Wintergirls (book post)

By -

 Oh. My. God. This book is almost a 10/10 for me. I'd say a 9.5 overall because of the ending. Not that the ending was bad, but I'm selfish and I wanted more haha.

I LOVE the way Anderson writes. I have owned her other book Speak for almost a year (before this English course) but I never had the nerve to pick it up because I wasn't sure if it would be as good as others have said. But I'm going to go ahead and assume I've been wrong and I so desperately want to read it soon. I'm in a low place with my mental health right now, but I plan to read it hopefully in a few weeks when I know I feel better and I can handle the material.

The story was great. The pacing was phenomenal. Just... Chef's kiss. This has to be my favorite book we've read and maybe my favorite book from this year. It was so heart wrenching and it cut me deep. The imagery was one of the best things from this book. It was like each time I picked up the book, it was like a new Netflix episode was starting behind my eyelids and I could see it so clearly. If I'd had time to read it all in one go, I definitely would have. I had to stay with my Nana for a few days while I was finishing the book and I was telling her about it as I went (she's a big reader like me) and she was interested in the story, so I'll be letting her borrow it soon so we can discuss.

Getting into the writing style, the way Anderson writes Lia's inner-thoughts and feelings was spectaular. The page where all it said was "Must. Not. Eat." and it covered like three entire pages? Genius. Anderson portrays Lia's chaotic thoughts so well. It was dramatic, but not in a movie-film type of way, it was in a realistic-illness type of way, if that makes sense. I know when I'm having low days and sometimes it's like my brain tries to tell me that I need to "GoGoGoGo..." and when I'm halfway through a busy day of stress-cleaning, I will stop and realize that I'm still having a rough time, but my brain is trying to distract me from the feelings. I could tell that Lia was sick with her disorder and not just doing it for attention, like a review on Goodreads wrote. Their one star review talked about how Lia was a spoiled rich brat and only got sick for her parents attention. I could not disagree more! Having read other eating disorder books or books where the main character deals with mental illnesses, Lia isn't doing it just for attention. She's doing it because she's suffering. Yes, she's not getting the attention every child deserves, but it's not the sole reason, it's just a participating cause along with so many other things.

I felt every single emotion Lia felt as she struggled so hard. When she stabbed herself with the knife, I actually felt like I might feel the sharp pain too. It was devastating and I'll admit, I cried more than once during my reads of this book. It was hevay, but not in a triggering way. Just a heavy topic with emotional story-telling. Not that I enjoyed her bitterness and resentment, but I understood it to a level that I wish I didn't. At times, I saw myself in Lia, even without ever having a firsthand experience with an eating disorder or anorexia. I thought the portrayal of eating disorders was so well written by Anderson and I will definitely read this book again in a few months or years. It will be on my bookshelf and I am hoping to try Anderson's Speak soon as well. Wintergirls was such a good read for me.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Growing Pains - The Symbolism of the Tree in Speak

By -
I have felt the paralyzing pain of internal disease. The kind of trauma that causes your mouth to curl in and swallow you whole. I, like so many other women, are walking the halls in Melinda’s shoes in “Speak.” I thought Laurie Anderson did a phenomenal job of twisting all of the tribulations a high school girl goes through, into the tree that Melinda is. Whether we’re as strong as an oak or weak as a bush, we have all gone through the disease that strikes Melinda from the inside out. Melinda is like a half-dead tree. Some parts of her strive to blossom and create beauty. Other parts are broken and diseased. Like a dead tree, Melinda needs to save herself and “cut off the damage, [so it] is possible for the tree to grow again” (187). The symbolism of a tree is significant in “Speak.” Trees reflect her growing process. In the beginning, Melinda is a sick and lifeless tree. Her view is negative and dark. She’s so far past repair, bursts of sunlight do her no good. Sunlight would be pe
Read more

How Starr Goes from Acting to Embracing in The Hate U Give

By -
In The Hate U Give, Starr Carter is caught between two worlds. She lives in a predominantly black neighborhood, but her father sends her and her brothers to a private school where she is surrounded by white people. She talks about acting differently depending on what group she is around, which can create some identity problems. She says on page 11, "Funny how it works with white kids though. It's dope to be black until it's hard to be black." When at Williamson, she sees white kids that think it's cool to engage in black culture, but she knows they don't understand what she goes through in her Garden Heights community. She witnessed her friend Natasha's death when she was 10 years old, and she sees gang activity in her community all the time. When she is among her black friends, like at the party, they tease her for hanging out with the white kids. This reminds me of a Drake song where he says, "I used to get teased for being black, and now I'm
Read more

Postmodernism in Curious Incident

By -
Before I start writing, I first want to acknowledge that I just really loved this book! It seemed like a lot of the class had trouble enjoying or appreciating the novel because it's so different stylistically, which is understandable, but all of those unique elements helped make the novel more authentic. The main topic I want to focus on (also what I'm writing my paper on) is how a lot of postmodernist elements were used in the novel to make Christopher come to life. While obviously not every postmodern novel is about an autistic kid, I think Haddon really used a lot of these elements to his advantage and they ended up working out really well to characterize Christopher. One of the major postmodern elements which helps this book really craft an authentic portrayal of autism is the fact that it's metafictive. Basically, this means it's a "story within a story." Readers would be extremely limited just reading the parts of the novel which are meant to be C
Read more