Review: Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

“Dead girl walking,” the boys say in the halls.
“Tell us your secret,” the girls whisper, one toilet to another.
I am that girl.
I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through.
I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.

Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. But what comes after size zero and size double-zero? When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend’s restless spirit.

In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the multiple-award-winning Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia’s descent into the powerful vortex of anorexia, and her painful path toward recovery.


from goodreads

I have this strange fascination with eating disorders. Now, before you ask me a bunch or questions or try to get me help, I don't have one. I love food, and I eat everything in moderation. I hope you take my word for that, and please don't bombard me with anything. Secondly, I am a Laurie Halse Anderson fan, I didn't think I was when I was reading the last book from her, The Catalyst, but now I think I'm a true fan.

Laurie Halse Anderson is known for writing Speak, and along with her most award novel many other young adult fiction. Most of her stories are categorized as "tough", because of their themes. Many of her novels have started controversies. I, however, learn from her books about these "tough" themes. I'm not sure how your school system works, but I go to public school, and these themes are lightly touched on, and sometimes teachers aren't allowed to respond to questions. I find that incredibly discouraging. Anyways, I love how every novel she writes, she has this own style for her main characters, because they are in first person. It makes the novel feel more touchable, and relatable. When I read her novels, I always have this uncertainty that this character won't survive. It's quite scary, and I think it gives a personal experience for a reader, that hasn't gone or know anyone that has gone through these "tough" themes.

Lia is the main character in Wintergirls, and she is one of the wintergirls. Her use to be best friends, was found in a motel dead in the beginning of the novel, and that's when you find out the many problems Lia goes through, and the way she thinks and especially reacts to others, and events. Lia is numb. She's the kind of character that you want so bad to help, but you're not sure hoe exactly. I feel very attached to Lia, and even though she did so many things that scared me, and I would probably roll over and die, she's my hero in a way. Lia's story is one of many other girls that all over the world, have experienced, and some aren't as fortunate as her.

Cassie needs a punch in the face, in my opinion. Even at the end, I can't stand her, and I feel thing urge to kill and dead person, that's haunting Lia. Cassie is also anorexic, and is the cause of the wintergirls, and Lia's "struggle". I can't say that I particularly liked many other characters, they were all expected from Laurie Halse Anderson, and some are still a mystery to me. I can see how some characters can have their own story, and I would love to explore.

 The entire novel has this underlying feeling of coldness, and winter. There was always a haze of unsureness, or distress from the reader, or Lia. I think because I read the novel over a period of weeks, that it made the novel bearable. I'm not sure if I could sit down and read the novel in a weekend, especially when I'm in a reading rut, but I think that it is possible. That's why I give Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson a head nods, thumbs up, and smiling like there's no tomorrow. (5 out of 5)