This was my first DNF in a long time. As someone who has struggled with an ED in the past, and as a healthcare professional who treats eating disorders, I found this book to be incredibly unrealistic in its portrayal of eating disorders, particularly how they are treated. I'm not sure if the author has a personal history of an eating disorder, but it just seems written very poorly to me.

Poignant story of a facility for young women with eating disorders. The patients struggled to the point where they and their families could not help them before entering this facility, where they underwent a lot of structure, supervision and therapy. Some succeeded and left to return home. Others needed to stay longer. Still others failed. It was interesting how the author described the three stages that each patient had to attain before being considered successful. I would recommend this book.

The Girls at 17 Swann Street is an eye-opening book about the struggles of anorexia. How it is an internal battle and how it affects the friends and families of those suffering. Yara Zgheib writes the story of Anna and Matthias in a way that you become attached to them and want them to have their happily ever after. For someone who is not extremely familiar with the disease, this book lends an insight to the inner turmoil that goes on and you come away with a bit more empathy.

Very interesting incite into eating disorders. Showing mind set about handling and overcoming this problem.

This books tells the story of Anna Roux whom we meet as she begins treatment for anorexia. She is 26 years old, married and, at the time treatment begins, a mere 88 pounds. We follow her journey in both present time and through her life before anorexia. It was difficult to imagine how someone went from leading an ordinary life to becoming anorexic. What triggers this change? How can one look in the mirror at 88 pounds and see themselves as fat? Sometimes even those closet to you, in this case her husband, don’t always see what’s happening until a third party opens their eyes. And the health risks associated with this disease....... This book was a great read and I highly recommend it.

I thought this book was so very insightful. Having a friend who battled this condition, made it relatable. The author truly got into Anna’s mind and told her story with detail. I could picture these girls who resided there.

This follows Anna who is struggling with anorexia but there are other struggles in this book as well such as self harm, depression, etc. So that is why the book is promoted to readers who have struggles not just those who have experienced an eating disorder either with themselves or their loved ones. I personally can not relate but I did appreciate the way this book showed/described this.
It attempted to explain how the loved ones who are struggling feel. It’s honest work the anger and harshness. It does not shy from the dangers to your health. It broke down calories and how anorexia can effect your body in ways I had zero idea. I learned a lot about anorexia when it comes to the medical part as well as the emotional struggle. It was hard reading Anna struggle with food and eating. The internal fight of not wanting food but likening it. The internal fight of her not being able to admit out loud that she likes cream cheese but is also so disgusted by it.

My biggest issue with the story is only that I feel like the ending wrapped up to fast. It does express that this is not something that is fixed for ever. It is something that you have to decide to get better every day. But I still feel like it tried to wrap up too quickly. We spend so many pages watching her change into eating less and less to suddenly she will try to be better. I like the way she came to the choice but I feel like it just flew by and even though it still showed it being hard it just seemed easy compared to the rest.
I would still read more from this author though.

Tl;dr: A thoughtful look at anorexia, written with grace and hope.

The Girls at 17 Swann Street tackles eating disorders, specifically anorexia, through the pov of Anna, a 26 year old from France who develops anorexia after she and her husband, Matthias, move to Kansas. (Although it's clear from bits of Anna's past that are revealed throughout that she had earlier indications of being headed for an eating disorder)

The novel opens with Anna moving into 17 Swann Street for treatment as her weight has become so low her body is in imminent danger of shutting down. Anna is resigned and resistant to the idea of treatment, and horrified by the amount of food she is expected to eat.

One of the things I especially liked about The Girls at 17 Swann Street is how well it describes the mindset of someone with anorexia. I've lost two family members to it, and it *is* a disease. People with anorexia view food intake not as something that can be controlled, although it does seem to start that way, but it's really about fear. Anorexics, and Ms. Zgheib, excels at showing this, stop eating for any number of complex psychological reasons, but by the time they become so sick as to need help, their ability to think of food, view food, and consume food is trapped in a cycle of fear and anger and often, self loathing. Anorexia can't be cured by simply eating because for anorexics, distorted self image and utter, overwhelming terror of food itself makes what some view as fixable actually very difficult to treat.

Anna does go through a lot of these symptoms and although some may wish that Anna's past was explored more, her past has been consumed by anorexia just as she has. Her memories are almost all centered around food, even the happy ones, and there are several heartbreaking moments where Anna tries to drawn on these memories to remember the taste of certain foods, only to realize she can't. That's how pervasive and destructive anorexia is--an anorexic needs to eat, but will struggle, even in recovery, to remember those tastes again. To have those tastes again.

There are several other residents of 17 Swann Street, but the one who stuck with me hardest besides Anna is Emm, who acts as the home's resident mother hen and whose gradually revealed story is just devastating.

Although Anna does get to a better place by the end of The Girls at 17 Swann Street, she is honest about how fighting anorexia will be a forever battle and, through materials she's read during her stay, informs herself and the reader of the high rate of relapse.

I thought The Girls at 17 Swann Street was very deft, tone-wise. It has hope, but sorrow too. Joy, but sadness. It ends in a way that feels positive without ignoring reality. And the writing is just lovely! Anna is easy to like, as are all the women she meets, and I'm grateful to Ms. Zgheib for providing a thoughtful look into an easily sensationalized disease.

Highly recommended for anyone dealing with a family member who has an eating disorder, and for those looking for a contemporary title that's not afraid to tackle an tough issue, but does so with compassion. Many thanks to St Martin's Press and Netgalley for a review copy.

