After reading "The Girls at 17 Swan Street", I am much more informed about eating disorders and the way these conditions can easily evolve into significant life threatening events. I was, alarmingly, able to identify with the main character, Anna. Although I am sixty-one, I am the same height as Anna and weigh just four more pounds than when she was released from the home. This was a shocking revelation to me personally and a wake up call that I should take better care of my health. I thought , "The Girls at 17 Swann Street" was an excellent work of fiction and well written. The clinical, medical, nutritional and mental aspects and effects of eating disorders was well discussed and incorporated into the novel. If I were a health or nutrition instructor I would include this in my curriculum.

While difficult to follow at times, The Girls at 17 Swann Street read like a memoir. By the time I finished it, I wasn't sure if it truly was a memoir or not. I liked that aspect of it because there's something about a book that leaves you questioning whether or not it's real by the time you're finished. It did take me awhile to get into it, though. But. I did enjoy it by the time I finished it. I just wish that it was a little more clear between the flashbacks, her thoughts, and her speaking. I'm torn between believing this is a stream of consciousness type of telling or not. Sometimes it felt too jumpy and other times it helped. Overall. I enjoyed it but I felt like it could have been developed better, from a reader's standpoint.

Oh my gosh.... I don't even know if I will be able to give this novel justice through this review but I will sure try!

The Girls at 17 Swann Street is a breathtakingly beautiful novel that opens your eyes to the demons of eating disorders. Yara Zgheib swept me off my feet with her words that left me haunted, raw, and teary eyed throughout this entire novel.

The story begins with 26 year old Anna entering 17 Swann Street residential treatment center for women that struggle with eating disorders. What I loved most about this novel was the power of showing rather then telling through Yara's words. Yara takes us into Anna's life ever so delicately as the novel alternates between Anna's past of her spiraling down into depression and anorexia and present at the treatment facility.

Yara's talent shines with outlining the struggles that are associated with mental illness. Yara writes with compassion, empathy, love, and honesty in this character drive novel of Ana and her eating disorder. I was blown out of the water with how powerful this novel is.

I found this novel to leave such an imprint on my heart. I highly highly recommend this hauntingly heart breaking read.

5 raw and breathtaking stars!!

Huge thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's press for the advanced arc in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This book is a beautiful, difficult read.

Anna was a ballet dancer in Paris. When her husband Matthias gets a job in the States, they travel over, Anna with ideas of joining a ballet company. When that doesn’t happen quickly, she decides that training harder and losing more weight is the answer. At 88lbs, Anna passes out, and Matthias is forced to put her in treatment for anorexia, and Anna finds herself at 17 Swann Street.

I have limited knowledge of anorexia, thankfully having never suffered from it myself or known anyone who has. Reading through this book was shocking, heartbreaking, and lovely all in one. Anna struggles immensely with food, and the irrationality behind it is so heartbreaking. The other women who are also in treatment suffer from either the same or different eating disorders, and they all have their own crosses to bear thanks to food. They form fragile friendships, sharing minimal stories about themselves as they try to recover.

This is not a light read. It often left me feeling sad and like I needed to set it aside, so keep that in mind when you decide to pick it up. It is, however, worth the read. It’s challenging but beautiful, and this novel gives great insight into a disease that I previously knew nothing about. Definitely recommend!

The Girls as 17 Swann Street is a novel about Anna, a 26 year old french woman who has moved to the US with her husband, Matthias when he is offered a job he can't pass up. Anna is a former ballerina, and the move away from her family and home has affected her in more ways that he, and even she, realize. As a ballerina, she is used to focusing on her body and weight. However, once she loses basically everything that anchors her to her life, except for her husband, she reacts and overcompensates by spiraling into anorexia. This book begins with Anna being admitted to a residential treatment facility to receive intense treatment for her disease. While in treatment, she struggles with the rules, confinement and boredom, but also forges meaningful relationships with the other women in treatment. The novel is about Anna being forced to decide whether she truly wants to get better, which means giving up the comfort her anorexia provides her.

The following passage hit me like a ton of bricks:
"Everyone around me thinks I have a problem. Everyone around me is scared. I do not have a problem. I just have to lose a little bit of weight. I am scared too, but not of gaining weight. I am terrified of life. Of a sad and unfair world. I do not suffer from a sick brain. I suffer from a sick heart."

I was really thrilled to receive both a paper ARC and a digital ARC of this book, and I am glad that I did. The paper ARC was much easier to read due to some formatting issues and the fact that quotation marks are not used to show dialogue. That being said, this book has very important messages for all of us, not just those who suffer from anorexia, or any other mental illness. It is about the myriad of ways that people cope with life. Some people drink alcohol, some use drugs, some throw themselves into their work, or their children. Some of these ways are just more self-destructive than others. The bottom line is that we are all just trying to make it through the day the best we can.

