Thin Girls

This was on my "if you liked X, you'll like Y" list in Scribd so I grabbed it. The writing is solid but I didn't find the story or characters that compelling. The main reason I'm giving it three stars is because I found the psyche of eating disorders fascinating, especially when combined with the dynamic of twins. That's such a different relationship than I have to food – it was like traveling to a foreign land. Seems like this book should come with trigger warnings for anyone who struggling with eating issues – though maybe that's implied by the title.

Diana Clarke does a phenomenal job painting an accurate image of anorexia and how it feels to live with an eating disorder. Unfortunately, the book began to drag about halfway through. There were many instances where the narrator (Rose) repeated herself. There was also too much time spent on particular issues throughout. I feel it would have worked better if less time was given to her time in the facility. I appreciated how backstory was interweaved with the present but felt the story was lacking in character development. For the most part, it seemed that neither Rose nor Lily changed much throughout the novel. Sure, recovery was involved, but that isn't enough to make me truly care for either of them. The main plot was interesting but the execution didn't really work.