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.)

Girls at 17 Swann Street was a tough one for me to stomach-- pun intended-- hence the delay in writing a review. Having struggled with my own relationship with food for as long as I can remember, I related to this book in a way that felt more truthful than most fictional accounts. The constant thoughts, the push-and-pull, the one step forward, two steps back, it's all portrayed with uncomfortable accuracy in Zgheib's debut novel. As frustrating as I found it, reading about Anna's ongoing battle, I also know intimately what it's like to allow your fears of food to wreak havoc on every element of your life, including your relationships. I've read a lot of accounts of mental illness and eating disorders, usually in memoirs, but sometimes fictional as well, and I don't think I've seen any account explore the destruction of interpersonal relationships as well as this novel. It's a hard read, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is prone to being triggered, but I do recommend it to those who are "on the other side", so to speak-- to anyone who has loved someone with an eating disorder, to anyone who has an eating disorder but is actively seeking treatment and is able to honestly evaluate what he or she is dealing with. There's not a ton of plot here, but that allows the character study to be fully explored and felt, which I appreciate fully. Kudos to the publisher for releasing such an honest portrayal, without forcing it to be "more dramatic".

The Girls at 17 Swann Street is an honest, eye opening account of the day by day struggles of a 26 year old woman’s plight with anorexia. Anna Roux is a Paris born ballerina, who lost her position in the corps de ballet after an injury. Three years later, she has followed her husband Matthias to America. Unable to find a job at a local ballet company, Anna works at a grocery store, and spends most of her days exercising and avoiding food. The story really begins one evening when Matthias has found her, collapsed in the bathroom, and decides it is finally time to take her to get help. She is committed to an eating disorder rehabilitation program at 17 Swann Street.

Anna, who would fast for a day before she knew she had to eat in public, and only willingly eat apples and popcorn is now put on a meal plan with 6 meals a day. Every bite is torture and it takes help from the other girls to get her through the first few days. As Anna progresses at the house, she reflects on her life with Matthias, her childhood, and what lead her to this point. The other women are each struggling with their own disorders, and we get a small glimpse into what life looks like for them.

I am fascinated by reading about other people’s struggles with illness, and love reading for giving me this opportunity to see into other people’s lives. Although this novel shows the tortuous, all-consuming side of the disease, it also leaves room for hope and gave me a new appreciation for the small things, like going to coffee shops and sleeping next to my fiancé each night. The focus of the novel is really on Anna, and her story. Because of this my one picky thing is that the title is a bit misleading. We do learn a little bit about some of the girls in the house, but many are introduced as just a name. I also couldn’t understand the symbolism of calling some of the staff at 17 Swann Street “Direct Care”. Others had names, but very little characterization so this was lost on me.

I really did love this book- I could not put it down once I started. I especially adored the relationship between Anna and her husband Matthias. I appreciate that this novel showcases how disease affects a truly loving and healthy relationship. I am very grateful that Yara Zgheib chose to tell this story. Clearly from the acknowledgements some aspects are personal to her, and it shows through her honest, harrowing writing.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This novel really shines a light on otherwise silent eating disorders. I think most people have a love/hate relationship with food, but I think for most it’s more a fear of overindulgence. I think this fact is what makes understanding this disease so difficult, or difficult to empathize with. I liked that the novel was told from Anna’s POV. It allows us to understand what she experienced minute by minute during her day, which helped me to better understand how people struggle within this disease. My most important take away is that these diseases are not about food. Food is used as a tool to cope with their emotional struggles. Hopefully, with more open conversations about these diseases more people can get the help they need. Reason for 4 star rating: transitions could have been more smoothly done. Still well done.

‘I am not undernourished. I am starved for a meal I would not have to eat alone. For someone to love me and tell me that I am more than enough, as I am.’

Our striving to be thin has become an obsession. We indulge in costly diet plans, spend hours exercising, cut our food intake, all because the image of success and beauty is a thin body. If you are a dancer, a figure skater, a gymnast, or any other athlete, weight is the foremost idea in you mind. Don't gain an ounce, don't get any taller, don't grow and most of all don't eat. In this book, The Girls At Swann Street, we are taken into the life of a young woman, Anna Roux, as she and others battle the disease known as anorexia. They live together at 17 Swan Street where everything is monitored all in the hopes that they will somehow rediscover the world of eating. Anna is married and is loved by her husband, but he is at his wits ends as he watches the woman he loves disappear before his eyes.

Anna had been a dancer studying ballet in Paris. She was totally focused on dance and of course staying thin is ever so critical if one wants to dance. Perhaps if she weighed less she could jump higher, spin faster, be someone special, something meaningful, something she doesn't hate when she looks in the mirror. She and her husband move to America, and Anna's life and her own self begin that spin into decline and possible death.

Anna, eats less and less and her weight in a 5'4" body drops to a precarious 88 pounds. She is dying from the inside out. She is admitted to Swan Street in the hopes that this program will save her. Her husband is her ally, but that doesn't seem to be enough. She discovers the girls who with her, are suffering from the same inability to place food into their mouth. They have lost the joy of eating, and have lost the joy of living. Will this program save Anna and the other girls, or will they succumb to the ravages of anorexia?

This compelling story comes at the reader like a train rambling along a track that is filled with anguish and sadness. This is a story that many know, that many find themselves in, that many will die from. I heartily recommend this book to all and feel that you will be enhanced and informed by Anna's story.

As an aside, my oldest daughter was a competitive ice skater for eight years. I know, first hand how coaches would frown if weight was gained. They would be upset if a growth spurt set in for that would throw off a child's balance. They would try to control the life of a child to further their own ambitions to maybe someday be the coach of a winner. My daughter's ballet teacher would scream at parents waiting for their children that the parents were too fat. At that time, I weighed 110 pounds. I couldn't even, though I was an adult, get that thought out of my mind. Was I indeed too fat?

It's insidious. It comes upon you, wrecks your mind as you constantly think and live weight.
Is it all worth it?
I watched and interacted with the children, the ballerinas at Lincoln Center. What they ate and placed on their lunch trays was pitiful, all in that attempt to be thin.
Watch the TV, look at magazines, listen to jokes, we worship thinness. We look to normal people as if they are obese, and we fat shame those who have weight issues. This is who we are so is Anna and the other girls's stories so hard to understand?
Thank you to Yara Zgheib, St Martin's Press, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this moving story.