"That's the part of me that is out of control, the part of me that must be contained. That's the part of me that will cause me to lose it and go beserk, to stuff my face with anything it sees to make these feelings go away."
Letting Ana Go is one seriously intense, real and scary book! I thought about putting this book down a million times because I just couldn't handle it!
It is told through a series of diary entries (which I loved!) and is about an unnamed narrator who starts suffering from anorexia.
Letting Ana Go is a book that deals with anorexia. As someone whose knowledge of anorexia is limited, I was quite interested in learning more about it, but the information provided was things that I knew about. I wanted a learning experience, but I didn't really get one. This book did portray that anorexia is a scary reality. The main character starts sinking into a deep hole due to her family circumstances and peer pressure. She never realises how deep the hole is and even when I though she was recovering, she digs herself further down, until she's almost six feet under. I do feel that this book dealt with what anorexia is and how it affects people, but it didn't really deal with how people get treated for it, or what forms of treatment there are in recovering from a eating disorder.
I also had issues connecting with the characters. I didn't like the unnamed narrator, her insta-lovey relationship with her boyfriend, even although I give him major props for standing by her side, and I did not love the main characters friend. There was NO character in Letting Ana Go that I fully connected with and this reduced my reading enjoyment.
Letting Ana Go ends the way I hate books ending, (HUGE SPOILER! Click at your own peril!)The main character dies! and even although it's brutal and heartbreaking, it's quite fitting for this realistic, sad and intensely emotional book.