One of the perks of working at a bookstore is that every now and then a promising Advanced Reader’s Copy falls into my hands. Yesterday was such a day. Nestled in the middle of a stack of books was Laurie Halse Anderson’s newest book Wintergirls. With this novel, it seems she has returned to her stream of consciousness style which appealed to the readers of Speak. Chains and Fever, while both well-written, seemed to sort of miss the mark with her teenage audience, but Wintergirls seems to hit that mark dead-on.
Battling anorexia and the death of her friend, Lia takes us into the darkness of her world, one which is filled with secrets and pain. She is plagued with the guilt that she didn’t save Cassie and uses her anorexia to gain back some control of a life she feels is spinning out of control. With the ghost of Cassie cheering her on, Lia attempts to starve herself and join Cassie on the other side.
Anderson’s lyrical stream of consciousness forces her readers to enter into the mindset of an anorexic as we struggle with Lia and her journey back into the living. I have no doubts that this one is going to receive the same kind of attention as did Speak.
State of Denmark 
loved wintergirls! got myself an ARC too… thanks joyce!!! she just gave me another YA book called the disreputable history of frankie landau-banks that was very good. the other one sweeping the middle school is hunger games. i am very impressed with this book blog btw…
My boss at the bookstore has been saying The Hunger Games is the next big thing. I haven’t read it yet…. you think I should?
Yeah, I definitely think Fever 1793 and Chains are a different audience than Speak and Wintergirls. Although personally, I like Speak and Chains the most, Wintergirls and Fever less so, so I don’t know exactly where that puts me.
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