Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson [book]
New York, N.Y. : Viking, c2009278 p. ; 22 cm
ISB: 9780670011100
Plot Summary:
Lia Overbrook is on the verge on death in her quest to be thin. Her estranged best friend Cassie dies at the beginning of the novel due to their dangerous flirtation with being the thinnest. Cassie continues to haunt Lia throughout the book leaving Lia to feel guilt and confusion about losing her friend, not helping her and continuing to lose in her own struggle. After going to the scene of Cassie's death, Lia meets Elijah and forms a loose connection with him.
Her weight plumets in the novel to 85 pounds and in a riveting scene she severly cuts herself and is taken to the hospital. She has her family around her and they are concerned but she lies to them with tricks to hide her weight and eventually she must be sent to a therapist who recoommends that she be sent to a psychiatric hospital. She runs to Elijah in desperation but is left alone once again on the brink of death having a final conversation with Cassie about whether to live or die- she then calls her mother to get help.
Critical Evaluation:
This book is extremely well written and devastating to read. Lia's character is so tragic and the reader is taken through her ongoing themes of rage against the ones that love her, competition with her friend, self hatred, and ongoing depression that leads to her near death experience. The book is written from day to day thoughts and you can see the life in sporadic glimpses of Lia wanting food and loving her family. The book is written honestly and it shows the real story of what teenage girls go through and how being thin can be deemed all important.
Reader's Annotation:
Lia is a wintergirl, she is stuck between living and death with her anorexia and her self destructive habits... can her family or the ghost of her other wintergirl help her or cause her to fall deeper into winter?
Websites to Look Into:
http://madwomanintheforest.com/
The Author:
Anderson is said to read the letters, e-mail messages, and posts sent to her from teens and that is how she crafts some of her important works and responses.
Similar Books:
"Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
"Twisted" by Laurie Halse Anderson
"Thin" by Grace Bowman
Booktalking Ideas:
Girls self- esteem and eating disorders discussion
Notes:
A Junior Library Guild selection
Genre:
Realistic Fiction
Interest Age:
13+
Challenge Issues:
Eating Disorders
The book faces that very real issue of dangerous eating disorders for females, and it ends in death for one of the characters so it can seem very intense. I would combat this with the fact that it shows a real aspect of the dangerous ends of eating disorders for females, and encourages them to speak out about them.
Why this Book?
I love this book and the truths that it is able to show about girls and the pressures that they face about their bodies. I think that it is important that women know that they are not alone in the struggle and what the dire consequences can be.
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