Anderson, Laurie Halse. Wintergirls. Viking Juvenile, 2009. 288 pages. ISBN-10: 067001110X. ISBN-13: 978-0670011100.Plot:
Lia and Cassie had been best friends since childhood. They shared everything, including a pact to be the skinniest girls in school. After a Lia spends time in the hospital for her eating disorder, Cassie decides to drop her for being a bad influence. They hadn’t talked in months the night that Cassie called Lia 33 times and then died alone in a hotel.
Cassie has been living with her father and claiming to have her disorder under control, but she is a pro at hiding it. The only person who seems able to get through to her is her step-sister, but even she can’t save Lia from herself. Lia is haunted by her guilt about what happened and begins seeing Cassie’s ghost everywhere. Cassie wants Lia to join her, to waste away to nothing until they can be together forever. As she loses more and more weight and her sanity begins to slip, Lia wonders if maybe she should join Cassie after all.
Critical Evaluation:
Laurie Halse Anderson manages to depict the physical and emotional decline associated with a severe eating disorder in a chillingly realistic way. Though Lia is lying to those around her, and even to herself, the reader is spared nothing in the description of her downward spiral. This is a difficult book to read for the same reason that it is an admirable one - it’s honest.
Lia is an unreliable narrator, but in a way that works for the story. It’s difficult to tell when she is being honest or when she is evading the truth. It’s also sometimes difficult to determine which events are actually occurring and which are part of her mental breakdown. This coupled with the sometimes unusual and increasingly erratic writing style that is employed only enhances the portrayal of a girl quickly slipping out of control.
The plot could potentially trigger a reader who is suffering from the same disorders; however, it could also help readers feel less alone in their problems or encourage them to seek help before they reach the same state that Lia is in.
Reader's Annotation:
After her best friend Cassie’s sudden death, 18-year-old Lia spirals downward as she struggles to deal with Cassie’s death and her own problems with anorexia.
Author Information:
Laurie Halse Anderson was born October 23, 1961 in Potsdam, New York. She began writing in second grade and has loved it ever since. She attended Georgetown University and received a B.S. in linguistics. After graduating, she worked as a freelance reporter for several years, while working on her fiction writing. In 1998 she became a full-time writer of fiction. She has published 9 books for young adults and 20 books for children.
Though writing was one of her first loves, she also enjoys running, gardening, travel, knitting, and quilting. She lives in Northern New York with her husband and children. Noticing that she was suffering from several distractions, her husband built her a cottage in the woods to be hers to use for her writing. She views this as her answer to the claim of Virginia Woolf that every woman needs a room of her own to write fiction.
Genre:
Realistic Fiction: Eating Disorder
Curriculum Ties:
Health: Healthy Eating
Psychology: Eating Disorders, Depression, Cutting, Grief
English: Character Development
Booktalking Ideas:
- Read the passage starting "Dead girl walking" placed on page 19 of the e-book version.
- Discuss Lia and Cassie's friendship.
- Focus on Lia's relationship with her family.
Reading Level/Interest Age:
14 and older
Challenge Issues:
Anorexia
Cutting
Could be a trigger
Challenge Defense Ideas:
- Require the challenger to fill out a written challenge form with clear reasons stated and examples given.
- If not already familiar with the content, become familiar.
- Refer the challenger to the library's collection policy.
- Refer the challenger to reputable reviews of the books, as well as reviews by those in the book's target audience.
Reasons for Selection:
This book was recommended to me by my sister. Extreme dieting and disordered eating is something that affects many teenagers including my group of friends when I was in school.