I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone who is open to learning about the ways in which people seek comfort and control in this sometimes terrifying, sometimes out of control world. I feel like this book has made me a more empathetic person to the struggles of those around me that at first glance, seem like there is a simple solution-start eating, stop drinking alcohol, stop working so hard, etc. We never know the truth behind the struggles of others, and one of the best ways to learn is to be open to their stories. I applaud the author for writing what must have been a very difficult book to write. I wish her, and everyone else struggling in this world, the best and I thank her for sharing this story.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review**

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in return for my honest review.

This book hit a truly emotional place with me. Its a beautifully written book about eating disorders. The fact that this book focused on an eating disorder that a young woman and not a teenager suffers from which gave me a whole different perspective and created a whole different story than you might have read before. Honest and raw book.

A heartbreaking look into the world of anorexia nervosa, with a side of bulimia [sorry, couldn't help myself].

The background. Anna is French, 26, happily married to Mattias [theirs is a love story]; they have left France for his job and live in St. Louis. Formerly a ballet dancer, she now works checkout in a supermarket and weighs 88 lbs. After trying to ignore her decline, Mattias brings her to 17 Swann Street, a residential treatment center for anorexia.

17 Swann Street is a group home with a strict regimen/schedule--for eating [six meals a day, certain caloric intake], weighing in, BMI measurements, sessions with a psychiatrist, walks [when allowed] and so on. And, interaction with other patients, mostly also with anorexia.

Anna's battles with eating, depression, self-image and fear of failure--to name a few, are repeatedly detailed. In fact, this would be my criticism--BUT, it is a vital part of the story. I understand after reading this book, how the battle must be waged daily and bit by bit. It provided what I believe to be an accurate window to a world unfamiliar to me.

A few phrases resonated with me:

"The ring was glistening rainbows."

"...therapist with a loud smile..."

"...coats that covered their joyous fidgeting."

I'm uncertain how to rate this because I think the book was well done. BUT, the subject matter made it difficult to read. And the repetition [previous note--understandable]--though necessary--detracted/distracted. Still, I learned much about this disease.

I had a hard time reading this book, due to the subject of anorexia. I know someone who struggled with this its not a pretty sight.

Anna is a French ballerina who follows her husband to the states and struggles with anorexia. The story, while well written, isn't one that I feel like I will remember long term. In fact, the plot reminded me a LOT of the movie Girl Interrupted and I don't find it particularly innovative or compelling. Maybe it's just a subject I didn't particularly relate to.

This was a sad read and especially for anyone who is anorexic themselves or has a friend who is, not an easy read. It did not make it easier to understand the condition, and I really could not find that it makes it easier even for an outsider to think what one can do to help.

A dancer who is anorexic must be a dangerous condition. She thinks she could do better, dance lighter, get more roles, be more successful if she just avoids the cheese or goes one more mile as that is the obstacle holding her back. Reading it makes one realize the futility of this obsession and obsession it is.

No 17 Swann Street is set up to help girls like her but can it help permanently. Slipping back into the chasm is so easy, so very easy and for every girl they help, plenty more slip back.

A debut novel very emotional.

I'm sorry to say I couldn't get into this book, I tried more the once. I don't think it's my kind of book.

This is a beautifully written novel about a young woman in a residential treatment program for anorexia. The author captures the despair that this disease brings to both the patients and their loved ones. I did feel that here were moments that had a bit of a Hallmark movie feel to them, but I am a sucker for those. Others however might find the main character's husband a tad too good to be realistic. I would prefer to think that there really are great people in the world. It is a book I will be recommending to my customers.

I liked the book overall but found it difficult to want to support the main character in her struggle with anorexia. The story jumped around so much it failed to build a connection with the character and want to really root for her. SPOILER, when she undergoes her major relapse in her attitude toward her treatment, I just really lost interest in her journey and found her tough to believe how quickly she came back. This was ok but jumped around a lot and the wrapped up too quickly.

It's really hard to write a review for books like this one. 

Disordered eating is an emotionally charged subject, and the story is made even more heartbreaking when it is told from the point of view of the patient herself.

The prose is fantastic. The writing is intelligent and well constructed, and I empathized with Anna deeply, despite not being close to anyone with an eating disorder or having dealt with one myself. 

There is not a whole lot of character development aside from Anna's, but I think that is by design. Those who suffer from eating disorders often isolate themselves, and Anna doesn't really learn much about the other girls at 17 Swann Street, so neither do we. 

