Review: Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Last word first: Wintergirls is a powerful and beautifully written story of a teen girl coming apart at the seams. (5/5)

Description: Lia and Cassie were 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? Now Cassie is dead. Lia’s mother is busy saving other people’s lives. Her father is away on business. And the voice inside Lia’s head keeps telling her to remain in control, stay strong, lose more, weigh less. If she keeps going this way – thin, thinner, thinnest – maybe she’ll disappear altogether.

My thoughts: I’m not ashamed to tell you that this book scared me. Even before I read it myself, I could tell by the reactions other reviewers were having that this book was something powerful. When I finally stopped watching the book out of the corner of my eye and picked it up to read, I found out I was right to be afraid. Still, I’m glad I read it.

Wintergirls is the chilling depiction of a mind in the grip of severe, advanced, anorexia. But in the end, it’s not really about eating disorders. It’s about Lia facing her guilt over her friend’s death and searching for her own reason to want to live. Lia is lost, adrift in her own self-loathing and ambivalence about her family and her future. You cannot help but be touched by this beautiful, talented girl, who nonetheless so hates her own existence that she’s trying to disappear.

Anderson does an excellent job using language to convey the combined seductiveness and repulsiveness of the mindset of anorexia. The writing style is a little unorthodox, with lots of strike-outs, incomplete sentances, and words run together. The mesmerizing, slightly confused style of the narration gives the reader a crystal-clear insight to the cloudiness of Lia’s mind.

So I will be joining the chorus of voices recommending this book. I thought originally this might be a book geared toward helping teens who suffer from an eating disorder, but I don’t think I would recommend it for that. I think I might be afraid it would end up having the opposite of the desired effect. Wintergirls would be a fantastic book club read, or for individuals who enjoy reading something a bit more thought provoking. As a parent, I think this would also be a great read for parents of teens who maybe need a little help remembering what that time of your life was like.

About Laurie Halse Anderson: She was born Laurie Beth Halse. This would be a good place to clear up the matter of the pronunciation of her name, because it is, after all, her name, and she is weary of hearing it mangled by well-meaning people. Halse rhymes with waltz. Not “hal-see.” No, no, no, no. Halt-z. If she could have anything she wanted, it would be world peace. But if she could have a second thing, it would be having people say her name correctly. After being born, Laurie went on to be a child, and she did a pretty good job. Her second grade teacher showed her how cool writing was during a haiku lesson. She read all the time. She was awful at math, but then, most creative people are, and she has gotten over it. – from the bio on her website