By CANDELA DIAZ
Book Review on Letting Ana Go:
Letting Ana Go is part of the series of books that include the well-known novel Go Ask Alice. It is the latest one released, and many reviews rank it from 4.2 to 4.5 stars out of 5. The book is usually a rescued diary of a teenage boy or girl that goes through a series of problems. It is edited, but kept anonymous. All personal information is changed, meaning all names and addresses are not real.
It deals with different issues teenages face today. This book deals with anorexia; but other books include various topics such as drug addiction and drinking, like in Go Ask Alice and Lucy in the Sky. It is a good way of showing teenagers how one little addiction can grow and worsen, and later quell your high school years and future career and life. Sophomore Ana is craving for perfection. The pressure of being the fastest track runner in the high school got to her head, making her want to lose some weight; but as she started tracking her calories, she couldn’t stop. Controlling the way she ate and exercised became easier and easier for her, and although Ana didn’t think there was anything bad with wanting to be “thinner”, she didn’t realize she was affecting the way her body functioned. A good thing about this book is that it helps you get through your problems, and so do the other editions. It shows how the problem begins -wanting to be fit for cross country- how it develops - as the days pass, Ana becomes more obsessed with weighing herself to see if she had reached her weight goal- and then the consequences are shown. Cons about this book is that many people believe it to be written by the same “anonymous” person, rather than being a true story; a journal was found and edited by someone, then published, keeping all personal information secret. It’s also very straight forward, and very easy to predict the ending. Many people want a surprise, and if you are one of those people, then you should not read this book. Anorexia is not something to joke about; it is a serious disease that slowly shuts down your liver. If you’re trying to overcome a problem like anorexia, or something similar to it, this book is very helpful and it will show you how you can stop. It is very interesting, and once you start reading it, the book captures you and won’t let you stop until you finish it.