Alright, so it's book reviewing time again. Wheeee. Just a disclaimer before we start: yes I know this book was published in 2009. Yes I know that was five years ago, my limited math ability can tell me that much. Thanks. I just feel like sharing some thoughts about this book, because I think it's important. And if a book is important I don't care when it was published or how late I am on the bandwagon, because I'm going to damn well jump on it.
Okay, so let's start by saying this is not my first attempt at reading this book. In my younger days of reading yore I picked up this book at the library, thinking it would be about girls with ice and snow powers. Needless to say I read the first few pages, freaked out, and returned it to the library shortly afterward. And, honestly, at the time that was probably best. I wasn't ready for this book yet in terms of maturity or even understanding of the topic, considering I had only a vague grasp of what anorexia even was. Flash forward to 2013 and I'm buying this book for four bucks at a secondhand book store, more than willing to give it another go. It spent a good amount of time on my shelf before I finally picked it up, as most of my books do, but I'm glad I finally read this thing. I am happy that I waited until now though, as middle-school-me would've had nightmares about this for weeks.
I hate people who call this book an "anorexia" book. In fact, I harbor a similar dislike for people who call The Fault in Our Stars a "cancer" book. Ugh. If this was an "anorexia" book as you say, it would be an informative nonfiction, probably about the psychological aspects of anorexia. It's not. This is a story about a girl named Lia who is completely frozen by her eating disorder. Laurie Halse Anderson could probably have written an "anorexia" book in her sleep, but instead she chose to convey her message in a different way. This is a beautiful piece of contemporary YA literature, that makes its point through elaborate storytelling and characters. Not an "anorexia" book.
Our characters are both multi-layered and altogether human. The best example of this is probably our main character, Lia, who's voice is hauntingly real. Lia is genuinely convinced that she is being strong by starving herself, even to the point of wasting away to nothingness. Her parents do little to help her either, as they are convinced that Lia does not want to get better, and sometimes even yell at her for not being able to fix herself. Cassie's ghost that haunts Lia acts as Lia's subconscious, whispering little evils into her ear and perpetuating her illness to the point of death. Laurie Halse Anderson expertly weaves Lia's voice here, as it is completely authentic and often terrifying in scope. This book contains scenes where Lia's thought process becomes borderline suicidal, to the point where she doesn't care if she lives or dies. It's a poignantly beautiful stream of consciousness narrative, and one that gives an honest look into the psyche of someone struggling with anorexia.
The plot is one that starts to unravel more and more as the story progresses. Laurie Halse Anderson decides to skip the formalities of introduction, instead plunging us headlong into Lia's thoughts. We know that Lia's best friend Cassie died but we don't know how, and we're also not sure about the nature of their relationship. Lia's past regarding her treatment is hazy as well, as she only refers to it in a negative light. In this way the story plays out through Lia's troubled mind, something that makes her journey all the more real. Events that she previously construed as negative eventually become more clear, and story line threads are revealed only through her own careful deliberation. It's an intriguing and enlightening lens to read a story through, as it effectively keeps the plot fresh.
Laurie Halse Anderson knows what she's doing with the imagery here. There are so many beautiful and occasionally even uncomfortable images here I couldn't list them all. One of them includes Lia referring to herself as trapped in a glass box, another is Lia calling her own body a canvas for her self harm. The titular metaphor, however, is one of Lia frozen. She's not living or dead, she's a wintergirl. Frozen both physically and psychologically. Throughout the story she begins to freeze solid, and on occasion thaw until she is whole again.
This is a keeper. I liked this more than Speak, in fact.
So basically, Laurie Halse Anderson is a warrior princess.
4/5 stars.
Peace. Love. Inkwells.
~The Inkling.
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