Zoe Letting Go

August 20, 2012
Sixteen-year-old Zoe Propp can't fathom why her mother dropped her at the Twin Birch hospital, an eerie mansion in the woods. Not long before, Zoe was free to roam the streets of Brooklyn with her gorgeous friend Elise. Now she's surrounded by six sickly girls and immersed in a strict, highly supervised program, which includes "Therapy" (meetings with a psychologist), "Activity" (cooking and gardening), "Intake" (mandatory meals), and "Group Downtime" (socializing with the other patients). Zoe compulsively logs day-to-day events: everything from meals and recipes to her body's changes and the girls' mini-dramas. Although Zoe's mysterious roommate, Caroline (who expresses suspicion about Zoe's presence), is persuasively developed, the other girls are portrayed comparatively thinly. Most moving are Zoe's letters to Elise, which slowly reveal the nature of their codependent friendship and why Zoe is at Twin Birch. While Price's debut skillfully depicts obsession and the mentality behind eating disorders, not all readers will have the patience for Zoe's repetitive and detailed writing or her unreliable narration, as her moments of clarity add up to a troubling truth. Ages 12âup. Agent: Seth Fishman, the Gernert Company.

Starred review from May 1, 2012
Why is Zoe trapped in what appears to be some kind of mental facility? Told entirely from Zoe's perspective, this psychological zinger unfolds like a mystery. Zoe's mother drives her to an isolated mansion that houses six girls whose days are completely regulated by the three women in charge. The girls attend mandatory daily therapy, plus cooking and gardening classes. Administrators force them to eat every bite of each meal, with food served to them in gigantic portions. Zoe writes to her best friend, Elise, describing her memories of times with Elise and her days at the mansion. She remains defiantly certain that she's completely unlike the other girls there until, finally, she remembers an event that she desperately wants to forget. Price plainly understands the psychological condition she slowly unveils, dropping clues here and there amid Zoe's letters, observations and thoughts. She writes sophisticated prose and dialogue, perhaps too sophisticated for teenager Zoe, but readers caught up in the sweep of the story will forgive that minor flaw as Zoe's true condition becomes clear. The novel provides a nifty excursion with an unreliable narrator and keen insight into the uncertainties and terrors of adolescence. It may also provide a warning to girls prone to self-destructive behavior. The slow reveal of Zoe's problem will keep readers invested to the last page. Well plotted, skillfully written. (Fiction. 12 & up)

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July 1, 2012

Gr 8 Up-Zoe, a 16-year-old from Brooklyn, finds herself in a small rehabilitation center for girls with eating disorders, but she is sure there must be some kind of mistake. "I didn't feel like a patient; I felt like an inmate or a victim." The other girls are clearly wasting away, while she feels in control of her cautious dietary habits. Through letters to her mysteriously silent best friend, Elise, as well as a personal journal, readers quickly see that her protests are actually denial and discover that she is, in fact, a girl with a disorder that is spiraling out of control. Zoe and the other patients attend cooking and vegetable-gardening classes each day and endure mandatory meals in which their plates are heaped with nutritious foods that disgust them. As Zoe goes to therapy sessions, makes friends and enemies, and writes her letters, the whereabouts of Elise become clear to readers-if not to her. She leaves rehab at the end of the summer to reenter normal life, although it is unclear that her disorder is truly under control. While the ending may seem rushed and slightly unsatisfactory to some discerning teens (unanswered questions abound), Zoe's circumstances and problems will resonate with fans of Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why (Penguin, 2007), Jake Coburn's Love Sick (Dutton, 2005), and Beatrice Sparks's books.-Nora G. Murphy, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, LaCanada-Flintridge, CA

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2012
Grades 9-12 Zoe's mother unceremoniously tells her to pack a bag for six weeks and then drops her off at the remote Twin Birch Hospital. There she spends her days navigating complicated relationships with the other patients, most of whom have eating-related disorders, their internal battles manifested on their gaunt, ever-disappearing frames. Zoe doesn't belong here; she belongs with Elise, her best friend, who won't reply to Zoe's deeply confessional letters. How did she end up in this place? Why can't she go home? Composed of letters, recipes, and journal entries carefully tracking the days before her release, Price's debut drills down to the confusion and suffocation of an immersive therapy program and manages to distort time effectively for both Zoe and readers. The sedated atmospheric feel of Twin Birch complements the rather wry wit of Zoe's slowly unraveling but observant and intelligent voice, punctuating her place as the outlier in a den of sallow girls. This quiet and effective tale of unintentional cruelty and personal forgiveness is a promising beginning for Price.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)