Review: Wintergirls

Wintergirls
by Laurie Halse Anderson

Wintergirls is the story of Lia, a high school senior who struggles with anorexia. She has been through treatment twice, and is doing better. But when her best friend, Cassie, dies both grief and guilt trigger the disease that threatens her life.

Wintergirls is written for high school aged kids, and it reads like it. It isn't a great novel, the writing isn't spectacular, but it worth reading. My biggest pet peeve with the writing was that the characters were not very diverse.

I also had some problems with the way that Self Harm issues were presented. I worked at a residential treatment center for teenage girls. Almost all of the girls there had a Self Harm addiction. In comparison, the book seems a little unrealistic. She also didn't do a good job of explaining why Lia cut herself.

While author also failed to explain the reasons why Lia cut, she did do a very good job at explaining why she starved herself, and what triggered it. I think that she was accurate in describing the mind set of a girl with an eating disorder. It isn't about being thin, it is all about being able to control the number that appears on the scale. I think that she got that across to the readers.

I also loved that she mentioned the websites that promote eating disorders. They are very real. I first heard of them while I was working at the treatment center. I logged onto one. Once. It was the creepiest thing that I have ever read.

I would recommend that any parent that has a daughter read this book.