Sunday, November 4, 2012

Update: "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson

I think so far Wintergirls is a really great book. Like Speak, it deals with really current and modern issues tactfully, but is still truthful, and doesn't sugar-coat them.

One thing I find interesting is the contrast in the eating disorders of Lia and Cassie. Lia doesn't eat at all, and Cassie goes through the cycle of binging and purging. I would think that these two types of eating disorders would depend on the type of person, and that Lia would be grossed out by Cassie. She seems like a neater, secretive person, and her self-infliction shows she's very internal and secretive.

Cassie, on the other hand, seemed more like a wild girl in her character in general, and ate a lot, especially around Lia.

Just their personalities alone shouldn't be really that compatible, but they were still sisters in eating disorder. I don't think they met because of their disorders, but it made them closer. Another thing I'm asking every word I read of this book is how could best friends let each other go through that?

I mean, the drama girl that screamed at Lia before the wake was right in a way. Lia didn't try to help. Of course, the drama girl didn't know that Lia was Cassie's weight loss partner, but didn't they both know it was wrong and unhealthy what they were doing? I mean, Lia is trying to hard in the book to lie about getting better, but she's already incredibly thin for her age. I don't think she's short either, so for her height, she's skinnier than a lot of models.

I think the use of the crossing out words is really effective as well, because it shows that Lia does want to be normal, her subconscious just can't convince her 'skinny side' of it. It delivers emotional lines without the compromising, "I think...", which in my opinion, always brought me out of the scene in the book.

I can't wait to finish Wintergirls really, even though I've barely given time to read it. I really want to see if Halse Anderson is coming out with any other realistic fiction books, or has previously. 

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