Nora Krug
Anderson…isn't a scaremonger or a schoolmarm. "I never set out to send messages," she has said. "I set out to tell a good story." In Wintergirls, she has done just that. Lia's tale is both painful to read and riveting. Unfortunately, many young women will relate to her despair, and if the novel helps them find solace or hope, all the better. Same goes for their parents.
—The Washington Post
Barbara Feinberg
Anderson, the author of Speak and other award-winning novels for teenagers, has written a fearless, riveting account of a young woman in the grip of a deadly illness.
—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
Acute anorexia, self-mutilation, dysfunctional families and the death of a childhood friend-returning to psychological minefields akin to those explored in Speak, Anderson delivers a harrowing story overlaid with a trace of mysticism. The book begins as Lia learns that her estranged best friend, Cassie, has been found dead in a motel room; Lia tells no one that, after six months of silence, Cassie called her 33 times just two days earlier, and that Lia didn't pick up even once. With Lia as narrator, Anderson shows readers how anorexia comes to dominate the lives of those who suffer from it (here, both Lia and Cassie), even to the point of fueling intense competition between sufferers. The author sets up Lia's history convincingly and with enviable economy-her driven mother is "Mom Dr. Marrigan," while her stepmother's values are summed up with a précis of her stepsister's agenda: "Third grade is not too young for enrichment, you know." This sturdy foundation supports riskier elements: subtle references to the myth of Persephone and a crucial plot line involving Cassie's ghost and its appearances to Lia. As difficult as reading this novel can be, it is more difficult to put down. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)
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Booklist
Anderson illuminates a dark but utterly realistic world . . . this is necessary reading. Starred review
BCCB
Readers will be absorbed by this gripping tale . . . starred review
School Library Journal
Gr 8 Up—After the death of her former best friend Cassie, 18-year-old Lia slowly spirals toward her own death, drowning in guilt while starving, cutting, and running on a treadmill in the middle of the night in this emotional novel (Viking, 2009) by Laurie Halse Anderson, winner of the 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award. Her father is in denial and her mother is distant; her stepmother and little sister look on helplessly. Lyrically visual, this starkly truthful and chilling first-person tale is narrated convincingly by Jeannie Stith, who perfectly mimics the sarcasm and angst of a teen girl's struggle with anorexia. An interview with the author concludes the audiobook. Recommended for Anderson's fans and those who enjoy books by Sonya Sones and Ellen Hokins.—Terry Ann Lawler, Phoenix Public Library, AZ
Kirkus Reviews
Neither therapy nor threats nor her ex-best friend's death can turn Lia away from her habits of cutting and self-starvation. In broken, symbolic and gut-wrenching prose, Lia narrates her hopeless story of the destructive behaviors that control her every action and thought. She lives for both the thrill and the crash of not eating, and any progress she may have made toward normal eating is erased when her former best friend Cassie dies alone in a hotel room. The trauma of Cassie's death coupled with Lia's strained relationship with her parents and stepmother makes her tighten her focus on not eating as she slides into a world of starvation-induced hallucinations. Uncontrollable self-accusations ("Stupid/ugly/stupid/bitch/stupid/fat") and compulsive calorie counts punctuate her claustrophobic account, which she edits chillingly to control her world. Anderson perfectly captures the isolation and motivations of the anorexic without ever suggesting that depression and eating disorders are simply things to "get over." Due to the author's and the subject's popularity, this should be a much-discussed book, which rises far above the standard problem novel. (Fiction. YA)
FEBRUARY 2009 - AudioFile
Narrator Jeannie Stith delivers this story’s introductory scenes with brutal harshness as Lia learns that her best friend, Cassie, has been discovered dead in a hotel room. The two best friends had been competitors in anorexia. Stith's staccato delivery is fitting for the embattled Lia, who hides her self-starvation and cutting from the perplexed adults who want to save her. Stith whispers Lia’s compulsive calorie counting and uses a muffled voice to deliver the haunting speeches that Lia believes are coming from Cassie’s restless spirit. In her text Anderson uses italics, parentheses, and cross-outs to create visual representations of Lia's torment; in the narration the tones used to differentiate these are somewhat distracting. Still, Stith takes listeners deep into Lia's dark and frightening fight for survival. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2010 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
