Buy Wintergirls
Special: $8.99 (Regular price: $9.99)
Publisher: Speak
Format: Paperback
Reviewer: Melissa on May 11, 2011
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Lia and Cassie have always been the best of friends, but what kept them together as teens wasn’t gossip or a shared fashion sense. Rather they’re wintergirls frozen in a deadly competition over who can “win” the title of skinniest girl in school. When Cassie loses her life to her bulimia, Lia is haunted by the memory of her friend and guilt-ridden for being unable to save her before it was too late. Now, I’m a bit Laurie Halse Anderson fan, but I have to say that Wintergirls is her most powerful novel to date. Find out why….
When it comes to edgy teen novels, Anderson is one of the best. If you’ve read any other YA novels by her, you’ll know that she’s a master of getting inside the head of her first person main characters, and thus, she makes it easy for readers to get into that space, too. In the case of Wintergirls, you’ll have no difficulty getting into Lia’s head, that of an anorexic girl. You might, however, have trouble getting out of her head because this character (and her story) is definitely one that sticks with readers. Anderson clearly demonstrates an understanding of Lia’s desire to control her food intake and the loss of control she feels in other parts of her life, which led to her need to control her own body in the first place. Prepare to enter some of the darkest parts of a teen girl’s mind, and some of the darkest parts of your own, when you pick up this novel.
As with her Michael L. Printz award-winning novel Speak, Anderson uses allusions to mythology and fairytales to symbolically represent the journey through hell that Lia goes through. With two epigraphs, she points out the most important intertexts for this novel: the myth of Persephone and “Sleeping Beauty.” Why do these texts matter? In short, they both speak of characters who are in the liminal space between being alive and being dead, just like Lia is. For those who don’t already know these texts, there are elements of the story that won’t be as rich, but the novel is powerful enough that you’ll still get a lot out of it. Nevertheless, I’m willing to bet that when you know both the major and minor details of these narratives (because you will check them out), then you’ll have an improved understanding of Wintergirls.
Those familiar with Anderson’s writing might also expect to find some textual experimentation. Once again, the author doesn’t disappoint, and in fact, offers even more postmodern play than she did in either Speak or Catalyst. In fact, she represents everything from Lia’s constant calorie counting, negative thought patterns, and those things that she won’t allow herself to think to chapter titles that follow the format of a scale’s results and a symbolic representation of passing out in these ways. With textual decisions like the ones Anderson makes, she increases the authenticity of Lia’s story infinitely and leads me to believe that a more perfect representation of showing, rather than telling, isn’t possible.
Now if you’re sensitive, then I won’t lie to you – this novel will be hard to read. It’ll make you remember any past issues that you may have had with disordered eating, even if it wasn’t a formal eating disorder, or over exercising. It might make you feel guilty if you weren’t able to help someone you care about with their own eating disorders or self esteem issues. It’ll make you wonder how a girl who weighs 98, 95, 93, 85 lbs. or less could still think she has more to lose, even if you know that this is the way that anorexia works. And by novel’s end, if not before, it’ll make you cry. At the same time, it is hopeful in a way that I believe readers – both those who suffer from eating disorders and those who don’t – would feel is authentic. But most importantly, it might very well help at least one teen girl see her way through the dark into the light.
From the opening scene till the final moments of this novel, Wintergirls will take you to some harrowing places, but it will also bring you back whole again. Whole and thinking, wow…just wow.
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Melissa has always been a voracious reader of fiction and has an M.A. in English Literature to prove it. Like many other adults, she got caught up in the young adult crossover fiction phenomenon. Now, one of her great joys comes from sharing her love of YA lit on this popular review site. Come with expectations of intellect, magic, and honest reviews, and you won’t be disappointed.
