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Zoe Letting Go

by Nora Price (Goodreads Author)

3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 · rating details · 474 ratings · 101 reviews

�When the truth about her past is disclosedthe effect works like gangbusters.”
�New York Times Book Review

A girl's letters to her best friend reveal two lives derailed by anorexia in this haunting debut that's Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls meets The Sixth Sense.

Zoe knows she doesn’t belong in a hospital—so why is she in one?

Twin Birch isn’t just any hospital. It’s...more

Hardcover, 272 pages

Published June 14th 2012 by Razorbill (first published June 1st 2012)

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2012 Debut Authors (Young Adult & Middle Grade)

242nd out of 799 books — 4,582 voters

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

June 2012

34th out of 46 books — 129 voters

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Aug 01, 2012 Juhina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-arcs, review-books, penguin, own

3.5/5 stars

Zoe Letting Go is definitely in a genre I don't usual venture into and that is the realistic contemporary. Also, this novel centers around a girl with an eating disorder which is the type of novel Farah loves. Therefore I had some restraint when I picked this novel up. However this novel was such a different adventure. Also the main protagonist was so likable. However till the end you don't really understand exactly what is the real problem with Zoe. However that was what kept me flip...more 3.5/5 stars

Zoe Letting Go is definitely in a genre I don't usual venture into and that is the realistic contemporary. Also, this novel centers around a girl with an eating disorder which is the type of novel Farah loves. Therefore I had some restraint when I picked this novel up. However this novel was such a different adventure. Also the main protagonist was so likable. However till the end you don't really understand exactly what is the real problem with Zoe. However that was what kept me flipping the pages; the curiosity and need to find out what Zoe exactly did and what happened to her to end up at an eating disorder treatment facility?

Zoe gets woken up in the middle of my the night by her mom telling her to pack a bag because they're hitting the road now. A couple of hours later she finds herself in an eating disorder treatment facility. Now Zoe is confused on why she ended up here since she has no eating disorder. Now i'm sure all the readers, including me, thought this is typical of an eating disorder victim: denial. Zoe not once says she is anorexic, or has an eating disorder. Zoe is on a different weight level compared to all the boney girls (5 other) in the facility. Also while Zoe doesn't like being stuffed with food and force fed, she doesn't really think food is her #1 enemy hence my confusion. This left me perplexed and confused on why her mom dropped her in this facility. However towards the end of the book you finally understand what Zoe needs to let go.

The novel is written in a form of a journal and letters. The journal obviously belongs to Zoe however in between every journal entry, Zoe writes a letter to her best friend Elise. The letters shed light on Zoe's past while the journal entries are of the present. I loved how Zoe made friends in the facility, and how funny they were at times and just normal teenaged girls that just want to be loved, accepted, and in control of their lives. Nora Price just knew exactly what to do to keep me reading, and while I felt frustrated at times because I was just confused on what Zoe's problem was, the ending shed some light on the problem. However I still felt that I needed more explanations on some aspect of Zoe's behavior, her mom's behavior, and just wished to see the closure Zoe felt back in her home, and not just what she thought in her head. However I really did enjoy Zoe Letting Go, especially with the present friendships and Zoe's personality. Nora Price did a great job linking Zoe's past and present. I would definitely recommend it to all fans of realistic fiction!

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Aug 27, 2012 Miharu Rokujou rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: eating-disorders

I wanted to read this book because the description on Goodreads made it sound incredibly interesting to me, seeing as I've read the books that this site related it to. I was highly disappointed, however, because it didn't appear to be anything like those other books I actually did enjoy.

I was bored from the beginning and considered dropping the book about half way through. It got slightly more interesting after the half way point, but it certainly felt like it was dragging on and nothing was rea...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 06, 2013 Paula Phillips rated it 5 of 5 stars

Im not too sure why as I have never suffered a mental illness , but it could be stemmed from the fact that my Dad works in this area but when it comes to Edgy Content I just love reading tales of Mental Health , Drugs and Alcohol but more preferably the category of the different mental health issues and disorders.
In Zoe Letting Go , we meet Zoe whom has been taken to the Twin Oaks Institute for girls . At this institute, they cater to six girls all with different forms of eating disorders. At f...more

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Jan 04, 2013 Samantha rated it 5 of 5 stars

