved by the way in which they supported one another. My heart especially soared with scenes involving Ana’s father.
I devoured this book, then passed it along to my daughter and hovered while she read so we could discuss plot points and characters. She loved it as much as I and has already passed it along to a friend. Thanks to Yara Zgheib for writing such a beautiful book and helping me to understand and have compassion for those suffering from eating disorders, and to BookishFirst for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Girls at 17 Swann Street by debut author Yara Zgheib touched me personally in so many ways. As a mother of a daughter who suffers with not only other mental disorders, but also an eating disorder, I have to say this author did an amazing job depicting the anxiety and agony of living with this disorder day in and day out. How it touches and changes not only the life of the one who suffers with the disorder, but of those who love them.
This story focuses primarily on Anna Roux. A woman who followed her husband from Paris to Missouri for a work opportunity, but who somehow lost herself along the way. She did not believe she had a problem, even as she weighed only around ninety pounds. So begins her journey at 17 Swann Street.
The author, Yara Zgheib, did a remarkable job brining Anna’s journey to the readers. Through every process, decision, anxiety of this disorder. It brought me to tears many times. The story was emotional and captivating. Not only Anna, but all the girls at 17 Swann Street.
Read and reviewed for Reviews From The Heart.
Happy reading!
What a gut-wrenching read. What a very important read. I did not think I would get so emotional reading this but I did. My heart broke for Anna and the other girls at 17 Swann Street, most there because of the eating disorder Anorexia nervosa. This book is so uniquely and beautifully written that I found I just could not put it down. This is one that will stay with me for a long time. I highly recommended it.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.
An amazing book that I could not put down. The story follows Anna through the treatment of anorexia in the treatment center at 17 Swann Street. It deals with the emotional and physical challenges that these women are going through. It just broke my heart.
This is a debut author that told a beautiful story of Anna rediscovering her life. I believe this book should be read by every teenage girl. I highly recommend this book!!
Just wow! First of all, thank you to St Martins Press and The Girlfriend for the ARC of this book. Wonderfully written, and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. I actually had a friend (or two) suffer from eating disorders when I was younger. Like any disease you can’t “see”, you just want them to snap out of it and be normal. This book walks you through the days in the life of the main character as she tries to overcome her disease. I saw some parallels here with my own friend. My heart was full and sad but also full of hope while reading this book. Five plus stars. I really like this authors writing style and look forward to more.
Anna Roux, 26, was a professional dancer in Paris until her husband Matthias got a job in St. Louis. They have been married for three years and are madly in love. Life seems so perfect except for meal times. Anna, like many professional dancers, has had hammered into her head that she needs to lose weight. Each day is a battle with food. Now in an unfamiliar country, the inability to get a job as a dancer, and the low body image she spirals out of control. When Anna passes out on the bathroom floor because of abusing her body, Matthias insists she gets help. Thus, he takes her to 17 Swann Street where she meets other pale, fragile women who give each other the determination to beat their inner demons and to survive.
Yara Zgheib masterfully gets inside the head of Anna as she is now forced to eat six meals a day. Through flashbacks of Anna’s life we are witness to her gradual descent into an eating disorder. Anna knows she has much in her life that is worth getting better for, but is she strong enough to win out over the anorexia that calls to her every minute of every day?
THE GIRLS AT 17 SWANN STREET is a very gut-wrenching, captivating look at eating disorders and the devastation they wreak in the lives of their victims and their loved ones. It is a novel of despair, bravery, strength, and ultimately love. The writing is exquisite, tender, raw.
For anyone who has known someone with an eating disorder or someone who has loved someone with an eating disorder, this book is a must-read.
Anna arrives at 17 Swann Street with Matthias her husband not knowing what to expect. The women there are there because of eating disorders and support each other as much as they can. Emm has been there for 4 years off and on. She tries to be strong for the other women there and help them. Julia and Valerie are both struggling. Matthias comes to visit his wife every evening trying to support her and let her know he is on her side and loves her . This book shows the struggle and how hard it is for these women to try and capture their life again. The tricks their minds play to keep them from eating and breaking bad habits. The hurt the families feel and helplessness. Everyone wants to see their loved ones get better. This book showed me how difficult it is for the women and families. I was given this book as an ARC by Netgalley for my honest review
Lindas Book Obsession Reviews “The Girls at 17 Swann Street” by Yara Zgheib, St. Martin’s Press, Publishing February 5, 2019
Yara Zgheib, Author of “The Girls at 17 Swann Street” has written a poignant, heart-wrenching, emotional, enthralling novel. The author has an amazing way of writing a novel and describing the characters that is feels so realistic in every way. The Genres for this story are Fiction and Women’s Fiction, but it reads so much like a biography or non-fiction book. The timeline of the story is in the present , but goes to the past and future when it pertains to the characters or events in the story. The author describes her characters as dysfunctional, troubled, complex, and complicated. This is a story of sisterhood, emotional support, growth, loss, love, hope and faith.
