Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings to spotlight the books we can’t wait to read. Typically, these books are yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, which was previously hosted by Breaking the Spine.
This week, I’m spotlighting a work of contemporary fiction: Thin Girls by Diana Clarke.
Book Information
Title: Thin Girls
Author: Diana Clarke
Length: 368 pages
Publisher: Harper
Expected Publication Date: June 9, 2020
Goodreads Synopsis
A dark, edgy, voice-driven literary debut novel about twin sisters that explores body image and queerness as well as toxic diet culture and the power of sisterhood, love, and lifelong friendships, written by a talented protégé of Roxane Gay.
Rose and Lily Winters are twins, as close as the bond implies; they feel each other’s emotions, taste what the other is feeling. Like most young women, they’ve struggled with their bodies and food since childhood, and high school finds them turning to food—or not—to battle the waves of insecurity and the yearning for popularity. But their connection can be as destructive as it is supportive, a yin to yang. when Rose stops eating, Lily starts—consuming everything Rose won’t or can’t.
Within a few years, Rose is about to mark her one-year anniversary in a rehabilitation facility for anorexics. Lily, her sole visitor, is the only thing tethering her to a normal life.
But Lily is struggling, too. A kindergarten teacher, she dates abusive men, including a student’s married father, in search of the close yet complicated companionship she lost when she became separated from Rose.
When Lily joins a cult diet group led by a social media faux feminist, whose eating plan consists of consuming questionable non-caloric foods, Rose senses that Lily needs her help. With her sister’s life in jeopardy, Rose must find a way to rescue her—and perhaps, save herself.
Illuminating some of the most fraught and common issues confronting women, Thin Girls is a powerful, emotionally resonant story, beautifully told, that will keep you turning the pages to the gratifying, hopeful end.
Why I’m Excited for It
The cover is GORGEOUS. I have a particular weakness for that kind of turquoise blue on book covers. Plus, this book tackles all my favourite topics—body image, the cult of dieting, pop-feminism on social media, and the bond between women. I’m a bit worried that this’ll turn out like Queenie (2019), a novel whose protagonist also struggled with mental health issues but whose body image was explored mainly through how men ceaselessly objectified her “black curves”, but I’m hoping for the best for this one.
Is this work on your TBR? What book releases are you looking forward to? Let me know in the comments, or feel free to leave a link to your own Can’t-Wait Wednesday post! I’d love to hear about it.
Find me on Goodreads!
Gil Reads Books 
I’d not heard of this one, but it sounds fascinating! Will keep an eye out for it once it’s released.
Yes, it sounds very promising! The author is also marketed as “Roxanne Gay’s protege” so… we’ll see. 🙂
This book sounds incredible, I think I’m going to TBR it too! The synopsis alone pulled at my heart because that type of toxic diet culture is just SO real and devastating. I hope this book ends up exceeding your hopes – it sounds like it has A LOT of potential to be a great, deep read.
SAME, I really love analyses of the diet culture. Thanks and I hope it’ll be great too!
You know what, I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with twins in it before, and I didn’t realize that until reading this post! I also really like the cover, blue is my favourite colour 😍 I think the themes covered in this book make it stand out too!
Oooh interesting observation! Come to think of it, I just read one very recently—Christina Lauren’s “The Unhoneymooners”. Pretty fun read. Same, blue is also my fave but it has to be this shade! I’m really looking forward to this one.
I’m interested in this one, but hesitant. For several years I’ve been on a reading quest to find books that have fat girls or women as the main character, and they don’t diet or date their way to happiness. This book could, however, be more like Dietland, which I loved.
That’s a great observation about fat women dieting or dating their way to happiness – it does seem like a trend in some fiction. I’ve just looked up Dietland and it sounds fantastic! I’ll put that on my radar too.
It’s this amazing read that would fit under “literary” fiction. It’s political, cultural, covers consumerism and resistance. It’s excellent.
This is one of my anticipated novels of 2020- it looks so promising! I hope it lives up to expectations for us both!
Yes, I certainly hope so too!