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    What I Lost
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    What I Lost
    Unavailable
    What I Lost
    Ebook322 pages4 hours

    What I Lost

    By Alexandra Ballard

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    What sixteen-year-old Elizabeth has lost so far: forty pounds, four jean sizes, a boyfriend, and her peace of mind. As a result, she’s finally a size zero. She’s also the newest resident at Wallingfield, a treatment center for girls like her—girls with eating disorders. Elizabeth is determined to endure the program so she can go back home, where she plans to start restricting her food intake again.She’s pretty sure her mom, who has her own size-zero obsession, needs treatment as much as she does. Maybe even more. Then Elizabeth begins receiving mysterious packages. Are they from her ex-boyfriend, a secret admirer, or someone playing a cruel trick?

    This eloquent debut novel rings with authenticity as it follows Elizabeth’s journey to taking an active role in her recovery, hoping to get back all that she lost.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateJun 6, 2017
    ISBN9780374304645
    Unavailable
    What I Lost
    Author

    Alexandra Ballard

    Alexandra Ballard has worked as a magazine editor, middle-school English teacher, freelance writer, and cake maker. She holds master's from both Columbia (journalism) and Fordham (education) and spent ten years in the classroom, beginning in the Bronx and ending up in the hills of Berkeley, California, with her husband and two daughters. What I Lost is Alexandra Ballard's debut novel.

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    Reviews for What I Lost

    4/5

    86 ratings6 reviews

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    • 5/5
      We first meet 16-year-old Elizabeth as she is being admitted to a facility to deal with her eating disorders. She is filled with rage and other negative feelings as her disease is what is controlling her thought patterns. However, changes occur as she meets others who have similar issues and as she goes through therapy, allowing her to deal with the issues that led to her ED, including a mother who very likely has an ED herself. This book is very insightful concerning eating disorders, the what people who suffer from them think, and what treatment involves, as well as an understanding of how many people never recover, or even survive, their eating disorders.
    • 4/5
      "What I Lost" was a very detailed and compelling look into one teenage girl's battle with anorexia. Elizabeth was a very sympathetic character and I felt for her as she struggled to overcome her loathing of food and the irrational fear she had of calories. I was cheering for her all the way - I just wanted her to be healthy and well again. There were some great secondary characters as well. All the girls at the clinic were well-developed and unique, and all struggling with eating disorders. I also liked Elizabeth's school friend who supported her throughout her journey to recovery. It was also interesting how the author portrayed Elizabeth's mother who had her own unhealthy relationship with food and who played a major part in her daughter's obsession with weight loss.The one thing I didn't like about this book was the secret admirer/romance element. I don't think it was necessary and it certainly didn't enhance the book in any way. Overall, though, this was one of the better books I've read dealing with eating orders. Elizabeth's journey, her relapses, her frustrations, her fears and, finally, her successes all helped to make "What I Lost" a hard-hitting, honest look into an issue many girls will identify with.
    • 2/5
      "Wanting to get better, whole important, isn't enough. You have to work to get better."I really liked that this story brings a look into eating disorders, as I have not really read many other stories around this issue. I wanted to give this more stars in my rating system, but for me I use the Goodreads system. Two stars is it was an ok read, and that is all this was for me. I felt some of the information was a little too repetitive and slow moving. I just could not really get into it, and found myself skimming to the end.
    • 4/5
      Elizabeth has an eating disorder. She is committed to Wallingfield by her parents but she isn't really convinced that she has a problem. At Wallingfield she meets other girls like her and makes some friends. She is undergoing intensive therapy to deal with her anorexia. She also begins receiving mysterious packages. She thinks that they are from the boyfriend who dumped her. They give her hope that their relationship isn't over. The book is from Elizabeth's point of view. So we learn from the inside how a girl with anorexia thinks and reacts. I will say that reading about the ways she avoided eating made me want snacks. Part of Elizabeth's problem comes from the fact that her mother seems to have an undiagnosed eating disorder too. Watching her mother avoid food and constantly change what she will or won't eat helped form Elizabeth's attitude toward food. I liked the story. I thought it was realistic that the people around her, notably Tristan, couldn't understand why she just didn't eat. He is her ex-boyfriend's best friend and his sister is also a day patient at Wallingfield because of her bulimia. I liked that there wasn't a magical solution and that Elizabeth will have to keep fighting her anorexia in the future. I recommend this one for young adults who might be overly concerned about their weight or who know someone who is.
    • 5/5
      Not just an important book but one that is well-written and accurately describes eating disorders as well! Highly recommend this YA book - and not just to young adults; parents, friends, and spouses can benefit from it as well!Teenager Elizabeth is so underweight that her parents see no they choice but to send her to a special clinic for eating disorders. While Elizabeth first hates being treated for something she worked so hard for and that made her feel good and in control, she also knows she has a problem and needs help. While slowly getting used to the different treatments at Wallingfield as well as the rigorous eating plan, the young woman soon makes friends with other girls who understand her way of thinking. Together with Lexi, Margot, Wallis, Jean, and her therapist Mary, Elizabeth learns how to talk back to the evil voice in her head that tells her to starve herself to death. And it is then that her she sees that more people than she thought have the same issues as her. Some even in her own family.Wonderful read that stays with you even after you turned the last page!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I had put this book down about a quarter of the way through, because I just wasn't feeling it, and had other books that called to me louder. I picked it back up today, and finished it. The portrayal of Elizabeth's eating disorder is so well done. Amazingly it starts with her entrance into a treatment center. We get back story throughout as she talks with other residents and counselors. This time around I was rooting for Elizabeth to make progress and fully vested in her story. I'd like to put her mother into treatment--she needs it. I think she wins the worst mother award for the year.

      This book could be triggering for those who have had eating disorders, but the hopeful tone should help.