This was out of my normal suspense genre, but I was intrigued by the subject and decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did - it was very interesting to get that kind of a perspective. This was definitely my first book where the narrator was anorexic. While it's not "suspenseful," it is a very interesting read, especially for anyone who has known someone with an eating disorder. The narrator is as likable as she can be, and it's interesting to see the damage that the disease can do, both physically and to her relationships.

I absolutely loved The Girls at 17 Swann Street. If I could I would give it 10 stars. Eating disorders is not an easy or pretty disease to depict and I think Yara did a fabulous job of dealing with the subject with both compassion and authenticity. This is not an easy read, however it was tender story that will leave you with a better understanding of the mindset of an person suffering with anorexia. I am looking forward to the next book that Yara Zgheib writes.

A look into the thoughts and struggles of people with eating disorders. This was a very interesting and I think true account of what these girls go through. This would be a great book for anyone with a family member with this problem- to gain insight into the problem.

Thank you to NetGalley for an Advanced Reader copy of this book.

What most drew me to this book was that it was about mental illness and an eating disorder.
I must admit, I just found it unbelievable. I've read other reviews that indicated how real it was - but it wasn't in my experience.

Anna (I'm not sure if it was on purpose, but it seemed an odd choice of name for an anorexic), a ballet dancer already came from a very cut-throat experience, gets hurt and is anorexic.

I just felt that it was stereotypical, I'm not sure if this was what turned me off to the story.
It also seemed that the author switched from past to present within the same chapter - I am not sure if this is because it was an advance reader copy, or if it was meant to be that way, but it was confusing and made it difficult to read.

What I was happy to see in this book, was that Anna was an adult. Almost all stories about eating disorders are about teenagers.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book sucked me right in and I had a hard time putting it down. It was a heartbreaking portrayal of anorexia. and one character's struggle with treatment. This story mainly focused on Anna, the main character. Although there are other girls at the treatment center you really don't get their stories. I thought it would be nice to get more backstory on those girls as well. One of the only things that bothered me about this book was that the main character was focused on getting better for her husband, didn't have much of a life beyond her husband and it felt a little like the book was saying that without a husband she'd have no reason to try to get better. Overall this was a well-written book and I would recommend it.

*Thanks to NetGalley and St Matin's Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.* At first I found the author's way of punctuating dialogue frustrating. Instead of using speech marks, when characters spoke, it was italicised. However, once I got drawn into the rhythm of the story, I completely forgot this annoyance and got caught up in the beauty of the words. Young French dancer, Anna, follows her husband Matthias to the United States. She develops anorexia and becomes so unwell that she requires residential care. And so begins a delicate story of Anna and the other women living with her, as they struggle to fight their demons and reclaim their lives. A touching and engaging story.

17 Swann Street is a residential facility for those battling eating disorders and some of them won’t make it out alive – literally. Anna Roux is diagnosed with anorexia and wants to “lose a few pounds” to find happiness, although she’s nearly starved herself to death. The story is told by Anna and we get a glimpse into what this disease does to a person’s mind and body and those close to them and how hard it is to battle back.
I was totally captivated by this story and rooted so hard for Anna. She is lucky that she has a supportive and caring husband and family – some of the other girls seem to be missing those supports. The girls bond with one another and offer support and guidance within the rules of the facility. There are some grim moments in the book and at times I found it hard to read. The chapters alternate with happier days for Anna and her husband Matthias when food wasn’t an enemy. There are also some clinical reports that show the medical side of dealing with anorexia.

I found this to be a realistic story and very well written. It doesn’t shy away from the brutality of anorexia but offers hope and the chance for recovery. The main characters are well developed, and I wanted all of them to beat this terrible disease. I highly recommend this book to women and to fathers and husbands, or anyone who knows someone touched by eating disorders.

The story of anorexia and the devastating impact on those leaving with the disease and the people that love them. Extremely well-written.

From the beginning this book made me uncomfortable. In the end I liked it but it was tough to get through because of the subject matter and because of the way it was written. The characters in the book were so real and yet so very hard to connect with and in the end I figured out that was a deliberate and real choice by the author.

To pick this very difficult topic for a first book and then make the readers be a part of the struggle was not easy to do - I am sure we will be hearing more from this author for a long time!

This book was an amazing book on eating disorders. It was informative, gut wrenching, an sad. It was also about support for a very real illness. I really liked the book. I was shocked to learn of the illness, but so glad to see inside of each girl and how she dealt with the illness. I also saw it as a book of hope. Hope to overcome ...

An interesting in depth look at a serious illness that isn’t discussed enough. I was glad that the outcome ended on a uplifting note rather than leaving the reader feeling depressed. Having personally known people who have suffered from anorexia, the story accurately represented their lives.

I liked the journey of Anna's recovery, but the writing was so bad that i had to force myself to continue reading it, because i was holding out hope that the writing would get better. Sadly, it didn't but the characters were phenomenal. I liked the way that it showed some of the girls personalities gradually instead of all at once in a group therapy session. It felt more realistic to me to slowly find out more about these girls that Anna was living with.
I also would have liked to see maybe a little more background as to why Anna started starving herself, besides just simply that it was "a disease". Of course, it's a disease, but there's always some starting point or trigger that sets it off and I don't feel like Matthias not paying attention to her or eating with her was the root of the problem.
I honestly thought Matthias was going to either cheat on her or leave her, but i'm glad my predictions weren't true in the end.
There were a few problems i had with it, mostly just the lagging/poor writing, as well as not really capturing my attention all that much, but overall, it was a good story with great characters.
I just would have liked to see more of a detailed explanation as to what triggered her eating disorder and better writing, but that's just my take.
~ I recieved this book for free from the publisher for my honest review ~