Wintergirls

The biggest theme in the book Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson is the suffering caused by eating disorders. This book portrays the struggles people face with eating disorders perfectly. My opinion is that a Wintergirl is someone who is so frozen in thinking she has to be beautiful by societies standards, which is Barbie stick thin. Wintergirls are so obsessed with being a certain way that they are not essentially living life. Only when a wintergirl begins to thaw, she begins to actually live. Lia, who suffers from anorexia, undergoes change when she figures out that Cassie died from her eating disorder of bulimia. The fact that she can’t live like she has been with over exercising, self harm, and starvation becomes very real to Lia. This is very relatable to life because when a tragedy hits, that is what usually causes change in people. People who experience eating disorders do not usually understand that what they are doing to their bodies can end in death, but Anderson makes that very clear through Cassie’s death. Anderson gives a sense of hope to the reader through Lia when she nearly dies from overdosing on sleeping pills and her fight to stay alive. The recovery she then faces gives hope to the reader that you can recover from eating disorders. Another theme in this book is guilt, which was shone by Cassie calling for help and Lia ignoring it when she could have ended up saving her life. Guilt is hard for anyone to go through but Anderson portrays her getting over guilt really well. Lia’s own recovery helps her get over her guilt about ignoring Cassie’s calls. The only critique I have about this book is that it gives into the stereotype that only girls get eating disorders when in fact both genders can suffer from them. I think Anderson should have added a male into the mix somewhere.

Wintergirls positions adolescents as susceptible to society standards and pressures. It shows them distant from parents who are not aware of the situation their kids are in. It also positions adolescents as fragile, which is very true. This book would be an eye opener for anyone adolescent that is experiencing any type of eating disorder. It would also appeal to adolescents that is suffering by thinking they are not good enough. This text is very relatable for people who have ever had guilt over something.

Personally, I loved this book and would strongly recommend it to others. I think the text is very raw and real. I would give Wintergirls an A+ because it has the ability to change people’s lives. It gives the reader a sense of hope to overcome things that seem so impossible to ever recover from.