Zoe Letting Go is a delightful book written by Nora Price. This story takes place in an institution for anorexic girls. The main character is Zoe, who finds herself at Twin Birch, an institution for her because her mother thinks she is on an unhealthy diet. The workers force the small group of girls there to eat voluminous portions of food. Elise, Zoe’s best friend, also had a little unhealthy diet herself, but her mother didn’t stick her at Twin Birch, this puzzles Zoe. The counselor allowed Z...more

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Sep 15, 2012 BAYA Librarian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Debut author Nora Price has contributed a new Young Adult book to the catalog of eating disorder books, following a teen girl’s institutionalization into an anorexia clinic, through lessening stages of denial, to recovery. Zoe, 16, finds herself en route through rural Massachusetts, away from her home in Brooklyn, being driven somewhere, for some reason she can’t deduce. Zoe wonders what she did to provoke her mother into making her pack and leave home. She can’t recall what brought on this pare...more Debut author Nora Price has contributed a new Young Adult book to the catalog of eating disorder books, following a teen girl’s institutionalization into an anorexia clinic, through lessening stages of denial, to recovery. Zoe, 16, finds herself en route through rural Massachusetts, away from her home in Brooklyn, being driven somewhere, for some reason she can’t deduce. Zoe wonders what she did to provoke her mother into making her pack and leave home. She can’t recall what brought on this parental frenzy, driving the highways for hours through wooded landscapes to a secluded manor in pastoral Massachusetts, so far from the home she knows.

As Zoe recognizes that she has been inducted into an institution for girls with eating disorders and can plainly discern their problems, she continues to deny her own, while pouring her heart out to far-away best friend Elise but receiving no letters of reply. Zoe’s roommate and two other six girls ostracize and provoke her, and she can’t understand why she has been singled out, in addition to why she’s there at all. Zoe tries to convince the counselors of her misplacement, but readers witness her rejecting or obsessing over food and recalling disturbing past incidences involving her best friend, whose beauty Zoe covets.

As an unreliable narrator, Zoe’s confusion over her predicament lead the reader through delusions as well as real mysteries, such as which girl is stealing clothing and why Zoe’s roommate peers longingly at a collection of silver-framed baby photos. The story starts in letters addressed to Elise, interwoven with first person narrative. The problem with the writing, evident from the beginning, is that it lacks authenticity; Zoe simply doesn’t write, speak, or think like a teenager. It was nearly impossible to suspend disbelief and engage with the drama, even with such a compelling premise and well-paced, gripping momentum.

Another glitch with the book is the addition of recipes throughout the text for the courses the institutionalized girls are made to create and eat as part of their therapy. The inclusion of the recipes seems gimmicky and lessens the seriousness of the subject matter (although this reviewer will admit to trying out some of the recipes with delicious results!) and perhaps should have been included in an appendix rather than interspersed with the narrative. Overall, an agreeable but somewhat flawed book on the subject of anorexia, with a likeable if not fully believable protagonist, suitable for middle school and high school readers.
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Aug 26, 2012 InkBitten rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sarah

Judged by Cover: Subtlety is Key

First, let's take the time to give the cover designer a round of applause for NOT chopping of the poor model's body. Good job!
For a quick glance, the cover might not appear that extraordinary. In fact, it may even get you to start worrying that it's time for yet another appointment to the optometrist. At a second glance, though, the cover makes you think of a photograph that someone crumpled up and threw away. Any design with that much though but not shoving it i...more

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Jul 01, 2012 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: bullies, community, families, friendship, ncbla2013, school, self-esteem, eating-disorders, death

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Rising junior Zoe Propp has no idea why she is at Twin Birch, which seems to be an elegant recovery facility for girls with eating disorders. Over the course of the novel while she tries to figure out why she's at this place where six girls at a time wage battles for recovery, she writes letters to her best friend Elise Pope. But to her dismay, Elise never writes her back. Through her letters containing memories of their friendship, readers can easily watch as the two teenagers, somewhat fragile...more

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Jun 18, 2012 Karen Yingling rated it 3 of 5 stars

Zoe is not at all pleased when her mother wakes her up, all but throws her in the car, and dumps her at Twin Birch. It's not a hospital, it's not a jail, but the six girls who are there have very strict rules they need to follow, especially when it comes to food and "sharing" with the other patients. Zoe doesn't need to be at Twin Birch; she tries not to fight against the counselors when she has to do therapy sessions, she eats what she is supposed to even though she can tell she's gaining weigh...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Brooklyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was good but it was a little over dramic. It starts off as Zoe (the main charactar) her mom takes her to a ameic hospital but Zoe is not ameic so why is she at a hospial for ameic people?

