Pages: 278
Intended Audience: Mature Teens
Genre: Real life / Social Issues
Notes for parents: Strong and mature themes of anorexia and other mental and social issues.
The Back Cover
“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 were best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies. But now Cassie is dead. Lia's mother is busy saving other people's lives. Her father is away on business. Her step-mother is clueless. And the voice inside Lia's head keeps telling her to remain in control, stay strong, lose more, weigh less. If she keeps on going this way—thin, thinner, thinnest—maybe she'll disappear altogether.
In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the National Book Award finalist Speak, best-selling author Laurie Halse Anderson explores one girl's chilling descent into the all-consuming vortex of anorexia.
“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 were best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies. But now Cassie is dead. Lia's mother is busy saving other people's lives. Her father is away on business. Her step-mother is clueless. And the voice inside Lia's head keeps telling her to remain in control, stay strong, lose more, weigh less. If she keeps on going this way—thin, thinner, thinnest—maybe she'll disappear altogether.
In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the National Book Award finalist Speak, best-selling author Laurie Halse Anderson explores one girl's chilling descent into the all-consuming vortex of anorexia.
What the Back Cover doesn’t tell you:
It tells you everything you need to know.
What’s good?
A lot. This is a deep, disconcerting, emotional look inside the mind of a young girl fighting for control of her life. Lia is consumed with stripping herself bare—being the skinniest she possibly can—and the reader becomes a witness to the vivid details and the twisted logic that is anorexia. While Lia deserves compassion, the story never demands sympathy and instead provides a heartbreaking view of her downward spiral and the depths to which she’ll have to reach to survive.
Best part: Anderson’s writing. Here’s an example from page 190 when Lia is hoping to reach her goal of 85 pounds: “But 85 makes me want 75. To get there I’ll need to crack open my bones with a silver mallet and dig out my marrow with a long-handled spoon.”
What’s not so good?
Lia is not likeable. She’s selfish, foolish, and often cold. It’s not always easy to identify these traits with her illness. Some of the author’s storytelling techniques (e.g. strike outs, repetition, numbers) can get a little arduous.
Worst part: Lia never truly takes responsibility for her actions.
Recommendations þþþþþ
Laurie Halse Anderson is one of the best young adult fiction writers around. Anyone looking for quality fiction should be reading her books. Wintergirls is a deep, emotional journey that I highly recommend.
Laurie Halse Anderson is one of the best young adult fiction writers around. Anyone looking for quality fiction should be reading her books. Wintergirls is a deep, emotional journey that I highly recommend.
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Wintergirls. New York: Viking, 2009. (Hardcover)
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