The Girls at 17 Swann Street is an in depth look at anorexia. The thought process and the struggle is written out so well that you can actually feel what they feel. While at times, it is a hard read, you can't help but cheer for them with every bite. Anna and Matthias signify what "in sickness and in health" truly mean. This was a great story with some very interesting characters.

Quite a difficult read in some ways. I cannot imagine what anorexia is like. This book goes some way into describing the mental anguish behind this terrible disease. I did not really feel that this was a novel in a lot of ways, more a guide.

What attracted me to this book was the fact that it was about a ballerina. Anna, the ballerina suffered a knee injury and had to be sidelined for a while and was suffering from anorexia. Anna and her husband, Matthias, were living in Paris and he was offered a job in the United States which he accepted. Once in the US, Anna enters a residential treatment center for eating disorders at a weight of 88 pounds. There are 6 other women in the center with eating disorders. I was disappointed in this book. I did not care for the characters and/or the people working at the facility. I had a hard time getting into this book and I am not sure how accurate the treatment delivered at the center was. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

As a parent whose daughter struggled with an eating disorder, this is a book I wish I would have read before my daughter turned 13. With the sensitive strokes of one who has lived through anorexia, the author paints another layer onto my portrait of understanding this often misunderstood disease.

Anna Roux, a former ballet dancer, has checked into an eating disorder’s facility on 17 Swann Street. At 26, she feels as if she’s 62, and her starved brain no longer makes rational decisions. When she joins the girls at 17 Swann Street, the answer to the question of whether or not she’ll live hangs in the balance. No every girl will make it.

Anna’s telling of her story is interwoven with clinically dry reports from her care providers. On the intake form, she lists her occupation as cashier at a supermarket, but acknowledges that her real occupation is anorexia.

This is a must-read book for those who have a family member that struggles with an eating disorder or anyone who has a family member with a high ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) score. Knowledge is power—and learning about the psychology behind anorexic thinking through the eyes of one who suffers helps us understand our role in helping someone recover.

Pretty Bummer: Yara Zgheib’s debut novel The Girls at 17 Swann Street Cuts Close to Bone

Like many writers, Aristoleatafternoontea.com blogger Yara Zgheib writes from experience. Her self-published 2012 memoir, Biography of a Little Prince, is about the seven years she spent with her little brother before he died. Her debut novel, The Girls at 17 Swann Street, is based on her life (according to her publisher) and it reads like the short story/memoirs that come out of creative writing college courses–which I know sounds like a dis but what I mean is her work rings true in way that only a writer having lived through it could.

Although there are many female characters in The Girls at 17 Swann Street, the story centers in the sadness that is Anna Roux in bedroom five, what she calls the Van Gogh Room. An ex-pat, ex-dancer, ex-eater, and former lover of life, she’s down to 88 pounds and prone to fainting when she checks in to the eating disorder facility at 17 Swann Street in St. Louis, Missouri, a place where women go to unpack their illness, receive help and monitored meals, and learn to survive in their skin.

Parisian Anna and her scientist husband Mattias moved to the midwest when he was offered a job and she just sorta lost her way, her purpose. After not getting hired by the local ballet company, she started running to lose a few and by trying not to eat all day out of boredom, she controlled the little she could control in her life and this coping mechanism turned into behavior she could not change. The willpower to starve diminishes your body then your brain and then You Just Can’t Eat.

“There were signs: foods I slowly stopped eating, dresses I slowly stopped putting on. They got too loose, and I have nowhere to wear them anyway. Waiting for Matthias to come home from work so I would not have to eat alone. When he did: Any luck today, Anna? He eventually stopped asking. Eventually, I also stopped searching. And Dairy, and answering the phone. And wearing makeup, but at least I wasn’t fat anymore.”

“Then bones stick out. Hair and nails fall out. Everything hurts and it is cold. Past the hundred-pound mark. Ninety-five pounds. Ninety-three. Ninety-one, eighty-nine.

Eighty-eight.”

Lyrical with formulaic drama involving the other patients and LESSONS LEARNED, of course, and some oddly untouched trauma that floats into the story and remains unpacked (when it would seem to be rather important), The Girls at 17 Swann Street is a solid retelling of the recovery story.

Wendy Ward
http://wendyrward.tumblr.com/

"She just looks very sad. And like most anorexics she looks like she is trying to starve the feeling out."