So she goes there and she is so confused about what is going on. So her counsler Devon is trying to help her and is showing what sizes of food to take. So after that Zoe is seltting in and she had to take counsling with Alexzandra (another coulsler) and so she convinves her to send letters to her fami...more

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May 14, 2013 Braydensmommy rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is haunting. It begins as we meet Zoe, who is being whisked away by her mother and put into an institution that she knows nothing about. Aside from her anger towards her mother, she is also depressed and worried that her best friend, Elise, will wonder where she went or what has happened. The mysterious facility, it happens, is an anorexia clinic. Zoe is quite confused as to why she is here; she seems healthier than any of the girls here, and often tends to find fault with everyone she...more

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Oct 13, 2012 Kimmy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I borrowed this from the library, and when I went to the Kobo store to check out it’s summary for this post, I saw that it costs $11.99 to buy. Boy, I am saving so much money by borrowing books from the library instead of purchasing every book I read!! I am so thankful for my library card! Anyway, here is the Kobo store’s summary:

A girl’s letters to her best friend reveal two lives derailed by anorexia in this haunting debut that’s Wintergirls meets The Sixth Sense. [...] no matter what the bro...more I borrowed this from the library, and when I went to the Kobo store to check out it’s summary for this post, I saw that it costs $11.99 to buy. Boy, I am saving so much money by borrowing books from the library instead of purchasing every book I read!! I am so thankful for my library card! Anyway, here is the Kobo store’s summary:

A girl’s letters to her best friend reveal two lives derailed by anorexia in this haunting debut that’s Wintergirls meets The Sixth Sense. [...] no matter what the brochures promised, Zoe finds that Twin Birch is a place for girls with a penchant for harming themselves. Through journal entries and letters to her best friend, Elise, she tries to understand why she was brought there, and how she could possibly belong in a place like this. But Zoe’s letters to Elise remain unanswered. She wonders why her best friend would cut her off without a word, reliving memory after memory of their beautiful, rocky, inescapable friendship. But everyone has secrets–including Zoe–and as her own fragile mental state hangs in the balance, she must finally learn to come to terms with what happened to Elise before she’s able to let go.

As the summary above says, if you liked Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (I definitely did), this book will probably appeal to you.

Zoe is brought to Twin Birch by her mother, but is confused about what she’s doing there. There are five other girls there, and Zoe quickly notices that they’re all very skinny, and exhibit the signs of an eating disorder. Her suspicions are soon confirmed: she’s at a treatment centre for girls with eating disorders, and she will be there for her entire summer vacation. She has to turn in her cell phone, attend cooking classes, clean her plate at every meal no matter what or how much food is served to her, and meet regularly with a therapist.

Zoe is confused, though – sure, she’s thin, but she certainly doesn’t think she’s anything like the other girls there, who are so tiny and frail and anorexic. Zoe watches what she eats, but she’s not disordered. Right?

Part of what I really liked about this book was that the chapters are blended with Zoe’s letters to her best friend, Elise. These letters reveal a lot about Zoe’s disorder and her outlook on things. I liked that they helped me get to know Zoe better, and that they shed a lot of light on her friendship with Elise, something she was very reluctant to address in her therapy sessions.

I think anyone who is remotely paying attention will be able to predict some aspects of the story that are purposely held back until the end, but I have no complaints about this book. I really liked it – I kept telling myself I would finish my current chapter and then put the book down, but inevitably kept reading well beyond the time I intended to stop. I wanted Zoe to heal and address the things that she kept avoiding in order to be able to get better and move on. I also sympathized with her – much of what Zoe discussed, in terms of anxiety and fear of embarrassment, really struck a chord with me because I saw that in myself; I related to her in many respects.

I definitely recommend this book, if you like contemporary YA fiction with a bit of a twist. (From http://pingwings.ca)(less)

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May 25, 2012 Shannel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: heartstrings, quick-reads

I won this advanced copy from Good Reads.

I’m not sure how I want to compile my thoughts for this book. There was such a presence of underlying sadness that just resonated with me.

Zoe finds herself at Twin Birch, a secluded home for girls battling issues. She’s told she’s finally somewhere that can help her, but the problem is, she doesn’t think she needs help.

