Review: Letting Ana Go by Anonymous

Letting Ana Go, by Anonymous
Publication: June 4, 2013, by Simon Pulse
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Mental Illness, Romance
Pages: 304
Format: Hardcover
Source: Borrowed
Rating: ½

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.

My Thoughts:

You know, I've always seen these books around at the bookstore. Go Ask Alice has been on my TBR for ages. Ages, literally. Letting Ana Go was actually one that I never even heard about until my local library's catalogue received it. Anorexia is a sensitive subject that not many modern YA novels touch upon on excluding Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls, a favourite of mine. This anonymous author has hit it perfectly, in a tiny novel that keeps readers guessing.

I love making predictions when reading. Not every novel can obviously leave you with an endless amount of questions that surround the protagonist or plot, but this sure did. Although it has an unattractive cover, the title and premise sounded so relatable (not to me, but to teenagers everywhere) and I found myself in the mood for a novel that's just surrounded with one thing. After reading, I've come to realize that the author adds more than just an anorexic character; there are many more issues including divorce, keeping fit and drinking at a young age. Go multi subjects!

"Me: I feel like I am my best friend. When I'm able to get through a meal without eating too much, there's this thing I feel inside of me—this strength. It's like a place of power, and when I don't eat too much, or when I exercise enough, it makes me feel invincible. It keeps me company." (Hardcover, page 228)

Now that I even think about it, this title doesn't even seem to make sense, unless the heroine's name is Ana. Through the end of the novel where the protagonist goes through an even tougher situation, her name even gets blacked out and she seems to have no identity. And at the same time, all of the characters are just classified by their first name. When things get hectic by the end, everyone is just by their name. IS THIS NON-FICTION? IS THIS REAL? WHAT? WHOA. If I found it to be actual non-fiction, I'd totally shriek because it's a total crazy story. My life depends on knowing the truth. *stays determined*

You'd think that this has a pretty easy plot, but it doesn't. This book is surely complex. The author makes TWO girls anorexic and it starts off small, just wanting to lose a few pounds and some body fat. But eventually, it becomes like an addiction, probably something even like taking drugs. Your whole mindset is suddenly changed and your life just depends on getting skinnier and skinnier. And then eventually, you have no more goals for yourself and you just collapse. Sure, a diet can be helpful for some, but starving yourself? This is completely ironic because the heroine even told her mother that she had to organize her meals correctly, but then all she's eating is rice cakes. O_O

The writing of this book was utterly fabulous. It was simple, easy-going and easy to follow. A lot of these stories have all of these complications where everyone's trying to help the troubled character out and it just gets chaotic. Because we had an independent young teen as our main character, she kind of blew all of the troubles out and sticked to her own plan. These kinds of books have a broad message that everyone just wants to help out with in reality. I bet that raising awareness for anorexia and eating healthy in a healthy way is the most effective when a person reads a fictional story that deals with the subject. Letting Ana Go left that impact on me and I'm now afraid to eat less than I'm supposed to. *grins*

PLOT TWISTS? SUSPENSE? A MAD ENDING? You've got it. I never saw that coming, I'll tell you that. I totally got freaked out in the end and was completely shocked. Yeah, picture an "O" shaped mouth on my face.

Heck yes, I need all of the books that are written in this tradition. I'll just head to my local bookstore, grab a basket, and slide all of the books off the shelf and head to the cashier, not even caring how much it'll cost me or affect my book buying ban. I can't get enough of this book and the romance and practically EVERYTHING. The perks of being a teenager and having troubles? This is it, and shows that every single teenager has some kind of issue, with some people having a bigger one than others. This is one of the realest contemporaries that I've ever read.

Have you read Go Ask Alice or Jay's Journal or any of these kinds of books? What did you think of them and their covers?