- I read Speak earlier this year and wanted to check out more of Anderson’s work.
I also recommend:
- Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
Summary from GoodReads:
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.
My Review:
In Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson tackles rape – and with Wintergirls she takes on yet another subject that girls today are dealing with. Anderson has such a unique writing style – reading a book written by her is more than just a reading experience, it’s shocking to the eye. Between the numbered chapters, the small thoughts infringing on the story, and the story itself I felt completely overwhelmed.
I devoured this book.
What was even more encouraging was hearing from my teenage sister how much it affected her.
I’ve never really been one to care about how I look. When I discovered that makeup irritated my skin, I stopped wearing it without really caring (and thankfully I have a good complexion to help with that). I dress comfortably, but not sloppily and I’m not stick thin – and I’m okay with that, and have been okay with that for years. So I never really understood why.. until this book began to give me an idea of it.
This is one of those tough reads that should be read by parents and teenagers alike. It’s a hard message, but one that needs to be brought out of the closet and talked about – because the more you talk about something, the easier it is to speak up about it, as odd as that sounds.
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