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Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It's been a while since I read a book like this. It was sad but at the same time so true. What I mean is, the author really stayed true to the theme se was sharing with us. Esting disorders affect more people every year, younger every day, in constant battle with themselves. I could easily recommend it to someone who is going through something like this, if they are having the problem or a family member or a firend is, either way Wintergirls is a really good way to show those people that ther ARE NOT alone. That is the problem so many times, they feel alone, desperate for attention, or just plain wishing to fit perfectly in a rather NOT perfect world. Eating disorders are such a difficult theme to talk of, but Ms.Anderson did it great. The feelings and situations Lia, the girl in the book, was going through really seemed to be like what a real person would go through. I haven´t met anyone with that kind of disorder, except for a distant aunt ( it´s complicated), but i really felt that if I did knew someone with that kind of problems and I read this book, it would be a good representation of what that person is feeling.
Lia's parents divorced, her dad, David, remarried with Jessica and now she has a new stepsister, Emma, who obviously likes her and Lia does too in return. But her Mom Dr. Marrigan, the cardiologist, is, what would you call, a pain in the you-know-what. So after two times in the prison New Seasons, a center for people like her, who suffers of bad eyes, because obviously they don't see the world as we, the rest and normal people do, she decides to move with her dad and step-family. But her eye problem is not cured, she still checks her calories, still works out in secret and has a secret weight-goal everytime she accomplishes the one before. The thing with Lia is that she is concious of her problem, but she DOES NOT see it as a problem rather than a way to be strong, a way to show the world how tough she is. There are episodes through out the book that you can clearly see it, how she fights her own body, avoiding eating. She chants how good it will taste, how delicous it will be to eat it and enjoy it and that's when she crumples and denies her own bopdy of nourishment. She sees food as a punish, may I say. A way that tell her she is weak, that food is stronger than she is. But food isn't her only problem, now Cassie is dead too. Cassie, her best friend since 3rd grade, died, alone in a motel, and she called Lia the very same night she died. But Lia didn´t picked up. Cassie ended their friendship, why would she? But now, she sees Cassie's ghost, hunting her. Encouraging her to stay strong,meaning not eating, starving.
SHe is afraid and VERY hungry. But she can beat the logic, she does NOT need food. She and Cassie were Wintergirls. Now she is the only one to prove what she is. And there is where you see how much an influence a friend can be. When I finished the book I couldn't decide where Lia's problem began. Was it when Cassie returned form Drama Camp and started vomiting after she ate? Was it when her parents got divorced? When her dad remarried? When her life wasn't having any sense anymore? Who is it to blame? And after very deep thoughts, I got it. The author provides the answer to that hiding question. There is no one to blame.Not even the eating disorder person. They cannot fight it, they didn't wish to be like that. And no one told them to do it either. NO ONE IS TO BLAME. And rather than trying to find the guilty party you must find the person or group of people that will help you. And when you finally get that it feels awesome. there is, also, a secondary character named Elijah, he was the last person to see Cassi alive. And he is not that important to the story becasue it all centers on Lia, but he has the last message Cassie wanted to tell Lia. He is the trigger for Lia's worst breakdown ever and her recovery. I loved that, very much really. You see Elijah as a nobody but in reality he is the cause for the outcome, for Lia's ending of this chapter of her life. Sorry for the spoilers, they wer much needed! =D



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