Wintergirls

For my novel, I am reading Wintergirls written by Laurie Halse Anderson.  This book follows the life of an eight-teen year old girl named Lia and the struggle she faces with an eating disorder, Anorexia.  In the first 50 pages of the novel, you find out that her best friend, Cassie, of ten years has passed away.  I have not found out how the incident occurred, but she tried calling Lia the night of her death.  You find out that Cassie was found alone, dead, in a motel room,  and possibly dying of natural causes.  Due to the fact that Lia struggles with an eating disorder herself, it makes me wonder if Cassie's death was linked to an eating disorder as well.  In the first 50 pages, there is a lot that you learn is going on in Lia's life.  Her parents are divorced and argue, she moved out of her mom's house to live with her dad, she battles an eating disorder, and has been in and out of treatment for a while. The author of this book uses descriptive words such as cows and large to help portray what Lia is viewing of other people.  I like how the author has used lines through words to cross them out in a way of showing that Lia either does not care or is thinking of saying one thing but says another.  Whenever Lia is thinking about eating food, she is constantly counting the calorie intake and what it may do to her body.   I am interested in continuing reading this novel and to see how she battles with the death of her friend and her eating disorder.  Eating disorders in today's society are more common than one may think.  It is a tragic disease that is hard to control and admit.  Girl and boys are suffering from bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating which is putting their health in danger.