Laurie Halse Anderson's latest: Wintergirls

Did you read Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak? Did you love it as much as I did? There’s been a lot of buzz about Anderson’s latest – Wintergirls – so I picked it up a couple weeks ago.

The book is dramatic right from page one: when the story opens Lia’s best friend has just died alone in a hotel room. Was it suicide? Drugs and alcohol? Or did her eating disorder finally do her in? Lia herself is suffering in her own world of anorexia and isolation – “dead girl walking,” say the boys in the hallway at school.

This intense story takes you inside Lia’s world – she truly hates herself and her body, and worst of all, she has no one to turn to for comfort or tenderness. It’s tough to read, but it’s moving too – and Anderson can really make you feel vividly what Lia’s going through - from her profound longing for food to the subtle (and not so subtle) ways her parents demean and control her. If you like your stories intense and real, give this one a try and let me know what you think…