Review By: Anonymous
Published: 2023
Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Mental Health, Psychology
Audience: Grade 12, Adult (Educators, Counselors, Parents)
Number of Stars: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Goodreads Link: Good Girls: A Story and Study of Anorexia
Content Warnings: Detailed accounts of anorexia nervosa, psychiatric hospitalization, self-destructive behavior, and body image obsession. Note: Potential triggers for those currently struggling with ED.
Publisher’s Summary
In 1995, Hadley Freeman wrote in her diary: “I just spent three years of my life in mental hospitals. So why am I crazier than I was before?”
From ages fourteen to seventeen, Freeman lived in psychiatric wards as her body cannibalized its own muscles for nutrition. For the next twenty years, she lived as a “functioning anorexic,” as the illness mutated and persisted. In Good Girls, Freeman delivers an incisive work that details the shame, fear, and rage of her experience, while also interviewing doctors to explore the latest research. She investigates the illness’s links to autism, OCD, and metabolic rates, and tracks down the women she was hospitalized with to see how their recoveries have progressed over decades. This is an honest, hopeful story of resilience that reveals why this illness often begins during the difficult transition of female adolescence.
Review
Good Girls is a personal memoir of anorexia. Hadley Freeman shares her own battle with the disorder, beginning in her adolescent years and continuing into adulthood. She describes the emotional and physical impact of anorexia, including the fear, shame, and need for control that often come with it. Alongside her story, Freeman examines how society and culture contribute to eating disorders, especially for girls and women. She discusses how messages about being good, being thin, and being perfect can shape a person’s sense of self and lead to unhealthy behaviors.
As a school counselor, I found the book both informative and emotionally heavy. Freeman’s writing is honest and direct, and it helped me better understand what it feels like to live with anorexia. It also made me think about how students may be silently struggling with body image, perfectionism, or control issues. How those around them may never know. The book made me more aware of the ways cultural pressure can influence a student’s mental health, and it reinforced the importance of creating a safe space for students to talk about these issues without judgment.
I would recommend this book to adults, especially educators, counselors, and parents. It is not a book I would suggest for young students because of the mature content and the possibility of triggering feelings for those who may be struggling. There are no pictures or illustrations, so the focus stays on the writing and the emotional narrative rather than visual elements.
In terms of academic connections, Good Girls could support lessons on mental health, but only for much older students. It could also be used in a professional development setting or as part of a high school seminar on wellness and self-image. An activity that could pair well with the book would be a discussion or reflective journal prompt about how cultural expectations affect self-worth. Overall, Good Girls is an impactful, reflective book that offers valuable insight into anorexia from both personal and cultural perspectives. It is a heavy read, but it is meaningful for adults who want to better understand and support young people dealing with body image issues or disordered eating.
🧠 The Biopsychosocial Model of Anorexia
Freeman’s memoir is unique because it bridges the gap between personal narrative and clinical study. She explores how anorexia is rarely just about food—it is an intersection of genetics, biology, and environment.
🔬 New Frontiers in Research
The book highlights several key medical links that help explain why some individuals are more susceptible to anorexia than others:
| Research Area | Key Finding |
| Metabolic Rate | There is a genetic/metabolic component that may make starvation feel “stabilizing” rather than painful for some. |
| OCD Overlap | The “need for control” often mirrors obsessive-compulsive traits, where calorie counting becomes a ritualized coping mechanism. |
| Autism Link | New studies suggest a high prevalence of neurodivergence (specifically Autism) in those with restrictive eating disorders, impacting how they process sensory input and social expectations. |
🏫 Counselor’s Perspective: The “Good Girl” Trap
For educators and counselors, the title itself—Good Girls—is a powerful prompt. It refers to the societal expectation for girls to be compliant, high-achieving, and “perfect.”
- The Mask of Perfection: Students struggling with anorexia are often the “best” students—quiet, high-achieving, and seemingly well-adjusted—making their struggle easy to miss in a busy school environment.
- The Safety of Control: In an unpredictable world, controlling body weight becomes a secondary “job” that provides a false sense of security.
