“Wintergirls” by Laurie Halse Anderson

In the sparse, lyric style typical of her books, Laurie Anderson takes on the issue of anorexia. The result is a stunning page-turner that ranks up there with the best of her writing. Told in first person narrative, this fairly brutal story echoes the emotional tone in the Gail Giles book, “What Happened to Cass McBride?” It begins with death and spirals quickly towards the abyss. Characters are drawn very human and unapologetically. Storylines are wrapped up with realism, not idealism. Ms. Anderson, like Jodi Picoult, does serious research for her books and it shows. The voice in this novel rings so real you find yourself stopping to wonder if this isn’t someone she knows (it’s not). For me, the book hit home a little too well. While I love her books, this one was almost painful to read – I found myself aching to reach through the pages and “make it better.” It’s hard not to connect, the text is so visceral: “The snow drifts into our zombie mouths crawling with grease and curses and tobacco flakes and cavities and boyfriend/girlfriend juice, the stain of lies. For one moment we are not failed tests and broken condoms and cheating on essays; we are crayons and lunch boxes and swinging so high our sneakers punch holes in the clouds.” Needless to say, this is yet another story for high schoolers that might be picked up by middle school students. Just let them know the material is fairly uncensored. It’s not a short read, but try to make time to read it in one sitting. I had to break it into three chunks to get through and the frustration level of having to stop was high. On the other hand, I was so disturbed by the story I had to watch romantic comedies for days afterwards. Be forewarned. But enjoy! For good reason, this one has seen a lot of traffic in the library.