Forced into treatment for anorexia, Zoe uses all of her energy to find out why she’s really at Twin Birch. Coping with her separation from...more

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Aug 08, 2012 Cuddleweather added it

*not a native english speaker

I started this book thinking it was something else. I don't know where I was thinking reading the plot but reading it I saw that this was about girls with eating disorders but I didn't stop there. I like this kind of books. I don't read them very often because they are depresing on some levels.

The book is part Zoes journal , part Zoes letters to her best friend Elise. What was weird was the fact that Zoe describing her life showed signs of anorexia all over the plac...more *not a native english speaker

I started this book thinking it was something else. I don't know where I was thinking reading the plot but reading it I saw that this was about girls with eating disorders but I didn't stop there. I like this kind of books. I don't read them very often because they are depresing on some levels.

The book is part Zoes journal , part Zoes letters to her best friend Elise. What was weird was the fact that Zoe describing her life showed signs of anorexia all over the place but the only one who seemed not to realise , was Zoe. The reader can see clearly all this signs and of course , everyone around her.

Even though Zoe is the main character , the center of the story is Elise. Why ? Because Zoe is the next Elise. Both of them get on a strict diet in order to loose weight like all teenage girls , just to look hotter and whatnot, making them , especially Elise , loose a lot of weight not in that cool way of "Did you loose weight? Wow , you look awesome" but in the bony anorexic type. Add lossing hair to the potion and you get a shake of problems. Zoe is worried about her friend but she doesn't seem to realise that that's going to be her in some time. She's counting on the fact that elise , beiing taller , gets to loose weight a lot more easier , not like her , who looks like a petite French Ballerina , and looses weight way harder.

I was so curious about that fact that Elise didn't respond to Zoes letters and that got me mostly through the book , because I wanted so bad to know. You'll never , in a million years , guess why didn't she. I suspected it , and I was searching every detail in the book to proove me right but I didn't guessed it all. The final in strong and it clears a lot of issues.

I really wish that this book to be a part of an anorexin campaign. Imagine: an anorexic doesn't think they have a problem but if they read about one they might get a clue. They would think about this desease with clear eyes. If someone is willing to make a campaign like this , tell me and I'l\ join in a heartbeat.(less)

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Jun 09, 2013 Wendy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Zoe Letting Go by Nora Price is a depressing, deep, mysterious and yet beautiful novel. The protagonist, Zoe is sent to a hospital camp where girls who cut them selves and have eating disorders go for therapy and training for eight weeks. Zoe, on the other hand, has neither of those conditions but is still there. She does not understand why and the author does not give off one bit of a clue. While she is there, she does activities with the girls and at the same time, to try to find out why she i...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Jamie Wyatt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, read-in-2013, ya

I was surprised when I learned this was the authors first novel. It was a great breakout book. I had no trouble figuring out what the "surprising" ending would be, once you learn about Zoe and Elise's relationship you can figure out what happened, but that didn't take away from the fact that this was a haunting story that I enjoyed. I wish there would have been a little bit more about what happened right before Zoe came to the treatment center. The story felt a little thin when it came to the ma...more

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Aug 25, 2012 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: tough-issues

Debut author Nora Price has contributed a new Young Adult book to the catalog of eating disorder books, following a teen girl’s institutionalization into an anorexia clinic, through lessening stages of denial, to recovery. Zoe, 16, finds herself en route through rural Massachusetts, away from her home in Brooklyn, being driven somewhere, for some reason she can’t deduce. Zoe wonders what she did to provoke her mother into making her pack and leave home. She can’t recall what brought on this pare...more Debut author Nora Price has contributed a new Young Adult book to the catalog of eating disorder books, following a teen girl’s institutionalization into an anorexia clinic, through lessening stages of denial, to recovery. Zoe, 16, finds herself en route through rural Massachusetts, away from her home in Brooklyn, being driven somewhere, for some reason she can’t deduce. Zoe wonders what she did to provoke her mother into making her pack and leave home. She can’t recall what brought on this parental frenzy, driving the highways for hours through wooded landscapes to a secluded manor in pastoral Massachusetts, so far from the home she knows.