“The Girls at 17 Swann Street” is a novel of all kind of women with the most extreme of eating disorders that have to make a choice to live or die. When they enter 17 Swann Street, they are signing many of their rights away. There is almost no where else to go.
Anna Roux is one of the main characters, and has entered 17 Swann Street at 88 pounds. She is begging her loving husband to take her home. Many of her bodily functions have shut down, and there is a plan set in place to restore her health. Anna was once a professional dancer, who never felt good enough. Anna is confronted with all kinds of restrictions. She is given 6 meals a day that she has to eat, or there are unpleasant consequences. As a patient , Anna has a team working with her. She also becomes vested in some of the other girls that are there.
Unfortunately as the statistics show, a high percentage of the girls are not able to make it. This is an important book that describes honestly what happens in the world of people with anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders. I would highly recommend this book for readers who have experienced or know someone who has had an eating disorder, or want to try to understand more about this. I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.
From the start, Yara Zgheib’s debut novel, The Girls at 17 Swann Street, is a seriously compelling novel. Even though the book left me feeling melancholy, I couldn’t put it down. This is a story of women battling eating disorders that are associated with depression and anxiety. It is told primarily from the perspective of a 26-year-old former ballerina named Anna Roux.
Anna’s story is center stage, and it unfolds in the past as well as the present. Present day, Anna, is a mere 88 pounds and still in denial about having an eating disorder. It was so painful to read of Anna’s illusions and denials about her health. Her drastic weight loss has left her memory hazy, but she periodically shares snippets of the challenges she faced in childhood, as an aspiring ballerina, and then as a scorned woman. Through budding relationships with the other women at the Swann Street facility, readers get a superficial glimpse at the what and whys of their respective challenges. The issues that lead to their eating disorders are maddening. Their current physical and mental states are tragic. I felt equally fearful and hopeful for the fates of each woman.
While some of the details of the circumstances of a facility like 17 Swann Street are highly fictionalized, The Girls at 17 Swann Street is about respectfully highlighting a serious mental and physical health issue. Readers get a little insight to this devastating illness through the daily weigh-ins, the anguish about eating “so much”, and the fear of giving into the pleasure of eating. Not every woman will choose to try to win the battle, and those who do face the possibility of relapse after release.
Anna’s story ends at a stated pivotal stage of the her post-release relapse period. Will she continue to choose to battle her demons or will she decide it is just too much? Eerily befitting, the first song I heard on the radio after I finished this thought-provoking book, was the Karen Carpenter hit, We’ve Only Just Begun (Ms. Carpenter died from complications related to her anorexia nervosa in 1983). That helped me decide that I was hopeful for Anna Roux and her loving, supportive family.
If you have ever wondered what it’s like to be anorexic, then this book is for you. The novel walks you through the girls at 17 Swann Street, who all suffer from this disease. I liked it, but I have a difficult time relating to self-inflicted diseases. The honest account of the recovery stages and the tragedy of those who weren’t strong enough to make it was heartbreaking. Thank you St. Martin’s press for the ARC.
An achingly poignant story about the struggle to overcome eating disorders. It takes an in depth look at the emotional toll the disease takes on the individual and the people that love them. It is an eye opening tale that will break your heart, but also give you hope.
This Is a very emotional read and can teach us all about mental illness and the struggle others go through to live with and go through to overcome their illness.
I felt like Anna was one of my friends and at times I was sad, felt pain and happiness for her.
Anna suffers from anorexia and lives in a center with other girls who are going through different kinds of illnesses. We learn how they become friends and support each other.
This is written so great it’s easy to imagine what Anna is going through each day. I felt her pain, sadness, happiness and the different emotions she goes through. It shows how an illness effects your family and the hard work it takes to rebuild those relationships.
This is a book once you start you just can’t stop reading.
I was given a free copy through NetGalley but it was so good I purchased a copy to support the author.
Anna was a dancer. She wanted the soloist’s part but wasn’t good enough. She thought that, maybe, if she lost more weight, she could succeed. Eventually, however, she was down to 88 pounds. Anna could no longer eat anything but apples and popcorn. Her fear of food and gaining weight had become so overwhelming! But if she did not stop this behavior, she would die. She found she was endangering her own life. She was checked into the pink house at 17 Swann Street, a house for women with eating disorders. Together, they fight to save their lives.
