In Wintergirls, Anderson once again takes on issues pertinent to today's young women. This time her main character is struggling with anorexia. I was worried that the book would turn out to be a real downer and depress me, but I found myself transfixed. I couldn't stop reading. I started one day and finished the next.
Lia and Cassie were best friends who had made a pact to be the thinnest girls in school. But now Cassie is dead and Lia is haunted by the knowledge that Cassie tried to call her 33 times on the night of her death. Grappling with feelings of loss, grief and guilt, Cassie begins to plummet into her own personal nightmare, taunted by the ghost of her dead friend and her dead friend's secrets and driven to maintain a semblance of control over her body that nobody else understands or appreciates.
The book reels the reader into every fractured relationship in Lia's life. Anderson's skill at character development is sublime. With every page, I felt more invested in the life of this poor, struggling girl. I felt her alienation and sense of being lost. I cried as things spiralled more and more out of control, wounding Cassie and those around her.
This book will certainly be a big hit with middle and high school girls. While it is not an easy book to read, (the subject matter is intense) it is valuable. My experience with individuals who struggle with anorexia and bulimia has been minimal. I've known two, but only in the most peripheral way and more after the fact than in the midst of the struggle. Now, my heart goes out to the many young women who are out there suffering in silence. I hope this book is a tremendous help to the women caught in this whirlpool of self-delusion. I hope they are able to find a way out to a more forgiving, embracing view of their bodies.
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