This is an important novel. I hope you will read it and share it with the women in your lives. Just having gained some insight into the nightmare that eating disorders is may equip someone to make a difference in the life of a person with this disease.

I received an ARC from St. Martin's Press, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Expected date of publication is February 5, 2019.

I am glad to have been given the opportunity to read and review this book. It is well written and reads quickly. The story itself is heartbreaking yet hopeful at the same time. I found myself pulling for Anna and Matthias, and hoping that they will end up making it. My one wish is that the author had explored a little more about Anna's initial descent into her disease, although I understand why she didn't really. I am glad that I read this book, thanks to Jordan Hanley at St. Martin's Press for the opportunity.

Trigger warning: anorexia and it's effects are explored and explained in detail here.

Wow. A heartbreaking, and I suspect very realistic, look at anorexia through the lives of some of the residents of 17 Swann Street. The book goes into great detail of the how, why and what now of battling this disease. Anna seems to have it all - a loving husband and a seemingly happy marriage. But the demons of the past have taken their toll, and Anna is in a battle for her life.

This is the story of Anna, a young Parisian newlywed, who develops anorexia nervosa after her career as a ballerina fails to materialize. Upon moving to the United States after her husband gets a job offer i St. Louis, Anna's condition worsens. On a Christmas visit to Paris, her father and sister are horrified to see her only weighing 88 lbs. After returning to St. Louis Anna moves to a residential treatment facility for patients with eating disorders, 17 Swann Street.
The story focuses on Anna's stay there and her meetings with psychologists and nutritionists and her close relationships to the other girls.
I enjoyed the story but felt that had Anna told her counselor the turmoil she experienced with the deaths of family members, her treatment could have been different. This book is of particular interest to anyone with an eating disorder or confusion and anxiety about eating and dieting or anyone struggling with body dysmorphia conditions.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am surprised that growing up, none of my friends or classmates had eating disorders (that i knew about), healthy eating attitudes is certainly something that I am very aware of with two daughters even though they are still so young.

This book was gripping and eye opening, i couldn't put it down and it taught me so much about the psychology of eating disorders. I have given it 4 stars instead of 5 as i wish there was a deeper exploration of who Direct Care is- those with eating disorders are humanised, as are their loved one, but not the professionals in any meaningful way.

Also the ARC appeared to need editing - some of the paragraphs flowed together where there were italics.

Going into this book I thought it was going to be super emotional. It was emotional but not like how I was expecting. I related too much to Anna having had dealt with a eating situation when I was younger. It bought back some memories I didn't want to think about.

Excerpt. See full review at link provided below.

This is a novel about the experience of a young married French woman living in America who suffers from anxiety and depression and who develops anorexia at the age of 25. She is committed to an in-patient rehab facility with other women with eating disorders, primarily anorexia.

Now, I must confess that novels ‘about’ conditions both physical and mental are books I turn away from because I don’t believe there is enough to the subject that is compelling in terms of revealing insights into the human condition. I want to make a distinction, even though it is a misty one, between books about conditions vs. books about people who may have physical or mental disorders but also have lives that do speak to our common humanity. A number of diverting and empathetic novels about people with autistic spectrum disorder are currently available.

Secondly, I should reveal that I have an antipathy to characters who cry in nearly every scene. Yes, anorexia is really a physical manifestation of a profoundly sad and anxious soul, and one should expect emotions to be close to the surface. Perhaps the constant production of tears one sees on nearly every page of this novel is one of the reasons anorexia -- as dealt with in this format -- is a poor subject for fiction.

Thirdly, I recoil in distaste from commercial “Hollywood” endings in ‘serious,’ or literary works. Even more when they end a book devoted to a human tragedy. Readers who do not look for deep insight into character, earned endings revealed in original ways, or the intellectually provoking ambiguity of resolutions not distilled to their absolute endpoint will not be disappointed by how this book ends.

Unfortunately all three of my prejudices are served in this novel. In its favor, however is the writing style of short chapters executed as scenes. It was cinematic and vividly done and made the book easy to read because of the effective device producing the sensation of fast pacing in the reader's mind.

That said, it was not really a novel in the sense of my first complaint. Supposedly, the heroine is French, but that seemed a throwaway since nothing about her lived on the page to distinguish that fact in her from the American girls who she lived among.

If I had to put my finger on the main reason the book, as presented, is not a success, it is that it was written as fiction when it feels like it is really autobiography without the baring of the soul, which makes poignant personal histories compelling.

Regretfully, I can not recommend this book as a work of literary fiction.