“I can’t stop, but I can’t keep going,’ she told me. ‘Nothing works.’ I totally supported her. I looked up the names of docs and clinics. I e-mailed her recovery Web sites. And I sabotaged every step. I told her how strong she was and how healthy she was going to be and how proud I was of her and I dropped in how many calories I ate that day, the magic number on the scale, the number of inches around my thighs. We went to the mall and I made sure we used the same dressing room so she could see my skeleton shine in the florescent blue light.” (p. 98)
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Wintergirls. New York: Viking. 2009.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Review:
Lia’s best friend Cassie just died. They hadn’t spoken in months and then just before she died Cassie called her. 33 times to be exact. Lia knows this because that’s how many messages are on her phone. They were both wintergirls intent on being thin. Now Cassie is dead and Lia is haunted. Her family is oblivious as she obsessively counts calories, lying to them as she slips further away—getting thinner and thinner. All the while the ghost of her best friend encourages her on her downward spiral.
The author of Speak brings us another powerful novel. Wintergirls is a hauntingly compelling read. It gives readers a chilling peak into the mind of someone suffering from anorexia. Cassie’s role in the novel gives this story a unique twist and makes it stand out from other novels on the subject.