What an absolutely stunning, heartbreaking, beautiful book. I had no idea what this was about, no expectations, and was blown away, ugly crying by the end. 17 Swann Street is a home for those suffering from eating disorders, a place for them to get help and get better. Not all of them do, not all of them recover enough to leave the home. The novel focuses on Anna Roux, a dancer from Paris who moved to the US with her husband Matthias when he took a job in St. Louis. As a dancer she was constantly forced to focus on her weight, and as she could not find work as a ballerina in St. Louis, anorexia took hold and she was down to 88 lbs. at her worst state. After collapsing in their bathroom and still being in denial about her disorder, Matthias got her help at 17 Swann Street. She agreed to go, still struggling to accept how bad things had become.

I do not have direct experience with anorexia, but I was married to someone with bi-polar disorder for 18 years and understand the power that mental illness can have on someone. Matthias and Anna were in love, married for three years, and friends knew you did not have Matthias without Anna and vice versa. Then the disease reared its head and slowly began to change the person that Matthias thought he married. Anna could not help it, but she also could not see it. That was exactly how my relationship was, but unfortunately after multiple tries, he was not as successful in getting better and staying on a treatment plan as Anna was, and I could not stay. I would not wish mental illness on anyone, it is so tough, and I think the author did such a beautiful job at capturing the struggles that people go through, whether it is anorexia, bulimia, depression, or any other type of disorder. She also perfectly captured the struggles and frustrations that loved ones go through as well.

"There is no tragedy to suffering. It is, just as happiness is. To be present for both, that is life, I think."

More books like these are needed, and I cannot recommend this one enough. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the electronic ARC to review. All above opinions are my own. Release date is 2/5/19.

Out February 5th!

4.5 stars. I am so incredibly happy that I requested this book from NetGalley. I have such a long list of ARCs to read that I was contemplating taking one more right now, and I do not regret it. This is a book that will stick with me for a while.

I'll share this from the publisher because I think it speaks volumes about the book:

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.

Take a deep dive into the life of Anna Roux, an aspiring dancer diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, as she journeys through treatment for her disorder. If you have ever wanted to understand the mindset of a person with an eating disorder, this book speaks volumes, and is sure to give you insight.

I have never read anything by Yara Zgheib but she has made a new fan. Along with being incredibly touching, raw, and real, it was an extremely easy read. The dialogue was simple and eloquent. I felt Anna's struggle throughout the entire story from start to finish. I very much enjoyed the juxtaposition of Anna's personal experience in treatment with the clinical notes of her medical team's treatment plans. It gave the story two very different, but equally important, perspectives.

This is such a minor point because the book was fabulous, but I would have liked to have had more plot line devoted to Anna's interactions with her fellow roommates at the treatment facility. At times I felt like I got a surface level look at the relationships (some were more pronounced than others). Based on the prose, they played a large role/had a large influence on her, but sometimes I wish I would have felt that more from the dialogue.

Overall, this is such an important book. Not enough people talk about mental illness and eating disorders. It tends to be a somewhat taboo subject but this is an intimate look into what over 30 million Americans struggle with every day.

-I was gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Yara Zgheib, and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to review.-

So many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and Yara Zgheib for this amazing 5 star debut novel - this one comes out on Tuesday - do not miss it! A must-read look into the world of anorexia.

Since we live in a country where a vast majority of the people are overweight, it stands to reason that food issues are a big thing. We are confronted daily with social media, tv and movies telling us that we aren't thin enough. Even though body shaming is now a thing. if others don't do it, we do it to ourselves. Unlike other addictions where you can at least avoid bars or friends that could lead you astray, how do you avoid food forever?

This is the amazing story of Anna, who grew up in Paris, was a ballet dancer, married the man of her dreams. She followed him to St Louis for his job and found herself lonely and depressed. At first, it's easy to ignore but when Anna is a mere 88 pounds and fainting, her last best hope is an in-patient residential treatment center. There she must learn to live and eat again.

The story of these girls, the way they looked after each other, and the way they are trying to deal with their demons will stay with me. An amazing work that took bravery and courage to write - bravo to all involved!

You will find many heart wrenching, glowing reviews on Goodreads for The Girls at 17 Swann Street. This is not be one of them. As great as the story itself was, it did not resonate as it should have with me. Let me explain….

