Review: Wintergirls

by Laurie Halse Anderson

Summary*: 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 stepmother 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

Review: After all the 5 star reviews, it seems almost pointless to review Wintergirls, but I will share my thoughts as well.

Gutwrenching. Horrifying. Terrifying. Coarsely Addicting.

So many adjectives to describe it, but none do Wintergirls justice. Anderson has a way with words that's unmistakable, and a gift of twisting them into a story with passion and meaning. Lia's story isn't just about Lia, and I think Anderson made that point clear. There are so many others suffering from annorexia that hide it very well, and it's easy to hide because our society accepts and applauds stick-thinness. In all, Wintergirls is very real, and very descriptive of a scary reality.

But just looking at the book-- the arc of the story is well plotted. Rather than chapters, Anderson used something more like 'sections' that were a bit shorter, but kept the mood of the story and my attention. It didn't annoy me at all, and wasn't choppy.

As a warning, Anderson branches out from the regular writing with strike-throughs and other new ways of showing inside a person's head. But it works. I was a bit worried at first, but came to love this new style. I applaud Anderson for branching out like this and succeeding.

Wintergirls is very, very deep though, and I really suggest reading it with someone so you can talk about it if you are planning on reading it. It didn't bother me quite as much as other people I know, but I think reading Wintergirls with someone really would provide good conversation and keep you from getting too creeped out :)

Nevertheless,

5 Stars

288 Pages

Released

*Summary taken from front flap