Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

[Julie Goguen]

I've been reading a lot of "feel good" books lately with fluffs and ruffles and I've been loving every minute of it. I've been trading books lately with one of my fellow co worker and friend so I've been far from bored. She lent me 3 books and I had no idea where to begin since none of them were on my reading list. One of them was a purple hard cover book with no sleeve so I had no clue what it was about.... all I could see was the title "Wintergirls" and the name "Anderson" on the side. I was intrigued since I literally had no clue what it was about. I started reading it and for the first 50 or so pages I hated the book. I couldn't connect with the character and I know exactly why. This book is about anorexia and the many struggles that come along with the disease. Lia (the main character) loses her "ex" best friend to the disease and that's how the story begins. It appears that she is haunted by her ghost. I feel I couldn't connect with the book because I have never been anorexic (I love food way too much) and I didn't find the main character loveable. The writing style annoyed me (lots of words were randomly crossed off) and I just really could not connect with anything in this book. There was a boy introduced in the novel and I got hopeful but that flopped. I guess I was expecting a "cookie cutter" ending and in this book, I think it's what I needed to really enjoy the book. I mean it wasn't a horrible story but it wasn't my favourite by any means. I give it 2 out of 5. I hope that if you do pick up this book, that you enjoy it. I hate not enjoying books. I recommend this for people that are 15+ years old but be aware, some of the contents of the book are pretty graphic. Happy reading!