Book Review: Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

After reading a bunch of fantasy novels I was craving for something contemporary, something that is realistic and I can relate to. I was searching for a book to read on my phone and I saw this book, I looked it up on goodreads and I instantly remembered how I wanted to read this book.

“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.

Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia’s descent into the powerful vortex of anorexia, and her painful path toward recovery.

This book is about the life of Lia specifically her battle with anorexia nervosa, to those who do not know what it is anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by immoderate food restriction, inappropriate eating habits or rituals, obsession with having a thin figure, and an irrational fear of weight gain, as well as a distorted body self-perception (thank you wikipedia).

The reason why I really wanted to read this book is because there was a time that I hated my body and wanted to loose weight quickly, without exercise, so I kinda stumbled upon this anorexia instagram accounts and they were losing a lot of weight in a short period of time so I was really insterested, and I wanted to be anorexic (so stupid of me), thus wanting to read a book about it to learn more and at the same time add a book to my read shelf in goodreads. But now I read it for the reason of entertaining myself and being aware of what is the life of the people with this sickness.

I really like this book, not because it is about anorexia and I learned a lot about it, but because in this book you will see how people around Lia loves her so much and really supports her to be well again. And to be honest I was actually focusing on the supporting characters like her Mom, Dad, friends, and sister because it is so nice to learn that there are people that will be there for you no matter what even if you push them away they will still be there. I also love how the story ended it was such a nice thing to read. It made me emotional and I shed a few tears in some parts of the book, it is really well written and I liked it so mcuh, the crossed out words are a nice touch to the story.

Overall it was an amazing experience to read such a wonderful book that opened your eyes to anorexia and also how you're not alone even if you feel like you are.

Goodreads rating: 3.99
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Contemporary,
My rating: 4.5/5