Wintergirls

Title: Wintergirls
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult
Format: Paperback
Pages: 278
Reason Read: Book Club
Rating:

My Thoughts

Going into WINTERGIRLS, I knew it was about eating disorders, but I didn’t know how that was going to be portrayed exactly. I figured it’d be very emotional. The first-person POV made the story seem more real, almost too real. There are times when Lia lets her negative talk run rampant and it was almost too much for me because I have a hard time dealing with my own negative talk. I can honestly say that I’ll never read this again.

The story and imagery are powerful. It’s well-written, although I didn’t like the writing style very much. While I think it’s great that Anderson tackles these horrible issues that teens face, I came away with a sense of loss, depression, and a little bit of “I could see myself doing that” kind of thinking. I don’t think that’s what Anderson was going for. I’d hope she’d want readers to come away with a sense of hope. The book does end on a positive note, but 97% of it is so depressing that the last 3% doesn’t really do much for the overall feel of the book.

If the book had been written in a third-person POV, I think I may have been more okay with this story. I may have seen the book as a help to understand what people with Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia go through. But, instead, I saw too much of a mirror into myself and my own issues. I don’t suffer from either of those eating disorders, but I do suffer from an eating disorder and I suffer from self-deprecating behavior and depression. While I read this, I couldn’t stop the negative talk because it wasn’t actually mine.

I think other readers could see the value in WINTERGIRLS and its message, but it just wasn’t for me.