Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson REVIEW

SOURCE: LIBRARY

Wintergirls was truthful, unpredictable and frightening.

Laurie Halse Anderson does it again! After reading Speak, I immediately fell in love with the style the author writes with.

Wintergirls is the story of two best friends vowing to be the skinniest, even though one of them have lost their lives to this bet, the other is being ignorant and refusing to quit. Anorexia is a huge issue today, which I think was a smart choice for Laurie to write a story about. This book definitely showed you the dark and dangerous sides of plummeting down the life-threatening behaviour that most teenagers today might experience.

In Wintergirls, a lot of the times, the passage was written in metaphors, which made me think really hard about them, and how they related to the story. The metaphors are what left a big impact on the story, and without the metaphors, the story wouldn't be as strong as it is now.

Lia's character was raw, precautious and strong. She always had a goal for her weight, whether it'd be 97 pounds, or 87, she was always doing her best to achieve them, which meant quitting all foods that were good and fat. You could tell that it took a lot of Lia's willpower to be able to pass on foods that were fat, yet tasted and smelled good. I was often angry at Lia's character, because she always cared more about counting calories on the food she ate then her health. It's because of her ignorance to continue to lost weight, that pushed her family away, when her family was so eager to help her recover. What really annoyed me was how, Lia did WANT to recover, but at the same time, she was afraid to.

This book is sure to leave an impact on anyone, engraving it deep into your head. Even till now I still shiver at the thought of all the pain that Lia endured through her journey. I would recommend this to everyone who isn't afraid to learn about the dark, dirty secretive lies that someone goes through to be the skinniest girl.

Rating: 5/5

Cover: 10/10

First Line: So she tells me, the words dribbling out with the cranberry muffin crumbs, commas dunked in her coffee -page 1

CHARACTER(S) I LIKED: Emma

CHARACTER(S) I DISLIKED: none

SUMMARY: from Goodreads

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.