Wintergirls

by Laurie Halse Anderson

"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.

Wow. wow. wow. This book was stunning and intense. It's the kind of book that you have to put down for a while before you continue reading. It was almost frightening at times to be inside Lia's head. To hear herself rationalize what she was doing. There was one line that she said over and over to herself that just shocked me,

"::Stupid/ugly/stupid/bitch/stupid/fat/

stupid/baby/stupid/loser/stupid/lost::"

This book was so real. So many girls see themselves this way and so they cut and starve their bodies. Lia never saw herself as anorexic, she saw herself as strong. Throughout the book you see examples of her controlling her thoughts around food; telling herself that she doesn't need that muffin, or that pizza makes her gag. I don't know how the author pulled this book off. It was amazing and scary at the same time. Everything about this book is so brilliant. This is, so far, my favorite book from 2009.