As Zoe recognizes that she has been inducted into an institution for girls with eating disorders, and can plainly discern their problems, she continues to deny her own, while pouring her heart out to far-away best friend Elise, but receiving no letters of reply. Zoe’s roommate and two other six girls ostracize and provoke her, and she can’t understand why she has been singled out, in addition to why she’s there at all. Zoe tries to convince the counselors of her misplacement, but readers witness her rejecting or obsessing over food and recalling disturbing past incidences involving her best friend, whose beauty Zoe covets.

As an unreliable narrator, Zoe’s confusion over her predicament lead the reader through delusions as well as real mysteries, such as which girl is stealing clothing and why Zoe’s roommate peers longingly at a collection silver-framed baby photos. The story starts in letters addressed to Elise, interwoven with first person narrative. The problem with the writing, evident from the beginning, is that it lacks authenticity; Zoe simply doesn’t write, speak, or think like a teenager. It was nearly impossible to suspend disbelief and engage with the drama, even with such a compelling premise and well-paced, gripping momentum.

Another glitch with the book is the addition of recipes throughout the text for the courses the institutionalized girls are made to create and eat as part of their therapy. The addition of the recipes seems gimmicky and lessens the seriousness of the subject matter (although this reviewer will admit to trying out some of the recipes with delicious results!) and perhaps should have been included in an appendix rather than interspersed with the narrative.
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Nov 08, 2012 Kvothem rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-self-hurt

Six o'clock in the morning, Zoe wakes to her mother yelling at her to get packed, enough clothes for 6 weeks, and as the book starts, that's all the warning Zoe has as her mother drives her to, and drops her off at Twin Birch, an institution for troubled teen girls.
Frankly Zoe's confused about why she's there, she can see all these other girls have a problem with food, but she just controls what she eats, she doesn't have an eating problem, she's just careful what she eats, or so she says. Her i...more

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Oct 23, 2012 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars

Barring that this is YA, this is really not the kind of book I normally read, but the jacket description is really intriguing, so I decided to read it anyway.

I liked it. I don't know that I loved it, but there where little things about it that stuck with me; I loved this thought:

Therapy. The word sounds like the name of a Greek goddess -- the patron goddess of whiners, perhaps. There could be yearly festivals in honor of Therapy, if the idea catches on. A date upon which individuals cry, flop a

...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Kendra Johnson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Have you been through a personal conflict? One that seemed impossible to fight against,
or one that was completely oblivious to you? Zoe is in a situation that seems completly
irrelevant to her. She doesnt understand what shes going through. After trying over
and over again she comes up with answers that blow her off of her feet. Zoe letting go by
Nora Price, is a kind of Realistic Fiction book that takes you through a teenagers, what it
seems, real life expeirance with an eating disorder. This b...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Trisha rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: love-triangle-challenge

I really enjoyed the writing style and the voice of the main character. I really love books that are told through letters or journal entries. I love that we get to peak inside someone's internal thoughts without having to go through their day to day dramas. They are writing about what they want to inform everyone of.

The letters to Elise were especially haunting and she ran through their friendship and their "happy" times together.

But, I would ahve loved a little more at the end. Not closure, nec...more

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Sep 05, 2012 Kayleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-read, young-adult-read

From the very first chapter I thought I knew everything. It was so obvious that Zoe had a split personality; many of the memories or thoughts she had about her and Elise was just too weird and close to not be the same person. Well, I was wrong. They were two separate people only extremely close, and a few years back they both started a diet together. It escalated to an eating disorder, for both of them I think, but Zoe never really omitted that she had one, but she for sure had several related s...more From the very first chapter I thought I knew everything. It was so obvious that Zoe had a split personality; many of the memories or thoughts she had about her and Elise was just too weird and close to not be the same person. Well, I was wrong. They were two separate people only extremely close, and a few years back they both started a diet together. It escalated to an eating disorder, for both of them I think, but Zoe never really omitted that she had one, but she for sure had several related symptoms. Elise died from her eating disorder. Zoe was so heart broken that she made herself forget about her death; her therapist said at the end of the book that she had post traumatic stress disorder (That explained her memory loss and a lot of other things too). A couple of months after Elise's death Zoe was sent to an eating disorder treatment center, no one would tell her why she was there; which is rude and kind of stupid. There were five other girls there, two of them became her friends; I think, even Zoe wasn't sure about their friendship at the end. That was on her part, the other girls wanted to be her friend, but she wouldn't let them in. The other three she saw as an enemy; they were kind of rude to her, but they knew that she didn't belong there with them, and to be truthful Zoe was kind of a bitch to them from day one. It just made matters worse when one of the girls broke into the therapists files and read her file. They had a fight soon after that and the girl, Brooke, blurted out that she wasn't the freak, that Zoe was with her history... Now this hole thing just added to what I thought at the beginning of the book, but then when I reached the end and it was just PTS I didn't know what to make of this scene, and there was another too when her roommate, Caroline, found out what was in her file. She told Zoe that she was a liar and that she knew what she did. Um, what did she do? I don't understand those two parts at all. Was the author just trying to confuse readers until the end of the book, or was there some point that I just don't see? Besides those two parts and the unsatisfying ending the book was really good; very well written etc. I just don't think I would ever want to own or read it ever again. If Nora Price ever writes another book I think I'll check it out; wish there was more information about her.(less)