This is a frank and moving account of an anorexic’s fight to eat, again, in order to save her own life. It is well-written and worth reading.
I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
This was such a heart breaking story of a woman’s journey with an anorexia. The author did an incredible job at describing this illness. Anna an accomplished dancer in her early 20’s begins the spiral into anorexia when she is reminded that she needs to lose a few pounds so she has more opportunities in dancing. When Anna and her new husband have an opportunity to move to America from Paris things just get worse for Anna. She can’t find a dance studio that will take her or a job. Her husband is busy with his new job and doesn’t see that Anna is wasting away until he finds her passed out in the bathroom. Anna confronts her battle at 12 Swann Street, a treatment center for women with eating disorders. She is surrounded by other women also struggling but they have a pact that supporting each other is a house rule. This is not a story where everyone gets better and goes home but a story of real life struggles with an eating disorder and how they are just trying to get through the next meal. This is a story of heart break, loss, true love and never giving up hope.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of THE GIRLS AT 17 SWANN STREET by Yara Zgheib in exchange for my honest review.
The Girls at 17 Swann Street is an in depth look at anorexia. The thought process and the struggle is written out so well that you can actually feel what they feel. While at times, it is a hard read, you can’t help but cheer for them with every bite. Anna and Matthias signify what “in sickness and in health” truly mean. This was a great story with some very interesting characters.
An in depth look inside an eating disorder treatment facility and specifically, Anna. Struggling with loneliness and grief, she restricts her food, the only thing she feels she can control. Her fight to get better occurs daily.
The Girls of 17 Swann Street is a heartbreaking trip down the rabbit hole and into the life of anorexia. Anna Roux had been a ballerina with enough talent to dance professionally in Paris but not enough to be a solo dancer or prima ballerina. She falls for a male dancer who’s continuous jabs about food, size and exercise start her down a slippery slope of calorie counting, banned foods and over exercising. When she injures her knee and can’t dance for a while her place in the company is filled and the man she thinks she loves marries someone else. As she moves on with life the damage has already been done and she is living the nightmare of being an anorexic without realizing it.
After healing from the knee injury Anna meets Matthias and falls head over heals in love. They move in together, marry and when Matthias recieves a job offer in the U.S. Anna follows him on the journey. Lost in a strange country with no friends or purpose Anna is soon battling depression and a full blown case of anorexia that is threatening her life.
After recognizing just how sick she is Matthias convinces Anna to get treatment and her stay at 17 Swann Street begins. There the reader is introduced to the other residents and the battle required to overcome the debilitating disease of anorexia.
The storyline of the book is incredible. The reader is slowly pulled into the mind and thinking of someone who deals with this illness on a daily basis. It becomes clear it is a psychological disease rooted in feelings of inadequacy, depression and past tramas. Every girl at 17 Swann Street has her own story which you slowly become privy to. I never fully understood how deeply embedded the rituals and fears of eating are to an anorexic until I read this book.
The character development is very well done. You first get to know Anna and Matthias as a perfect happy couple. Eventually the reader realizes everything is not what it seems and never has been. The girls at 17 Swann Street are added into the mix and as the reader I got to know each and feel the pain of their disease as well as the pain that triggered it.
I really recommend reading this book. It’s beautifully written and even while describing this devastating illness shows there is hope to overcome it. If you are a parent it will open your eyes so you can watch for signs of the onset of the disease. If you are a friend or spouse it will help you recognize behaviors that are abnormal and may require professional help. If you are just reading for pleasure it’s an eye opening look at a very real disease that is little understood by the general public. The characters are all people you will care about, root for and hope to see overcome the huge struggle that is anorexia.
4 1/2 stars. What an enthralling story. At first I was put off buy the lack of quotation marks. I thought it might be an editing issue you sometime get in an ARC. But the deeper I got in to it, I realized it’s because the whole story is in Anna’s head. The whole book is a gut wrenching mental dialogue into her struggle with anorexia. I felt her pain and anxiety. I was invested in all the girls at 17 Swann Street. In fact, I was wishing for a fuller ending into what happened to all of them. However, I had two sore points with the plot. I didn’t get enough of Anna’s past. Clearly there was multiple issues that helped contribute to her slide into an eating disorder, but some were merely mentioned and not really covered in depth. And I felt that she progressed a bit too quickly through the treatment stages. That being said, this was a truly compelling story and I recommend reading it if you get the chance.