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Loading... Wintergirlsby Laurie Halse Anderson
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Wintergirls was an amazing book. Such great insight into the mind of someone struggling with anorexia and how they view the world and food. Eating disorders can be a real addiction and we see that when Lia says her goal is to get down to 95 but once she's there she has to go down to 85 then she won't be happy till she's 75 all the down till she gets to 0. I liked that we get to see things through Lia's eyes, though at times I wanted to tie her up and force feed her the meals. In the beginning of the book she's talking about not eating and she says "empty is strong", I really wanted to yell at her and say "no it's not, empty is weak. Have you ever seen a car run on empty? Completely empty? No! Cause it needs gas to run just like our bodies need food to run." Anyway, the book was amazing, made me a little nervous at the end, but still fantastic. I had a deep connection to this book. My daughter was anorexic and we fought it for years. Even today as a married woman I see her struggle to eat when she gets stressed. The day before my father went in for open heart surgery he sat her down and made her promise him that when she would get real stressed that she would think about him and not stop eating. She promised him. My father stroked out during surgery and lived for three weeks before passing away. To this day when she is extremely stressed I here her say under her breath, "I'm eating grandpa." She was a dancer and in school, a school for the visual and performing arts, she informed her dance teachers of her problems with eating and also let them know of several of her friends that she was concerned about. This teacher and accomplished dancer and actress would have these girls eat lunch with her in the studio three times a week to discuss any issues they might have. She never once pushed them to eat so they responded well to her. Anorexia is something that affects all ages. My daughter was in kindergarten when her eating problems started. It was partly a result of her father pushing her away after our divorce and as I found out later some abuse going on a a relative of her father's. She encourages and speaks to teens all of the time. Anorexia is not just a problem for girls. One of her best friends in school was a young male dancer who suffered an eating disorder. The other issue addressed in this book is that of cutting. Laurie did not go into great detail but did let the reader know the hows and whys the main character cut herself. I suffered sexual abuse at the hands of a relative when I was in middle school and I would take pins and scratch writing into my arms until I bled or just poke holes and watch the blood bubble to the surface picturing it bubbling out all of the bad inside of me. I deal with students every day with these problems. I look for the signs but they are not always easy to see. I would recommend this book to everyone, parents, teachers and teens. It is strong in message and plot. It is not for the faint of heart. Laurie Halse Anderson once again took the road less traveled and wrote about a topic that seems to be taboo in books but needs to be addressed. I applaud her and will place many copies of this book on my shelf. This is a sad book on one hand but also so very real. Anorexia and Bulemia are very real and this book is one of those that basically smacks you right in the face with it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book although it is so far outside my realm of what I normally read. Lia is a teenager who is fighting a battle within herself. Eating disorders are not all fun and games and what starts out as something seemingly innocent, can suddenly turn into a life and death battle. no reviews | add a review
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Eighteen-year-old Lia comes to terms with her best friend's death from anorexia as she struggles with the same disorder. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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