For those who are unaware, this book is about a home for women and teens with eating disorders, primarily anorexia and bulimia and the women who live there. We are privy to their thoughts and feelings about food, about their private lives, what might have brought them to this point. There are those who will survive and, heartbreakingly, there are those who do not.

I am child who came of age in the 70s. Karen Carpenter was the biggest thing in our lives and we all grieved when she died in the most horrific manner possible: heart failure from starvation. In a world full of success and love and music and plenty, here was a woman who had, literally, starved herself to death. When my first husband left me because I wasn’t pretty enough, thin enough, fashionable enough, I did what any other woman would do: I lost weight. And then I lost more…. and more…. and more…. until I, too, ended up in the hospital. Luckily, I had a great daughter and a wonderful doctor and I got past that point, sort of. When my son was part of the US Diving Team, I watched in horror as young girls retched in the bathrooms, took laxatives after meals, ate and purged, all to please their coaches and to fit into suits that looked great for their fans and to meet the too-high expectations of their parents. This lifestyle, these expectations are so egregious that they cannot be expressed adequately. It is difficult for any author to try to do so and I applaud Yara Zgheib for attempting to do so. It is a subject that must be talked about, discussed, brought into the light for us all to see how utterly common it is in our society.

However – the writing style that Zgheib employed throughout the book was so incredibly distracting that I barely made it to the end of the book. This trend of not using appropriate punctuation is annoying as hell! She is a journalist, holds a PhD and she knows better. This was done as a gimmick and, for me, it did not work. Not only did it not work, it made me incredibly angry – with her, with the book, with every person who allowed this nonsense to go through especially, and because, this book dealt with such an important topic. I love grammar and I love reading. I do not appreciate those who erroneously feel that proper grammar or punctuation is optional. Unless you are e e cummings, you do not get to play with punctuation and even he drove me nuts.

There are plenty of other marvelously written books on this topic. I suggest that you read one of those instead. Or, take the advice of other reviewers who are not as picky as me. Perhaps opprobrious lack of punctuation will not bother you.

I was given a copy of this book by #Netgalley for review.

If I had to describe this fantastic book in one word it would be powerful.

In this amazingly beautiful and well-crafted story we meet Anna and Matthias Roux. As the story opens, 26 year old, 88 pound Anna, a would-be dancer from France turned American grocery store clerk, is being admitted to a facility for individuals with life-threatening eating disorders. As we come to know her and her housemates, we cheer, cry, encourage, care and grieve for them.

This book is haunting, emotionally taut, raw, and real. This book smashes some pre-conceptions, it certainly did for me, and provides a platform for genuine understanding and empathy. I was openly weeping at some points and crying tears of joy and victory in others. Matthias and Anna's love for one another is breath-taking.

This book is a work of art and art is meant to be impactful, shared, discussed and appreciated.

Thank you to Yara Zgheib, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Girls at 17 Swann Street is a compelling and raw story that pulls no punches about recovery from an eating disorder.
Anna arrives at 17 Swann Street weighing 88 pounds. Her beloved husband, Matthias, knows what Anna is slow to recognize - she is deathly ill.
Anna has to face her demons and learn to eat again.
Yara Zgheib writes sensitively and unflinchingly about the heart wrenching difficulty of recovering from an eating disorder. Anna and the rest of the residents are loveable and frustrating and a few them brought me to tears.
I couldn't put down The Girls at 17 Swann Street.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

This was just as dark and emotionally taxing as you would expect.
The writing style was a little tricky to get on board with initially, but soon enough all I wanted was to read more of Anna's thoughts.

"Not the end of the world just the end of a world."

The Girls at 17 Swann Street follows Anna, a former ballerina from Paris, as she struggles to overcome an eating disorder after moving with her husband to the States. While you might expect a book on this topic to be more high drama, I found the writing to be quiet and thoughtful, which helped me connect in a different way to Anna's obstacles and those of her housemates at 17 Swann Street.

This is a moving, thought-provoking debut.

I read this book in less than 24 hours. I was so incredibly invested in Anna’s story and I was on the verge of tears for most of it. I adored this debut novel and recommend this read highly.

The subject matter is devastating and intense but one that is an eye opener to read about in this way. I look forward to the next book that this author writes.