The Girls at 17 Swann Street was a heartbreaking and eye-opening book on the subject of eating disorders, anorexia to be specific. The book starts with our main character, Anna entering into a home for people that need the most help. They have people fighting for them in their corner, Or at least some do. Anna has her husband, Matthias that wants her and wants her healthy. The woman he fell in love with. And he will do anything to get there too. Even give her up and put her in a home 45 minutes away from their home together. Unfortunately she has programmed herself when it comes to her feelings of food. And that is the part that is hard to watch and be a witness to.
This story is hard to review and was hard to read, but it was thoughtfully and carefully written by a debut author that obviously has a good knowledge of the subject matter. The home at 17 Swann is filled with other women in the midst of different steps to their recovery. Some have been there months, years and some just want death to take them away. To see their health disintegrate before by eyes by the words on the page? Horrifying in the most sad of ways.
A few issues I had were the way the dialogue was represented. It was always in italics which confused me a little. Nothing was in quotes and I felt like when the dialogue was in italics it was almost like a thought as opposed to something said out loud. That is just something small, but something that didn't feel right, yet didn't take away from the story too much. The other thing was the speed of Anna's recovery and the way the Care people moved her on to the next Steps when I honestly didn't feel like she was ready for it. Perhaps this was for the pace of the story, but again, just a small issue.
But there were more parts that stuck with me and that I thought were unique to this story. I liked that they included blurbs of the doctors notes at certain points throughout the book. It helped us see Anna's process and the way the doctors felt her progression was going.
Anorexia is a difficult disease and it's ugly. Yara Zgheib did a good job of writing it in a way that was real and still held a light at the end of the tunnel. Even if you are doing it for someone else rather than yourself, we got to see the way one might want to cure themselves. Overall a solid debut. 3.5 stars

The Girls at 17 Swann Street tells the story of woman who is admitted to an inpatient facility for those struggling with eating disorders. I have a (perhaps strangely specific) love for reading books where characters are confined together in an unusual setting, so I was instantly drawn to the description of this book.

It was easy to quickly become invested in Anna's story as you follow her progress as she becomes acclimated to her new surroundings. I enjoyed reading about her relationships with others in the house and the unspoken rules for survival.

The writing style may take getting used to for some, but I found it fairly comfortable after a few chapters. And while I enjoyed the pacing of the the first three quarters of the book, I found the ending a bit rushed. Overall, this was a quick and interesting read for me. I'd definitely pick up another book by this author.

Thanks to Netgalley for offering me an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The Girls at 17 Swann Street was very intense. Although I have my own issues with food, I could never get a grasp of what an anorexic person was going through. This book gave me a much better understanding. There was so much to be sad about for these women, I was happy when they were happy. I loved the little things they did to help each other get through another day. I highly recommend for anyone who needs to improve their understanding of anorexia.

I have never read a novel that brought up the issue of eating disorders, and I think that in this day and age it is a hugely important subject. Women especially are treated as sex symbols quite often, and are expected to have a perfect shape, which includes being thin. I'm in my 30s and I know both my childhood and my adult life that struggle with body image, and being able to allow themselves to eat. It's a sad world we live in, and it's crazy to think that being large actually use to be a good thing back in the day, because if you were large that showed that you were wealthy and could afford a lot of food.
The novel follows a young woman, Anna, who has been brought into a treatment center for anorexia by her husband, Matthias. The book follows her through her journey through residential treatment, with all it's ups and downs. It also introduces you to the other young ladies at the treatment center at 17 Swann Street, as they also struggle with either anorexia or bulemia. All in all I really enjoyed reading this book. At times it did hurt my heart to read what she was going through, but in the end it was definitely a journey worth taking!

I was thrilled to death for the opportunity to read an ARC of his new book. I was drawn in from the first chapter and could hardly put it down! Highly recommend!

There's something about The Girls at 17 Swann Street that stays with you after you finish the book. Whether it be the subtle ways Zgheib shows you Anna's daily routine, or her dancing background, The Girls at 17 Swann Street takes you on an emotional roller coaster. I'm not sure about the accuracy of the eating disorder representation, but Zgheib gets to know the other women at 17 Swann Street. She sees their stories, their hopes, and fears.

I liked the way Zgheib shows us, through assessments, and Anna's daily routine, how she takes stock of her life. Whether it be her limited possessions in her room, or the way she does not have choice about her meals, Anna's journey is challenging. The Girls at 17 Swann Street is full of memories of he past, like rooms with barely opened doors down a dim hallway. Her choices, her life, her routine is boiled down. Her conversations with nutritionists, therapists, and those around her, illustrate the way her life and choices has lead to this point.