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Jun 15, 2013 Renae M. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2013, boarding-school, contemporary-or-realistic-fiction, debut-2012, epistolary, published-2012

This book is an ambitious debut novel that takes a very different approach to eating disorders and recovery from anorexia. The novel’s titular protagonist, is sent to a rehab center but doesn’t know why—she’s so very different from the other girls, she doesn’t fit in, she’s not a freak like them, etc., etc. Most of Zoe Letting Go relies on mystery and, at times, it reads something like a psychological thriller, which may or may not have been a good stylistic decision, but definitely made this bo...more This book is an ambitious debut novel that takes a very different approach to eating disorders and recovery from anorexia. The novel’s titular protagonist, is sent to a rehab center but doesn’t know why—she’s so very different from the other girls, she doesn’t fit in, she’s not a freak like them, etc., etc. Most of Zoe Letting Go relies on mystery and, at times, it reads something like a psychological thriller, which may or may not have been a good stylistic decision, but definitely made this book stand out.

In the end, I really liked Price’s treatment of Zoe’s mental journey, her interactions with fellow patients, and the way everything at school functioned. At the same time, I didn’t really buy it. Once the reveal happens and the reader discovers why Zoe was really sent to rehab, things don’t make sense. In my opinion, Zoe was right in that she didn’t belong at that place (and certainly, she shouldn’t have been left to figure things out on her own—that defeats the purpose of therapy, correct?). Yes, Zoe was recovering from an eating disorder, but she also had a bunch of issues that could have been dealt with in more effective ways.

Another thing was the sense of menace that filled the atmosphere at the Twin Birch center. The other girls are out to get Zoe, but she doesn’t know why. She views them as evil wraiths, while she sees herself as mostly normal (which, outwardly, she is). Add in the missing places in her memory, and it really felt like Price was attempting to turn Zoe Letting Go into a thriller. The mystery and danger Zoe felt seemed at odds with her progress toward recovery.

On technical aspects. First, I didn’t feel at all that Price had a good grip on her characters. The book is narrated via Zoe’s journal entries and letters to her friend Elise, but the language did not sound like a teenager’s voice at all. I’m sure some teenagers use words like “rectilinearity” and “perplexing” and “somnolent” in normal conversation, but most don’t. Zoe didn’t seem to have a good reason to write in the way she did, being neither bookish, exposed to that kind of language regularly, nor in possession of above-average schooling. As a result, a lot of the language in Zoe Letting Go felt a bit stilted and inauthentic, though it wasn’t exactly bad.

And second, there were plotholes here and there. Some things didn’t add up, or plotlines were picked up and set aside without being resolved. Not a big deal, but the book did leave some lingering questions and confusion.

I did, in the end, enjoy this book. I thought it was well-written and interesting. Maybe I didn’t get all of it, but I did think the story was engaging. I could be tempted to pick up another book of Nora Price’s, should she choose to write another novel. Zoe Letting Go isn’t a remarkable book, but it’s not half bad.

Read more reviews at Respiring Thoughts.(less)

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Aug 13, 2012 Rachel rated it 3 of 5 stars

First off, I personally think that the description written for this book is a bit misleading and overdramatic. The reason I had originally picked this book up was it’s comparison to Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, which is one of my favorite books. In general, I think comparisons to very popular works of literature are risky, because they create very high expectations. That was exactly the case for me when I sat down with this book. I don’t I’ve ever read something as beautifully haunting...more First off, I personally think that the description written for this book is a bit misleading and overdramatic. The reason I had originally picked this book up was it’s comparison to Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, which is one of my favorite books. In general, I think comparisons to very popular works of literature are risky, because they create very high expectations. That was exactly the case for me when I sat down with this book. I don’t I’ve ever read something as beautifully haunting as Wintergirls, so I was definitely excited when I read the inside cover for Zoe Letting Go. I won’t say I was disappointed with the book, I just felt a little…deflated because I had been expecting something else.

