4.5 Stars, rounded down!
"The stomachache worsened. She thought of Philippe. Who had found her pretty, just not enough. Smart and elegant, but not enough. Philippe, who had told her "I love you" and "Do you really want that slice of cake?" "
This is a powerful debut Novel by Yara Zgheib and it's a story that really stirred up some emotions in me.
Anna is a twenty-six year old married woman who has moved from Paris to St. Louis to follow her husband's career. In Paris, she was a ballet dancer. She worked really hard at it but was always told, "you'd be better if you lost a few pounds." One day, Anna got injured and couldn't dance anymore. From there, the disease took over and Anna was in full anorexia mode. Anna got down to 88 pounds and her husband brings her to a treatment center. From here, we watch Anna's journey to possible recovery.
This book takes you through all the emotions: anger, sadness, loss, frustration, hopefulness, happiness, love, anxiety, etc. Anna experiences all of these emotions as well as the other girls at 17 Swan Street and you feel them while reading along. The beautiful thing about this is that there's 7 girls at 17 Swan Street and they never leave anyone alone at the table. It was almost like an unspoken sisterhood and it kept giving Anna hope throughout the story. They reminded her of all that she had to lose and why she was the luckiest girl there. It's an emotional journey but a real and raw one at that.
I connected with this book on a different level than I normally do. I do not have anorexia and I've never had an eating disorder. However, I do know how mental illnesses and diseases can effect you and those around you and the tough journey you go through. I think that Anna's journey with food and treatment reminded me of mine with depression and anxiety. Life is hard. We have to do hard things, but we have so much to look forward to. There will be hard and even impossible days. We have to get to rock bottom before we can start to build back up. But never ever give up. The good days will eventually out way the bad and I can promise this: even if it doesn't seem like it now, it always gets better
This book also had a special place with me because growing up in high school my best friend was bulimic. I had an idea of what it was but this book took me through her emotional journey, that at the time when I was 17, certainly didn't understand the complexity of. I could not empathize with the mental journey back then because it was simply something that was kept quiet. I wish I would have known what I know now after reading this. I wish I could have been her Emm and been there in more ways than I was. This really opened up my eyes and made me realize how much of your life these diseases really take over.
Overall this was a great book. I read it in a day and I would have never guessed that this was a debut book. It is written in segments and can read a little choppy. I can see how that could annoy some people but I felt that it helped bring the emotion out much more and helped me feel for Anna. If you are looking for a heartfelt by raw book about women definitely pick this on up. It's out now!
Thank you to Bookishfirst and St. Martin's Press for my ARC of this book.
"The stomachache worsened. She thought of Philippe. Who had found her pretty, just not enough. Smart and elegant, but not enough. Philippe, who had told her "I love you" and "Do you really want that slice of cake?" "
This is a powerful debut Novel by Yara Zgheib and it's a story that really stirred up some emotions in me.
Anna is a twenty-six year old married woman who has moved from Paris to St. Louis to follow her husband's career. In Paris, she was a ballet dancer. She worked really hard at it but was always told, "you'd be better if you lost a few pounds." One day, Anna got injured and couldn't dance anymore. From there, the disease took over and Anna was in full anorexia mode. Anna got down to 88 pounds and her husband brings her to a treatment center. From here, we watch Anna's journey to possible recovery.
This book takes you through all the emotions: anger, sadness, loss, frustration, hopefulness, happiness, love, anxiety, etc. Anna experiences all of these emotions as well as the other girls at 17 Swan Street and you feel them while reading along. The beautiful thing about this is that there's 7 girls at 17 Swan Street and they never leave anyone alone at the table. It was almost like an unspoken sisterhood and it kept giving Anna hope throughout the story. They reminded her of all that she had to lose and why she was the luckiest girl there. It's an emotional journey but a real and raw one at that.
I connected with this book on a different level than I normally do. I do not have anorexia and I've never had an eating disorder. However, I do know how mental illnesses and diseases can effect you and those around you and the tough journey you go through. I think that Anna's journey with food and treatment reminded me of mine with depression and anxiety. Life is hard. We have to do hard things, but we have so much to look forward to. There will be hard and even impossible days. We have to get to rock bottom before we can start to build back up. But never ever give up. The good days will eventually out way the bad and I can promise this: even if it doesn't seem like it now, it always gets better
This book also had a special place with me because growing up in high school my best friend was bulimic. I had an idea of what it was but this book took me through her emotional journey, that at the time when I was 17, certainly didn't understand the complexity of. I could not empathize with the mental journey back then because it was simply something that was kept quiet. I wish I would have known what I know now after reading this. I wish I could have been her Emm and been there in more ways than I was. This really opened up my eyes and made me realize how much of your life these diseases really take over.
Overall this was a great book. I read it in a day and I would have never guessed that this was a debut book. It is written in segments and can read a little choppy. I can see how that could annoy some people but I felt that it helped bring the emotion out much more and helped me feel for Anna. If you are looking for a heartfelt by raw book about women definitely pick this on up. It's out now!
Thank you to Bookishfirst and St. Martin's Press for my ARC of this book.