You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
I’m not going to lie. If you struggle with eating disorders, maybe skip this book. Perhaps it’s all the ash in the air (which makes me nauseous), but while reading this novel, I went through weird binging phases which was reminiscent of old toxic eating habits. But it’s also been incredibly ashy and there was just a massive heatwave, so I haven’t been able to work out, so that’s most likely the reason behind my terrible eating. If anything, this book had me hyper-focusing on my relationship with food, which is probably one of its many intentions.
One of the more popular thematic concerns in the 21st century is the body. Maintaining and sustaining a corporeal form isn’t all that it’s chalked up to be. However, Thin Girls follows our protagonist, Rose, who has a twin sister. I’m fresh off of the Brit Bennett train, so literary fiction with twins piques my interest.
The novel opens with Rose in a rehabilitation facility for anorexia. She describes herself as an anorectic and a part of the thin girls. This is her community. This is her tribe. But that wasn’t always true. Before she was a thin girl, Rose was a twin. This a pattern for Rose. She defines herself by others, and at her worst, by what she’s not. The narrative continues to flip between the present (the rehabilitation timeline) and the past (from childhood and onward). The two plots have us exploring Rose’s traumas and the development of her eating disorder.
One of the shining aspects of the novel is the twin-thing. Our characters, Rose and Lily can feel each other’s pain and taste the other’s emotions. So when Rose begins to starve herself, Lily eats. As Rose begins to lose weight, Lily starts to gain. Although this trope seems contrite, Clarke’s take is refreshing and works. The flavor emotions the siblings’ experience brings a breath of fresh air into a trope that’s overdone, especially when both of the characters have EDs.
This novel explores sexuality, eating disorders, trauma, suppression, and how childhood and family affect us in adulthood. This novel is intense. The descriptions of the body are often jarring, bleak, and gross. Clarke is talented at incorporating smell into this novel, specifically rancid smells. Often times I found myself saying "ew" out loud and needing to look away from the page.
Despite rave reviews from my bookseller friends, I was hesitant when starting this novel. Some of my favorite works that explore the body are Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Danarembga and My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. One examines what happens to the body-psyche after generations of colonialism and the other follows the top 10% wasting itself away out of existence. The bar is high.
I’m pleased that this novel surpassed all of my expectations with its clever narrative structure, unique usage of found text, and its commentary on behavior. The sheer amount of animal behavioral, psychological, zoological, and diet research that went into this novel blows my mind. This novel is written and organized with so much intention; every image had a purpose to drive the story and theme.
Read this, if you don’t have an eating disorder that’s at risk of being triggered.
One of the more popular thematic concerns in the 21st century is the body. Maintaining and sustaining a corporeal form isn’t all that it’s chalked up to be. However, Thin Girls follows our protagonist, Rose, who has a twin sister. I’m fresh off of the Brit Bennett train, so literary fiction with twins piques my interest.
The novel opens with Rose in a rehabilitation facility for anorexia. She describes herself as an anorectic and a part of the thin girls. This is her community. This is her tribe. But that wasn’t always true. Before she was a thin girl, Rose was a twin. This a pattern for Rose. She defines herself by others, and at her worst, by what she’s not. The narrative continues to flip between the present (the rehabilitation timeline) and the past (from childhood and onward). The two plots have us exploring Rose’s traumas and the development of her eating disorder.
One of the shining aspects of the novel is the twin-thing. Our characters, Rose and Lily can feel each other’s pain and taste the other’s emotions. So when Rose begins to starve herself, Lily eats. As Rose begins to lose weight, Lily starts to gain. Although this trope seems contrite, Clarke’s take is refreshing and works. The flavor emotions the siblings’ experience brings a breath of fresh air into a trope that’s overdone, especially when both of the characters have EDs.
This novel explores sexuality, eating disorders, trauma, suppression, and how childhood and family affect us in adulthood. This novel is intense. The descriptions of the body are often jarring, bleak, and gross. Clarke is talented at incorporating smell into this novel, specifically rancid smells. Often times I found myself saying "ew" out loud and needing to look away from the page.
Despite rave reviews from my bookseller friends, I was hesitant when starting this novel. Some of my favorite works that explore the body are Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Danarembga and My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. One examines what happens to the body-psyche after generations of colonialism and the other follows the top 10% wasting itself away out of existence. The bar is high.
I’m pleased that this novel surpassed all of my expectations with its clever narrative structure, unique usage of found text, and its commentary on behavior. The sheer amount of animal behavioral, psychological, zoological, and diet research that went into this novel blows my mind. This novel is written and organized with so much intention; every image had a purpose to drive the story and theme.
Read this, if you don’t have an eating disorder that’s at risk of being triggered.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
sharp and brilliant. this is probably one of the best books i've read this year, and possibly ever. i cannot believe this is diana clarke's debut novel. she takes so much care with her words and her story and her characters, and i was pulled in from the start. there are so many fascinating relationships that clarke explores within this text, and, though it's only about 350 pages, i feel that she does so splendidly and truly develops her characters to the fullest extent. rose and lily's stories and their relationship in particular was fascinating, and i really enjoyed reading about them, though this book was at times hard to get through. but yeah! i highly recommend this book
Diana Clark’s debut novel Thin Girls is full of beautifully crafted sentences, but the story fell flat for me. Beginning in their teens, twins Rose and Lily struggle with toxic relationships and destructive behaviors. They are so innately bonded that as one stops eating, the other starts. Rose becomes dangerously anorexic and checks into an inpatient facility, while Lily seeks love in the worst possible places. At times this book was unnecessarily dark and repetitive for my tastes, almost overwrought. At the same time, the undying bond between Rose and Lily felt oversimplified to me. It almost had a YA quality to it. Clark is a talented writer for sure, and Thin Girls is worth checking out if this story line interests you.
Wow. I was hoping for this to be good, but I didn't think I would relate and understand it so much. Following the life of Rose, her eating disorder is center stage. It has plagued every aspect of her life and worst of all, her relationship with her twin sister, Lily. I'm sure everyone has struggled with their self image because I certainly have, so the thoughts and struggles Rose was going through was quite striking. This was almost a 5 star from me, but I felt like Lily's presence in this story wasn't used to the fullest. If her story was more developed like Rose's story it would have added so much depth and complexity. However, we saw the struggles of Lily through the lens of Rose which kind of felt like a disservice to the character. Not only that, but there was a plot/character line in the story that I felt could've been more developed which could have provided thought provoking conversation. Instead it felt like the influence of social media dieters was rushed through.
Overall, I would recommend checking it out.
Overall, I would recommend checking it out.
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Self harm
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Wow. This book is absolutely incredible. The writing is beautiful and I couldn't put it down. Huge trigger warning if you have a history of disordered eating, the book goes into a lot of detail.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder