"I feel like I've been humanized by this novel — that I have a deeper understanding and a deeper empathy for girls who struggle with eating disorders... I remember this feeling of suffocation while listening, like I couldn't bare to go on but I didn't dare stop." — Miss Remmers
Release Date: March 2009
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Challenges: Audiobook Challenge and 100+ Reading Challenge
"Lia and Cassie were best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies. But now Cassie is dead. Lia's mother is busy saving other people's lives. Her father is away on business. Her step-mother is clueless. And the voice inside Lia's head keeps telling her to remain in control, stay strong, lose more, weigh less . If she keeps on going this way—thin, thinner, thinnest—maybe she'll disappear altogether.
In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the National Book Award finalist Speak , best-selling author Laurie Halse Anderson explores one girl's chilling descent into the all-consuming vortex of anorexia."
Wow, after listening to "Eragon" I chose "Wintergirls" simply because I was looking for another audiobook and wanted a story that I had been looking forward to reading for a while. I can't imagine a better way to read this story than by audiobook. The narrator did a fantastic job and the rawness and honesty of the plot has stayed with me the few weeks since finishing.
I listened to this book while on my way home to Northern Minnesota for the 4th of July. There was a point, rather towards the beginning, where I stopped to eat at Burger King. I didn't go through the drive thru, but it seemed as though I had. I went to eat my wonderfully "crafted" burger of grease but found myself all of a sudden no longer hungry. I did end up eating the burger, but I threw most of my fries away. It's hard to explain or describe, but as a girl who has never really struggled with food or felt the need to diet hardcore (I have dieted, but it never seems to last very long. Food and I have a very tight relationship) this honest story hit me hard. So hard that even when I was trying to enjoy my time at home (and inevitably pig out) I found myself thinking of Lia and her family.
While at first I found myself chastising Lia and Cassie for their disorders and thinking — "Really? Why can't you just eat!" — but so gradually I didn't even notice it was happening I realized how real this life struggle with food can be. I feel like I've been humanized by this novel — that I have a deeper understanding and a deeper empathy for young girls who struggle with eating disorders. I remember this feeling of suffocation while listening, like I couldn't bare to go on but I didn't dare stop.
This was such an amazing audio — I just can't state that enough. Absolutely fantastic.
-Visit Laurie around the web here: Website | Blog | Goodreads | Twitter
-BUY THE BOOK: Amazon | Kindle | Barnes and Noble | Nook
To the FTC, with love: Library Audio