Yara Zgheib

"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 Girls at 17 Swann Street

*A BookMovement Group Read* 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 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.

A Novel

Corey White

This book might be incredibly triggering for anyone with disordered eating. That being said, the story is beautiful. One of friendship, love, struggle and what it means to choose life.

Arden Kowalski

This was quite a good read, honestly. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it so much.

Chrissy

I was lucky enough to receive a physical as well and an eArc of this book from netgalley. 

This follows Anna who is struggling with anorexia but there are other struggles in this book as well such as self harm, depression, etc. So that is why the book is promoted to readers who have struggles not just those who have experienced an eating disorder either with themselves or their loved ones. I personally can not relate but I did appreciate the way this book showed/described this. 
It attempted to explain how the loved ones who are struggling feel. It’s honest work the anger and harshness. It does not shy from the dangers to your health. It broke down calories and how anorexia can effect your body in ways I had zero idea. I learned a lot about anorexia when it comes to the medical part as well as the emotional struggle. It was hard reading Anna struggle with food and eating. The internal fight of not wanting food but likening it. The internal fight of her not being able to admit out loud that she likes cream cheese but is also so disgusted by it. 

My biggest issue with the story is only that I feel like the ending wrapped up to fast. It does express that this is not something that is fixed for ever. It is something that you have to decide to get better every day. But I still feel like it tried to wrap up too quickly. We spend so many pages watching her change into eating less and less to suddenly she will try to be better. I like the way she came to the choice but I feel like it just flew by and even though it still showed it being hard it just seemed easy compared to the rest. 
I would still read more from this author though.

*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 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.

Megan Leprich

Thank you so much to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was hoping to feel an attachment to this story as I myself suffered from anorexia as a teenager. I luckily was able to overcome it without professional help so I could not relate with the character having to seek treatment at a facility.

This book is about Anna who has succeeded at her dream of becoming a ballerina but it doesn’t come without costs. As she doesn’t have the perfect ballerina physique and body type and with her married lover Philippe scrutinizing everything she puts into her mouth, Anna finds herself eating less and dancing more. After Anna collapses during rehearsal and suffers a knee injury, she figures that her husband Matthias’ new job opportunity in middle America is just what she needs. With her knee completely healed and able to dance again, Anna begins applying to dance companies but unfortunately can’t find a job. With her husband at work all the time Anna begins to lose interest in everything, including the desire to eat. Eventually Anna ends up weighing 88 pounds and she realizes she needs help so she checks into 17 Swann Street, a rehab and treatment center. There she meets six other women being treated and must decide if she wants to get better and how to fix herself.

The main reason I gave this book 3 stars is because of the lack of direction in this book. I was constantly confused with the dialogue and who was actually speaking. Another thing is there are italicized passages thrown in throughout the story that talk about Anna and Matthias’ relationship in the past but I had no clue it was past tense for awhile. It could be because I have an uncorrected edition of the book but I was so dang confused. I wish that the dialogue had been more clear and that somehow the author gave a heads up that there is past tense thrown in with the present tense.

Jolie

Anna is wasting away. Her husband has ignored that she is starving herself to death until he finds her passed out in the bathroom. When she goes to the Dr at his urging, Anna weighs only 88 lbs. At the Dr’s urging, Anna is sent to an inpatient rehabilitation center. Her time at 17 Swann Street is eye-opening. Can Anna let the staff and therapists, along with the other girls, help her reclaim her life? Or will Anna be destined to be a regular?

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.

I gave The Girls at 17 Swann Street a 4-star rating. This was a fast, emotional read. While I didn’t mind the way the book was written, I do think that some people would have an issue. I would suggest reading with a box of tissues nearby. The only thing I didn’t like about the book was the ending. It was too perfect.

I would give The Girls at 17 Swann Street an Adult rating. There is sex (not graphic but there). There is language. There is no violence. There are trigger warnings. They would be mental illness, eating disorders, talk of rape, the death of a sibling.

I would reread The Girls at 17 Swann Street. I would also reccomend this book to family and friends.

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The Girls at 17 Swann Street.

All opinions stated in this review of The Girls at 17 Swann Street are mine.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Joleen

This arc was provided to me for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3 Stars

TRIGGER WARNING
Includes eating disorders, mental illness, self-harm, and suicide. 

Anna, a dancer from Paris has moved to the states with her husband for his career. There Anna struggles with anorexia until she is down to eighty-eight pounds. After passing out, Anna’s husband forcer her into a treatment center where she meets others women who are struggling as well. The women of Swann Street must fight their diseases and reclaim their lives all while supporting one another.

This was a heavy topic to read about and while I personally have never struggled with an eating disorder, I know a few who have. So this kind of hit home for me which is why I wanted to include the trigger warnings. Its tough to read books with a topic as tough as this but its also important that these topics are talked about. And I think Yara Zgheib did an excellent job.

But with Anna’s story, it was hard to watch her struggle and her recovery. But it’s worth the journey. It’s an emotional one, but well worth it. The lack of hope some of these characters had and then the ability to find hope once again was very inspiring.

While I did enjoy this story, I also had a difficult time with the writing style. It took some time to get used to it and even when I did, I still had some issues. And while I may not have personally enjoyed the writing style, it still is brilliant and beautifully written. If you don’t get triggered easily, then I do suggest you look into The Girls at 17 Swann Street, perhaps you can find it inspiring too.


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The Girls at 17 Swann Street

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