"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 book about a struggle many have faced.

Judging a Book by it's Cover - 2019-01-31
I'm weirdly fascinated with books about self harm and disorders and this drew me in immediately. I also really enjoy exploring debuts from new authors, especially when a description holds such promise.

( 2.5 Stars )
Review - 2019-02-01
I went into this book thinking it could be really compelling, or really disturbing or really heartbreaking. It was marketed as haunting. I'm not sure I agree that it ended up being any of these buzz words. There were some really interesting aspects, but as an overall story, I felt it fell a little flat for me.

That is to say, I have really a lot of books about disordered eating or mental illnesses and the healing process, others that had cut really deep and this one really just kind of brushed upon the surface for me. I am very hesitant to share my lackluster feelings because – fiction or not – this obviously stems from a very personal place for Zgheib and I would never want to belittle the experience, or the struggle she or anyone is living with. I'm nowhere in a state to judge or know what something like this may be like, but speaking solely from a reader's perspective, I wasn't as affected by this book as I thought I might be.

There were some really great moments of this book; I really liked the sisterhood between the girls at 17 Swann. At first I was very hesitant and skeptical of their intentions. I had a preconceived notion that they would all be mean girls, that even within the walls of this healing centre, they'd still have the cliques and would still prey on the new and vulnerable. But they were genuinely kind and looking out for each other and what grew between them all was a very beautiful kind of family and I liked seeing that build. It was very magical and special.

These girls all seemed like they would be very interesting and unique individuals, all with their own demons and stories, but the book didn't dwell too much on that, unfortunately, and I wish I had gotten to know a bit more about those other characters and the environment as a whole. It was really solely focused on Anna and others only came into the light as they interacted with her. Obviously this is a book telling Anna's story, but these characters come off like they really helped her survive this experience, yet half of them aren't even given the courtesy of a name in this telling.

I guess, ultimately, I just didn't really like how the story developed. I didn’t like how it flipped from the present at 17 Swann Street to flashing back on Anna's relationship with her husband, and then eventually her former relationship with Phillip (which as a side note, I think took way too long to bring up), and how her eating disorder originated and grew as a result of some of these experiences. I found a lot of these flashbacks were just happy memories and they didn’t really add anything to the context or the growth of the story.

Anyway, the book does a good job of describing how Anna feels lost and frozen and depleted of all hope, want or drive, and there are some educational moments at 17 Swann where you learn about the treatment and statistics about disorders, but otherwise it didn't seem to offer me much more than memories and lonely descriptions, and I guess I need more than that from a book like this.

I also didn't really feel much warmth toward Anna. She never fully drew me to her and I never felt that ultimate feeling of empathy or heartbreak about her experience. I suppose having read a lot about this subject, and having read some books that have really stuck with me and really moved me, this had some big shoes to fill and it unfortunately just didn’t.

** I received an advance copy of The Girls at 17 Swann Street for honest review through Netgalley and St. Martin's Press and thank them for the opportunity to read this and share my thoughts.

Yara Zgheib’s debut novel, THE GIRLS AT 17 SWANN STREET (BerkleyPublishing) is a haunting portrait of a young woman’s struggle with anorexia and an intimate journey to reclaim her life. 

I suffered from eating disorders in my 20's and early 30's and was blessed to get help for my disease. Not everyone is so fortunate. Some suffer from their disease for years before ever learning they have one, of aren't able to get help in time.

"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." 

26 year-old 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. 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.

February 25th - March 3rd is Eating Disorders Awareness week. Check out www.nationaleatingdisorders.org to get more information. If you or anyone needs help with an eating disorder, log onto www.mentalhealthhotline.org or call 1-855-313-2652.

Yara Zgheib is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters degree in Security Studies from Georgetown University and a PhD in International Affairs in Diplomacy from Centre D'études Diplomatiques et Stratégiques in Paris. She is fluent in English, Arabic, French, and Spanish. Yara is a writer for several US and European magazines, including The Huffington Post, The Four Seasons Magazine, A Woman’s Paris, The Idea List, and Holiday Magazine. She is the author of The Girls at 17 Swann Street and writes on culture, art, travel, and philosophy on her blog, "Aristotle at Afternoon Tea"

yara-zgheib.tumblr

This is a strong book that touches harsh subjects in a subtle way. The book is about Anna, who is diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. She is in a treatment facility and we follow her on her struggle against this disease. It was captivating to read the story from the perspective of someone who is suffering from anorexia.

