Thalia @ Pictures in the Words

I really wanted to love Zoe Letting Go, and while it wasn’t exactly bad, it wasn’t great either. I’ve yet to read a truly magnificent novel about eating disorders. This one wasn’t particularly surprising or haunting, although I enjoyed Zoe’s journey and learning more about her and her frame of mind. The unfortunate thing, however, is all the secrets of this book are pretty obvious, and the management at Twin Birches was too passive to actually help Zoe with any of her crippling problems. I felt like it was fairly unrealistic in that regard. However, this is also one of those books that I don’t really have a strong opinion either way—not good or bad, but just kind of there.

I would, however, recommend that nobody who is triggered by eating disorders read this book. Zoe’s narration is such that it would be damaging to anyone attempting to fight against her mindset, and I don’t think it would be particularly helpful to anyone who has struggled with eating disorders or can be triggered by reading about someone who is still lost in their own battle (and doesn’t want to get out of it).

What I Liked: Spoilers!

• I adore journal narrations, and this was no exception. I feel like journals are so insightful and realistic. Lots of people keep journals, and they offer a pleasant blend of past and present tense that makes a surprising amount of sense. It was especially effective for this particular narrative, because we needed to be in Zoe’s exact frame of mind at all times in order to understand her journey. Not present tense, because it’s too…blegh. But journals offer a time for reflection and honesty, because I’m going to assume that the vast majority of people who write in journals are honest with themselves in them. It’s easy to lie in your head or to other people, but Zoe had a medium of narration that offered total freedom with herself and what she believed. It was the perfect narration for this situation.

What I Didn’t Like:

• The whole plot was, unfortunately, completely predictable. The description basically gives away the book’s biggest twist, which is that Elise has been dead the whole time Zoe is at Twin Birch. Zoe continues to write to her under the illusion that her best friend is still alive. (Comparing your book to “The Sixth Sense” as an enticer doesn’t really help the surprise factor.) The narration made it pretty obvious that Elise wasn’t around anymore, and as a result, Zoe’s ignorance seemed forced instead of genuine.

• The real stickler for me is the absolute lack of progress for Zoe. This book is more like a peak at the beginning of her recovery—a recovery that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Twin Birch seems entirely ineffective in its treatment because the girls float along together, learn to cook and are forced to eat, instead of taking action against their inner demons to target what makes them think the way they do about themselves. They should be in a support group setting that teaches them how to eat healthy, how to see themselves as beautiful the way they are, all the while creating a positive influence on the girls. Zoe particularly refused to acknowledge her problem, and spent the majority of the novel trying to “guess” why she was even there to begin with. The result is a girl who moves nowhere in her progression and maintains her damaging thought process through her “therapy.” I believe books that deal with issues should send a message of hope for the people who read them. To my mind, you would want a book about eating disorders to be read by girls who understand that feeling and are looking to relate. Having your main character be a discouraging and harmful influence on those readers is not the route you want to take, so Zoe certainly should have made some progress. She didn’t, however, and that made me feel like my time had been wasted.

Overall: As I said, I don’t recommend this to anyone who has struggled with an eating disorder, because Zoe’s thoughts are never corrected or helped by anyone supposed to help her. She is not hopeful or helpful in a recovery process, so reading reaffirming beliefs as to why she doesn’t have a problem would not help anyone struggling against those very thoughts. (Trust me—I had the exact same experience with another book, and I am still fighting the effects of it on me.) In addition, it was too predictable to be effective as any kind of thriller or a “haunting” read. However, I did like the journal narrative, so the read was not a complete loss. Perhaps if you have no personal experience with eating disorders, you won’t mind giving this a go, but I still strongly advise against reading it if you are triggered by such a topic.

(http://thaliasbooks.tumblr.com/post/124000011527/zoe-letting-go-review)