The Girls at 17 Swann Street is about anorexia nervosa and, more specifically, about Anna’s struggle with this truly harrowing and terrifying disease. Anna is a 26 years old, former dancer who is admitted to an inpatient facility for treatment of her disease. Her husband, Mathias, took a position in the US which prompted their move from Paris to St. Louis. Anna’s official diagnosis comes about three years after their arrival to St. Louis, though it becomes clear through flashbacks that her struggles with food started much earlier. The book actually begins with her admission to the pink house at 17 Swann Street and we get glimpses of her past through these flashbacks. The reader gets, what I would imagine, is an accurate picture of the challenges that someone like Anna would face on their road to recovery. We meet some of the other patients that reside at the Swan Street facility - some that never make it as far as recovery and others that are discharged long before they are ready.

I found the author’s writing style to be eloquent and very affective. I could feel the stress of meal and snack times. I could feel Anna’s anxiety, anger and sadness throughout her journey. This a very emotional book and, at times, difficult to read but I highly recommend it.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

I wasn't sure what to expect from a book about a group of women with eating disorders but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. It was interesting to get the peak into the brain of someone suffering through this.

My big complaint about the book is I feel like things wrapped up in a bow too easily at the end. Given the statistics, I'm not sure the outcome is what I anticipated.

I have read many books dealing with Anorexia in teenagers but I believe this was the first book I’ve read in which the characters were grown women struggling with the disease. I am usually a fan of books that move around between the past and the present but for some reason I struggled with that in this book and found myself confused at the beginning of time shifts.

Thank you St. MARTIN Press and Net Galley for an early copy, for an honest review.
While this is a difficult topic, it was well written and gave some very believable in site on a subject not many understand. Not my usual genre Tara Zghelb did beautifully.

An in depth look inside an eating disorder treatment facility and specifically, Anna. Struggling with loneliness and grief, she restricts her food, the only thing she feels she can control. Her fight to get better occurs daily.

This poignant story will give you an in-depth look inside the life of 26-year-old Anna, a wife and former dancer, who had moved to Saint Louis in the American Midwest from her hometown of Paris, France, because of a job opportunity for her 30-year-old husband, Mathias, who is a physicist in a research laboratory. Although Anna found work as a supermarket checker, her real occupation is anorexia nervosa. As explained so eloquently in the story, Anna does not suffer from anorexia, but has anorexia. It keeps her company. She can control it, thus, that is why she chooses it. When her body weight drops to a mere 88 pounds, and Matthias finds Anna slumped onto the bathroom floor, they decide that she needs to seek institutionalized treatment at 17 Swann Street.

Since everyone there is suffering, and everyone is suffering enough, one of the patients shares the unwritten rules of the house with Anna, my favorites being to not hold a grudge and to be kind. I wish that I could be as fluent as the author as she articulates not only the treatment and consequences of anorexia in this up close and personal story of Anna, but the love of her husband and the backstories of the other girls at 17 Swann Street.

This heart-tugging and inspiring book is for everyone--not just those who has or knows someone who has body image issues or eating disorders. Well done!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to Yara Zgheib, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Wow! This book was NOT what I was expecting at all, but I am SO very glad that I read this book! The author wrote well-developed characters in a story about anorexia, family, and life - REAL life! The story takes you from Paris to St. Louis and it beautifully described in appropriate detail so that you feel like you are there in the story.

The anorexic stories are hard to read, but thought-provoking. It was done in a tasteful, well-thought-out manner that really made me THINK and FEEL about this disease. Thank you for raising the awareness of this life-threatening issue again, Ms. Zgheib!

I believe that this is a debut novel and what a good one out of the gate. This author is going to get better with each book and I cannot wait to read them all.

Strong recommend!.

I gravitated to this book on Netgalley. I am a dancer and unfortunately, I can relate all too well about the subject. Ms. Zgheib did an outstanding job writing about a very serious and difficult disease. While, I found it hard to read, at times, it is a book worthy of continuing. It’s an important book and also offers an insight into what it must be like to suffer, for years, from anorexia. Anna is a wonderful character and her husband even better, as patient as he is. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the perusal.

To me The Girls at 17 Swann Street, by Yara Zgheib, is a 3 1/2. Because that is impossible I am upping my rating to a 4 star review. Ms Zgheib gives us some back and forth in time, filling in the back story of our main character, Anna. I had a difficult time relating to Anna and the anorexia. I was given an early copy to review.