English 325: Wintergirls

This is an interesting one. I think that first and foremost, this is a difficult work to read solely because it address so many uncomfortable and hot issues. Suicide is a tough discussion on its own, but mix that with anorexia, an incredibly strong sense of guilt, and self harm, and this book becomes even more serious.

I know that our class spends a lot of time talking about do whether author’s have “the right” to create these stories if they haven’t experienced them themselves. In the vast majority of cases I role my eyes and say “Of course they do!” If people only wrote about their own experiences chances would never be taken, and many great stories would never be told. You can’t remain silent because you fear what will happen if you speak up. That said, for this novel I think it is very important to either have some firsthand experience or have done some very extensive research. I say this because I’m taking the author’s word on this subject as fact: this is how it is. I’m buying into the idea that this is how people with anorexia feel about themselves and others. I have no knowledge on the subject matter so I’m going to believe this stuff, and students will do the same. When what you are writing is taken as fact on a very hot topic, it is important to know what you’re talking about.

With that out of the way, I think the theme of this novel is good. It is basically a coming of age story in its own unique way. Growing up in this case means understanding that you need to help yourself, identifying a problem and being willing to fix it. Even the title Wintergirls almost hints at this sort of frozen stasis that Lia is in and only at the end does she emerge from this state to grow. Going hand in hand with this is Lia’s growth throughout the novel not only coming to terms with the grief she feels for Cassie’s death but also with her own anorexia. I think it is an interesting way of doing a coming of age story.

I’m not sure about this book’s appeal. It deals with a very important issue, but I’m not sure how many kids would be interested in it. It is in a way a ghost story which are always interesting, but beyond that anorexia is not a universally relatable idea. I don’t think this is a reason not to teach it, just because something is not relatable does not make it any less valuable, I just mean to say that I think it lacks the immediate relevance that some other books we’ve read possess.

With all that said, I’ll be honest, I just didn’t really like this one. It wasn’t bad by any means but I just never felt fully invested or engaged. Perhaps it was the lack of relatability or just the uncomfortable nature of the text but I never really enjoyed this novel. Like I said, it wasn’t bad in any way, just not great. I’ll give it a solid B.