Books News
New young adult book deals with anorexia
By Jessica Schneider May 14, 2009, 10:56 GMT
“Dead girl walking,” the boys say in the halls. “Tell us your secret,” the girls whisper, one toilet to another. I am that girl. I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through. I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame. Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. But what ...more
Laurie Halse Anderson, the author of “Speak,” has a new young adult novel out, titled Wintergirls,” which deals with an 18 year old girl who has had anorexia since the 8th grade.
The NYT notes: “Written in present tense, in short sections, Lia’s account of the weeks following the death, which detail her own descent into full-blown anorexia, is intercut with flashbacks — about her two failed hospitalizations.”
Booklist states: “Struck-through sentences, incessant repetition, and even blank pages make Lia’s inner turmoil tactile, and gruesome details of her decomposition will test sensitive readers. But this is necessary reading for anyone caught in a feedback loop of weight loss as well as any parent unfamiliar with the scripts teens recite so easily to escape from such deadly situations.”
Published by Viking Juvenile, the book finishes at 288 pages. Read the full NYT review here.
A video is also available at Amazon.
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