Zoe Letting Go doesn’t focus much on the main character’s actual eating disorder or recovery, but rather the psychological journey she (Zoe) goes through during her time at Twin Birch. That was my favorite part of the book. I love character driven plots, and Zoe Letting Go is just that. The story covers a period of 36 days, but there is an intense focus on each day. Readers can see the slow mental progression Zoe goes through as the days pass without it seeming too slow.

For a large part of the book, Zoe cannot understand why she is at Twin Birch because she is “not like the other girls.” She is a highly introspective and observant girl, as well as articulate, which makes her exploration of the world outside and within incredibly fascinating. She writes to her friend Elise for an answer to all of her confusion, but never gets a reply, and as more letters are written, Zoe’s desperation becomes stronger and stronger, all leading up to the final climax at the end.

At the end of the novel, Zoe does end up figuring out why she is at Twin Birch, though I had a problem with this I found the fact that she didn’t know the entire time a bit unbelievable. A reason for this is given at the end, but I don’t find it to be very realistic. Rather than being told why she is there, she is left to her own devices to figure it out. Had this been real life, it would have been likely that the staff at Twin Birch would have filled her in on this so that she would be able to work through her core issues during therapy sessions. It was as if a large time in her therapy was wasted.

Even with it’s problems, I did enjoy this book. I read it in a day because I was so captivated with Zoe. My main piece of advice would be do not compare it with Wintergirls. While Wintergirls is plot and character driven, this one is mostly character driven. Also, the two writing styles are incredibly different. See Zoe Letting Go as it’s own novel and you’ll enjoy it much more.

This review (and more!) can be found at Rachel Reads (less)

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Jan 30, 2013 Sally rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, challenge-ya-a-to-z, e-own, e-read, friendship, eating-disorders, diary-or-letters

This is one of those books that just gets right down deep inside you. It's simply amazing, so heartbreaking and wonderful, and easily one of my 'favourite' books of the year.

(view spoiler)...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Brianna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Ironically, (and I don't mean to sound insensitive here), this book made me hungry. I say it is ironic, because the center of this book is a girl named Zoe, who is sent to an exclusive boarding house/rehabilitation center for girls with anorexia. The book was so focused on food, and so detailed in the sights, smells, ingredients, and preparation of the food, that it just made me hungry. At one point the characters are eating kale chips, which I recently discovered and immediately fell in love wi...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Chamera rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-2012

Zoe Letting Go is a captivating and haunting read. The novel follows the protagonist Zoe Propp through her days at sort of institution or emotionally or mentally unstable teen girls. No, the girls aren't diagnosed with mental disorders that stop them for functioning. The seven girls in the house have one central attribute in common- eating disorders. Well, everyone but Zoe.

We go through the voyage with Zoe as she tries to discover the exact type of facility Twin Birch is. What makes this novel...more

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Oct 18, 2012 Sandy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: library, ya

