THE GIRLS AT 17 SWANN STREET is a powerful story that provides so much insight into the stigmas surrounding eating disorders and what patients with eating disorders go through in hopes of recovering.
The main character (Anna) was a ballet dancer in Paris, but could only find work as a supermarket cashier when she moved to America with her husband (Matthias). Anna, who has struggled with anorexia for years, becomes extremely depressed and ends up at 17 Swann Street, a live-in treatment center for women with eating disorders. There, she meets other patients who are also “very sad” and “just trying to starve the feeling out.” The girls commiserate with each other and offer support to each other when they can.
Without being able to dance and having to work a job she didn’t like, Anna felt she had no purpose in life. Not even her husband or family, whom she loved very much and wanted to get better for, could fill that awful void. Readers who do not suffer from eating disorders will still be able to relate to the void Anna feels, and the feeling of doing what you can to try to feel in control of a situation you have no control over. In Anna’s case, it is controlling what she does or does not eat. I was a bit concerned by the end of the book, the author would magically make all of Anna’s many dreams come true, but that was not the case (not a spoiler). The author gave her something to strive for while acknowledging she was far from cured which I thought was realistic and allowed the reader to come to his or her own conclusions about Anna's future. This was an excellent book that I couldn't put down.
The main character (Anna) was a ballet dancer in Paris, but could only find work as a supermarket cashier when she moved to America with her husband (Matthias). Anna, who has struggled with anorexia for years, becomes extremely depressed and ends up at 17 Swann Street, a live-in treatment center for women with eating disorders. There, she meets other patients who are also “very sad” and “just trying to starve the feeling out.” The girls commiserate with each other and offer support to each other when they can.
Without being able to dance and having to work a job she didn’t like, Anna felt she had no purpose in life. Not even her husband or family, whom she loved very much and wanted to get better for, could fill that awful void. Readers who do not suffer from eating disorders will still be able to relate to the void Anna feels, and the feeling of doing what you can to try to feel in control of a situation you have no control over. In Anna’s case, it is controlling what she does or does not eat. I was a bit concerned by the end of the book, the author would magically make all of Anna’s many dreams come true, but that was not the case (not a spoiler). The author gave her something to strive for while acknowledging she was far from cured which I thought was realistic and allowed the reader to come to his or her own conclusions about Anna's future. This was an excellent book that I couldn't put down.