Wednesday, May 2, 2012

"Wintergirls" Review

I want to jump ahead and review "Wintergirls" before tackling "Hunger Games" and "Fifty Shades of Grey."  I read "Wintergirls" most recently, so I'd like to get this review out there and get more people to read this- because it's a fantastic, deep read.

"Wintergirls", by Laurie Halse Anderson, follows 18-year-old Lia, and her struggle through the deepest, darkest, pockets of anorexia, and back. She loses her friend Cassie due to side effects of an eating disorder, and this book tracks Lia's grief and attempt at healing.

The title of one review I read said it best, "This book is not about anorexia."  While that is the disease that Lia has, this book is about loss, pain, family strife, divorce, promises, friendship, life, and hope. This book, however, is not for the faint of heart. It's very intense. While the author claims to have done a lot of research for this book, the emotions and actions of Lia are so raw- so real- that it wouldn't surprise me if Laurie herself struggled with disordered eating at some point in her life.  Further, I did a lot of research in high school and college on eating disorders. Even with my knowledge of the disease, I found parts of the book hard to read- because I knew it was real.

 Teenagers struggle daily with so much, and are held captive by new and raging hormones. Anderson captures these struggles with such emotion, it was like I was back in high school, reading a friends journal or something of the like.

Download or buy this book (I have 1 copy to loan!) and you won't be disappointed.


xo
andrea

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I read this book also, along with all of Anderson's books and this one is one of the harder ones. It really is very raw and deep, you completely understand every single emotion and thought/struggle Lia is going through and you have to feel for her and everyone else that is going through something like this. I highly recommend reading this book.