Sixteen-year old, Zoe gets packed up and shipped off to Twin Birch, a six week program for anorexia girls. But Zoe doesn’t believe she fits the profile and soon finds out that the other patients agree. So why exactly is she there? With no contact with the outside world Zoe has to try to piece this puzzle together surrounded by individuals that she believes she has nothing in common with. So Zoe starts to write letters back home to her best friend Elise. These letters go into great detail explain...more Sixteen-year old, Zoe gets packed up and shipped off to Twin Birch, a six week program for anorexia girls. But Zoe doesn’t believe she fits the profile and soon finds out that the other patients agree. So why exactly is she there? With no contact with the outside world Zoe has to try to piece this puzzle together surrounded by individuals that she believes she has nothing in common with. So Zoe starts to write letters back home to her best friend Elise. These letters go into great detail explaining the situation at hand, reliving their past and she asks Elise to write back, but in all of them we hear desperation in Zoe’s voice. Zoe is frustration at her current situation because she feels like a prisoner and she really wants to go home. She doesn’t feel she should be a patient and be fed the large amounts of food she is currently having to eat and go to daily therapy. She is noticing weight gain and she doesn’t like it. She desperately wants a letter from Elise and doesn’t understand why her best friend has not written back. Her life is falling apart. Zoe does make some friends with the other girls in the facilities but in her mind she feels they are there for a reason (to get better) and she can’t seem to find out why she landed herself there. This mystery and the drama between the characters take up a large portion of the book and it isn’t until last quarter of the book do we really find out what the title of the book is all about. What does Zoe really have to let go of, to really move on? Once you figure that out, things really get interesting and there are some major breakthroughs in the mystery and Zoe has some issues to address. Sometimes we all like to forget things, to try to erase events in our lives, but certain things we have to accept and this one Zoe, is reality.
The element of the mystery was played out very nice. I supposed you could have seen the answer up front if you wanted but I played along and let the drama unfold before me. I enjoyed seeing the girls interact among themselves and hearing Zoe comments. The food they were served sounded ridiculous and then having the actual recipes intermingled among the chapters, did not make any sense to me. I was glad the author talked about how some of the girls had been in treatment many times and how hard it was. The book was not all about Zoe and the reason she was at the treatment center but touched lightly on some of the other issues the girls were facing.

As far as issues in this book (sex, language,) there were one reference to b***h that I recall and there were references to cat-calling. The subject matter of anorexia is a serious subject so this book should be for mature readers only.
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Aug 14, 2012 Tasha rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen

Zoe has been placed at a treatment facility by her mother. At Twin Birch, each of the six patients arrives on a different day, staggered so that they can have a personal intake. When Zoe arrives, she has no idea why she is there. It just gets more confusing as she meets the other girls who are patients too. They are all skeletal and obviously suffering from anorexia, but Zoe is not like them. She has never stopped eating, she is larger than all of them, and her body doesn’t shiver after eating l...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Nina rated it 5 of 5 stars

As I said in my Waiting on Wednesday post about Zoe Letting Go, I love books written in letter and/or journal form. It just adds something extra personal to the story to not only see things from the main character’s point of view, but to read everything in her own words as well. Zoe Letting Go managed to keep the story flowing between the letters and journal entries, and by the end of the story I felt so close to Zoe that I didn’t want to leave her after reading the last page.

The story starts wh...more As I said in my Waiting on Wednesday post about Zoe Letting Go, I love books written in letter and/or journal form. It just adds something extra personal to the story to not only see things from the main character’s point of view, but to read everything in her own words as well. Zoe Letting Go managed to keep the story flowing between the letters and journal entries, and by the end of the story I felt so close to Zoe that I didn’t want to leave her after reading the last page.

The story starts when Zoe is brought to an institution by her mother. She soon learns that the five other girls are there because of their eating disorders, but she is clearly bigger than them, and since she sees herself as more sane then the rest she automatically thinks of herself as an outsider, and doesn’t understand why she is there. What I had to remind myself more than once is that since everything I read was Zoe’s own understanding of things, it might not always give the clearest picture of a situation, just the way she sees it.

Her therapist encourages her to write, and so Zoe starts writing letters to her best friend Elise. Yet Elise never writes back. I loved seeing Zoe think back on her relationship with Elise, as these were the only times when I felt like something was actually wrong. Their friendship was such a strong one, but they both made sacrifices for each other, and didn’t really have anyone else to rely on. At Twin Birch Zoe starts hanging out with Victoria and Haley, who have both had eating disorders for several years, and she slowly starts seeing that it is possible for her to make friends with others. Still she doesn’t fit in the way the others do, something mean girl Brooke constantly reminds her of.

My favorite parts of this story was Zoe’s therapy sessions with Alexandra. It is here we really get to see who she is, what she’s hiding, how she is trying so hard to remain in control of things, and how she’s afraid to let anyone know what’s really going through her mind. There are some very raw, emotional moments in these scenes, and I absolutely loved it.

Zoe Letting Go takes you on a journey along with Zoe, trying to discover what happened to get her placed at Twin Birch, trying to regain control of her life, and every time I though I had it all figured out something would change, and I’d be questioning everything all over again. This is hands down the best book about eating disorders I have ever read, but it is about so much more than that, and I can only hope you pick up this book and discover it for yourself.(less)

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About Nora Price

I'm a writer living in Brooklyn. My debut YA novel is "Zoe Letting Go", published by Razorbill in June 2012.

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