Letting Ana Go by Anonymous

From Goodreads,

"In the tradition of Go Ask Alice and Lucy in the Sky, a harrowing account of anorexia and addiction.

She was a good girl from a good family, with everything she could want or need. But below the surface, she felt like she could never be good enough. Like she could never live up to the expectations that surrounded her. Like she couldn’t do anything to make a change.

But there was one thing she could control completely: how much she ate. The less she ate, the better—stronger—she felt.

But it’s a dangerous game, and there is such a thing as going too far…

Her innermost thoughts and feelings are chronicled in the diary she left behind."

Goodreads - Letting Ana Go

After reading Go Ask Alice I purchased the rest of the books in this series.  Out of all of them I was looking forward to reading Letting Ana Go the most.  I knew that I would have a connection with this book because it focuses on a girl struggling with her weight.  I have always been self conscious and have struggled to get the pounds off.  This book definitely had an impact on me, a very negative impact.

This book follows the unnamed girl who I will refer to Ana, as she unexpectedly embarks on a weight loss journey.  Ana is a high school student who is very active and fit.  Her cross country coach tells the team they have to start keeping food journals to ensure they are eating enough and not developing an eating disorder.  At first Ana keeps her health in check, but soon she starts obsessing over her weight and how much she is eating.  One of her friends starts to encourage her to eat less and workout more.  Tragedy strikes when Ana passes out at a cross country meet.  At that point it is discovered that she has anorexia.  For the rest of the book Ana, her family, and friends struggle to help her overcome this disease in hopes they can save her.

As I was reading this, Ana made it seem so easy to not eat and to just lose the weight.  She constantly saw herself as being fat, even though she was nowhere near that.  The longer I read this book, the more I realized I was unhappy with myself.  I kept thinking that I needed to start working out again and counting calories.  By the end of the book I had texted my boyfriend and said I was going to start working out again.  And then it hit me.  I had been sucked into the twisted obsession over my size.  I thought about how I didn't look how society says I should look.  It was at this point that I realized this book is very dangerous, especially if a young girl was to read this.  I have the self control to not go to the extreme that Ana went to in the book.  However, if a young teenage girl read this, I think she could easily get pulled into the book and start doing exactly what Ana did.  This book is completely dangerous because it glamorizes anorexia and makes it seem "fun" because you'll look amazing in the end.

This book really affected me because I felt like it preyed upon my insecurities and made me even more self conscious than I already am.  This book is completely dangerous and makes it seem so easy to lose the weight.  It lays it out how to easily drop the pounds and what to do to cover your tracks.  I give this book 1 star out of 5.  I don't recommend this book to anyone.