**Spoilers!!**
I recently finished Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. Wintergirls tells the story of Lia, a girl whose best friend recently just died. Lia struggles with dealing with the sudden and strange absence in her life, while having to deal with her own problems.
I thought this book was beautiful, and very poetic. It was a lot like Speak, also by Laurie Halse Anderson, but also completely different. This was almost the complete opposite of Speak in writing style, as Speak was mostly in the future, never looking back, straight forwards. Wintergirls led the reader through Lia's whole mind before we can get to her real problems and guilt. Halse Anderson's style still shines through. In some ways, I enjoyed this book more than Speak, for many reasons.
I thought the word wintergirls by itself was amazing. It wrapped up the book in a tight little ribbon. I was really confused about the title at first, but pretty soon I understood way too well.
This book is morbid, and sad, and hopeful, and scary. It broke my heart when Elijah left Lia by herself in the hotel room. He knew what had happened there. He knew she was on the edge of death. He knew she was seeing things, and she lied to him about being "okay." I imagined what it would be like if Lia went with Elijah, because Cassie wouldn't haunt her. I realized that she would probably have gotten better. But Elijah did the right thing. Lia loved her family too much to leave them behind, and she might not have gotten better it she was out on the road, not being able to come to terms with Cassie's death.
Another thing I liked was the strong character voice in the book. In the beginning, Lia shows no remorse. No regret. She wants to be skinny. Halse Anderson doesn't write it from a person free from eating disorders, she writes like she had one. Lia's character never gives herself some slack, or even thinks about stopping while she's at her worst, in the middle of the book.
I really loved this book so much, and recommend it to fans of Speak and 13 Reasons Why. I hope the next book I read lives up to Wintergirls.
I recently finished Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. Wintergirls tells the story of Lia, a girl whose best friend recently just died. Lia struggles with dealing with the sudden and strange absence in her life, while having to deal with her own problems.
I thought this book was beautiful, and very poetic. It was a lot like Speak, also by Laurie Halse Anderson, but also completely different. This was almost the complete opposite of Speak in writing style, as Speak was mostly in the future, never looking back, straight forwards. Wintergirls led the reader through Lia's whole mind before we can get to her real problems and guilt. Halse Anderson's style still shines through. In some ways, I enjoyed this book more than Speak, for many reasons.I thought the word wintergirls by itself was amazing. It wrapped up the book in a tight little ribbon. I was really confused about the title at first, but pretty soon I understood way too well.
This book is morbid, and sad, and hopeful, and scary. It broke my heart when Elijah left Lia by herself in the hotel room. He knew what had happened there. He knew she was on the edge of death. He knew she was seeing things, and she lied to him about being "okay." I imagined what it would be like if Lia went with Elijah, because Cassie wouldn't haunt her. I realized that she would probably have gotten better. But Elijah did the right thing. Lia loved her family too much to leave them behind, and she might not have gotten better it she was out on the road, not being able to come to terms with Cassie's death.
Another thing I liked was the strong character voice in the book. In the beginning, Lia shows no remorse. No regret. She wants to be skinny. Halse Anderson doesn't write it from a person free from eating disorders, she writes like she had one. Lia's character never gives herself some slack, or even thinks about stopping while she's at her worst, in the middle of the book.
I really loved this book so much, and recommend it to fans of Speak and 13 Reasons Why. I hope the next book I read lives up to Wintergirls.
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