Pros
Medical dossier: It was interesting for me to read the way the medical dossier was filled out. There are a few moments in the story where you read Anna's medical dossier. It was something that made the story all too real, and made you also realize that anorexia does so much damage to your body.
Small but beautiful: The story in itself feels small. It takes place in the same spot almost all the time, and it doesn't take that long to take place, but this felt like it fit the story. Anna's world is evolving around the anorexia and nothing more, at that point in her life. So her world is very small and I could feel it in every fiber of the book as well.
Feels raw and real: The book has so many layers. It was so interesting for me to read the book from the POV of Anna and it feels SO REAL. It doesn't feel like it's just made up by someone who thinks maybe someone with anorexia thinks this way. It felt like Anna was a real person and that this was a recollection of what happened to her.

Cons
Formatting: I don't know if this is going to be fixed (or is already fixed), since the book is coming out in 4 days, but in the format that I had, some things weren't flowing and it took away some of the reading fun for me. There are cursive letters in the book and sometimes it's something that a person says, it's something Anna thinks or it's a flashback. It was very confusing to me. It was also a bit confusing because sometimes the things people said didn't have quotation marks.

Overall
A compelling story that feels raw and real. I remember watching the documentary Emma Wants To Live. This was so heartbreaking and I remember being curious what was going on in Emma's head. I feel that I understand a bit better what people with anorexia go through. I also think for some people it's still a taboo and they feel like people with anorexia should "JUST EAT" and stop being so dramatic. I do hope those people will read this book!

I liked the overall story,but the writing style took me awhile to grasp. The story gave me insight into what eating disorders must be like. It's just not a matter of telling someone to "for God's sake,eat some French fries!" It it much more complicated than that. Interesting! #netgalley # thegirlsof17swannstreet

I so wanted to love this book. It had all the potential to be gritty and unflinching and raw in the vein of Girl, Interrupted or A Million Little Pieces. Instead it falls flat. The characters are too tepid, the demons confronted are too mild and well mannered.

‘I tell people I am a dancer. I have not danced in years, though. I work as a cashier in a supermarket, but my real occupation is anorexia.’

This is the first novel I’ve read that deals entirely with anorexia. The Girls at 17 Swann Street is a novel that stretches reader comfort, requires you to stop and contemplate this complicated and devastating disease.

‘I run for eighty minutes each day, build strength for another twenty, keep my caloric intake below eight hundred calories, a thousand when I binge. I weigh myself every morning and cry at the number on the scale. I cry in front of mirrors, too: I see fat everywhere.’

Through Anna’s gaze, we are given the opportunity to understand anorexia from the perspective of both the sufferer and the observer. At the opening of the novel, Anna is checking into a residential eating disorder treatment facility. She has anorexia, and the other girls at 17 Swann Street are either anorexic or bulimic. They stay at the facility until they are signed off as having a healthy BMI, and are mentally ready to approach life with healthy eating habits. Unless they die, attempt suicide, or are deemed too unwell for this type of treatment and need life support intervention from a hospital. It’s a grim novel at times, rather heart-breaking, in the way that all the very truthful ones are. There is of course a huge focus on food throughout the entire novel, because for those with an eating disorder, everything is about food.

‘Popcorn? She interrupts. Her patience and even her fake, thread-thin smile have run out. You would need to eat thirty-five bags a day, or forty-six point sixty-six medium apples to meet your caloric needs. She has succeeded, again, in shocking me into silence. I do not understand what she means. Rather, I do not want to understand what she means by “caloric needs.”’

One of the things I loved the most about this novel was how the girls at 17 Swann Street supported each other. Each was on a very individual journey of recovery, but each also knew how difficult the many stages of that recovery was, and they were incredibly supportive of each other. It was refreshing to read a novel about women supporting other women without exception instead of reading about them competing and hating each other. This aspect, combined with the meticulous accounting of the debilitating and life threatening aspects of eating disorders, makes this an ideal novel for teenage girls and young women. There is so much to draw from within the pages of this novel. A lot of teaching moments. Many moments too when I wanted to weep at the tragedy of what these girls were putting themselves through. The disease was winning, killing them, and they were powerless to stop it. 17 Swann Street was their last stop before death.

