Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

No. of pages: 278
Rating: 8/10

Synopsis: “Dead girl walking,” the boys say in the halls.
“Tell us your secret,” the girls whisper, one toilet to another.
I am that girl.
I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through.
I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.

Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. But what comes after size zero and size double-zero? When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend’s restless spirit.

In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the multiple-award-winning Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia’s descent into the powerful vortex of anorexia, and her painful path toward recovery.

Review: At just over 100lbs (around 7 stone) Lia looks in the mirror and see a fat, ugly girl. Having just come out of a clinic for the second time, she has to work hard to hide her weight loss, for it seems no one else can see how hideous she looks. Then her best friend dies, and her ghost haunts Lia, enticing her to come over to the other side. This is the biggest struggle of her life, but will she survive it?

Although I knew what the subject matter was before I started reading this, I didn't realise how intense and hard it would be to read. Although Lia is tiny and frail, she looks in the mirror and see a fat, hideous girl, and she cannot understand why other people can't see her 'as she really is' and that is a truly sad thing to read about. I almost found Lia scary in her intensity, she truly could not see that she was destroying herself, and you feel like you're decending into insanity and obsession with her. I loved the writing style, told completely from Lia's perspective, it gives you complete insight in to the mind of an anorexic, especially in the way that when she sees any piece of food, all she sees is the number of calories that it has. I particularly loved the crossed out sentences which tell what she's really thinking and feeling, but how she denies herself basic things to 'stay strong'. Definitely a read that will make you think about your relationship with food through different eyes. An interesting and enjoyable read, I would definitely recommend both this, and also Speak by the same author.