Mesmerizing, achingly real, and haunting

filled star filled star filled star filled star star unfilled
jessicaannberry Avatar

By

Anna started out her life as a young woman with a true hunger for life. She was an aspiring dancer, a newlywed, and a cherished sister and daughter. Living in France, dating and marrying Matthias, and enjoying long walks with her father, Anna was living the blissful calm we all aspire to achieve.

Over time, Anna's body images completely overtake her mind and her body. Triggered by both her career and memories of a past, demanding boyfriend, Anna devotes her waking hours to controlling her diet. She sticks to apples and popcorn and plummets to under 90 pounds. As her body breaks down, so does her marriage.

We first meet Anna when she introduces herself as a yet another girl living in 17 Swann Street, where she involuntarily seeks treatment for a major eating disorder. The reader learns more about her past and her present, as alternating past/present chapters provide a deep dive into her psychological and physiological breakdown.

I really loved this book. The use of italics instead of quotes threw me off at first, but I got used to it. The use of italics for all past tense chapters was similarly easy to get the hang of.

This book is like Girl, Interrupted meets 28 Days. Anna is sarcastic but vulnerable, hopeless but romantic, lethargic yet motivated. I rooted for her the entire time, feeling like I was rooming right alongside her in the treatment facility. The author's use of supporting characters was quite effective, as Anna was able to see her past and best case/worst case future selves through her roommates. It was like the ghosts of anorexia's past and future. Would she struggle and ultimately pass away from her illness, or would she thrive and ultimately live a normal life?

This isn't a groundbreaking topic; in fact, almost every person can relate to having some sort of food issues. Personally, I was able to grasp onto a lot more of this book's themes than I care to admit to myself. The beauty of this book and it's topic IS the commonplace theme and it's devastating effects. It's easy to fall right into the plot, as I did, and to find yourself crying tears of joy and sadness along the way. And just like Anna does with her new roommates, I got frustrated with Anna's poor choices despite knowing I would probably fare no better in her situation.

I really recommend this book to anybody who enjoys a good drama. It doesn't cut too deep, but it will leave its mark.