‘Anorexia nervosa makes the brain shrink; it cannibalizes itself. It must; it is starved but it must keep working. Grey matter must be sacrificed. My brain must have eaten up the sections where my hope, ambition, dreams were. Thoughts like when, soon, tomorrow are fantasies I can no longer imagine.’

Anna is considered by the other girls as one of the ‘lucky ones’ in that she has an extremely supportive husband who just wants nothing more than for her to recover. The other girls seem to draw a certain measure of strength from witnessing Anna’s relationship with her husband. Despite this novel being told entirely in the first person from Anna’s perspective, we get a real sense of the effect her disease has on her husband, and her father and sister as well. It was very moving to see their relationships unravel and then knit tentatively back together during the treatment phase through to post anorexia. The arrangement of this novel is very present, and we are either with Anna in the moment, or we are caught within her reflections on her past: everything from her childhood, her former relationships, her marriage – from the early days through to the most recent – and her former career as a ballet dancer. All of this is aimed at us getting a sense of why Anna has anorexia, but it’s also to help us understand who she really is, that she is more than anorexia. It was interesting to see how Anna’s reflections differed from her husband’s though. Take this example of a recent holiday they went on, where Anna remembered eating a crate of ripe strawberries and seeing a volcano covered in strawberry fields. Her husband’s recollection is vastly different:

‘I remember Costa Rica. I remember seeing an old lady walk toward me and realizing it was you. I remember the day you finally wore a dress and the little boy who saw you and cried. I remember stopping at every fruit and vegetable stand I could find. I remember not being able to sleep at night, listening to your heart, praying it wouldn’t stop. I remember Costa Rica, Anna. Do you?’

The power of this novel lies in the telling of each girl’s story. Any girl can end up with an eating disorder, no matter what her background is. Girls with supportive families, loving relationships, a circle of friends, good jobs, shining careers, a higher education; the list is endless. Any girl (or boy) can develop an eating disorder. This is perhaps the most important message of all to come out of this novel. I highly recommend this one.

‘Anorexia is the same story told every time by a different girl. Her name does not matter; mine used to be Anna but anorexia got rid of that.’

This was difficult to read. I feel it has an extremely limited audience that it would interest, but that it would be enjoyable for those in that small subset.

I rarely talk about this but from 2013-2015, I suffered from anorexia. Four years later and I'm still struggling. The Girls at 17 Swann Street is not only a great book in itself but it's the most insightful, thoughtful, and poignant look at eating disorders that I've ever read. Deeply moving and profound.

This was a fascinating look at anorexia and what the treatment is like. This is a tough read but I learned so much about what is like to be an anorexic that I never knew before.

Anna at times is unlikable and at other times so very vulnerable that all you want to do is hold her. She was so lucky to have a great husband and a great father who truly supported and cared for her. We read this for book club and people said Mattias was unbelievably good but I honestly think that is because of how a lot of books are written with bad husbands and Mattias is one of the good ones he had such patience for her and I loved that about him.

The way this book is written is really different too poetic, lyrical almost diary like, a very unique way of writing.

I think this will be an important book for library collections it is an adult book but I think teens would also get a lot out of it. If you would like to know more about anorexia I think this book will add to your learning.

4 stars
I received this book from the publisher and Bookmovement to read with my book club.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for approving my request to read an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This wasn't the easiest book for me to pick up. I read the first two (short) chapters a week ago, then set it down. It hit me as emotionally heavy. But, I picked it back up last night, and was surprised at how quickly it gripped me. I read the entirety of this one in 24 hours (despite it being a workday). I couldn't not. It's been awhile since I was this sucked into a book.

The Girls at 17 Swann Street centers around an eating-disorder treatment center. Much of it reads like a diary entry, or a confessional, from Anna. A former dancer, a French expat, and a wife, Anna has anorexia. And that's brought her to Swann Street. I cared about her, and the rest of the characters, so deeply - truly, I'd have read another 500 pages about them. The writing itself was great, and I'm left eagerly awaiting Zgheib's next novel. That this is a debut? Outstanding.

(And I loved the Author's Note.)