Has anyone else finished Wintergirls? I read it in one sitting a few weeks back and am still thinking about it - I thought it was stunning and, if I may be so blasphemous, better than Speak. I know there has been hubbub about the book due to an article in the New York Times that argues the book is dangerous and serves as a primer for young girls who want to develop eating disorders. I couldn't disagree more. The fiction-as-catalyst never theory has never worked for me - first off, unfortunately, people who are already sick will find ways to feed their sickness no matter what they read. And where was the Rainbow Party craze that was supposed to materialize on the heels of that hideous book? Please, let's give our young readers a little more credit.
This is turning out to be more diatribe than review - sorry about that. What I really wanted to say is that I found Wintergirls to be terrifying and frustrating, but ultimately left me hopeful. I appreciated that the parents weren't perfect, but weren't villains. And I loved that the story focused on Lia and let Cassie exist as a ghost seen only through Lia's eyes.
Other thoughts?
6 comments:
primer for young girls who want to develop eating disorders. I couldn't disagree more. The fiction-as-catalyst never theory has never worked for me - first off, unfortunately, people who are already sick will find ways to feed their sickness no matter what they read. And where was the Rainbow Party craze that was supposed to materialize on the heels of that hideous book? Please, let's give our young readers a little more credit.I haven't read Wintergirls yet, though I hope to. As for the general criticism about ED lit as ED primer, that's very complicated. On the one hand, the development of an ED is a complex process, and plenty of readers can read plenty of ED books without developing any problems, while plenty of teens could develop EDs without ever seeing a book on the subject. However, I've also seen enough people talk about their own EDs as having been triggered or materially aided by an ED book (either fiction and non) that I can't toss out the concern. Of course that doesn't mean the book shouldn't exist; but the issue is a tricky one.
More complicated than with Rainbow Party, IMO. When I turned the last page of RP, I said out loud, "I never want to have sex again." Luckily it didn't last! But I saw nothing seductive and everything repulsive in RP, whereas I've seen something seductive in every ED book I've ever read (which, again, doesn't include WG yet), no matter how much the final message was about danger or death. I'm not faulting the authors -- it may well be their strength in portraying EDs.
In order for the parallel to work, I think we'd need a bunch of books about real sex addiction, not a single book about a fad sex activity.
fascinating stuff!
i have it on my bedside table and have been mourning the fact that i have to read a whole bunch of other less-appealing books before i get to it. i will read it, though, maybe in june? and will come back and comment!
wintergirls is sitting next to my bed, just waiting for me to get a day to read it. i didn't read the post or comments yet because i want to read the book first. i should chime in sometime next week. thanks for posting on this, dawn!
spoilers ahead:
okay, so i spent yesterday's "nap" and today's reading wintergirls. like dawn, i thought it was excellent. like cassie was haunting lia, i think lia is going to haunt me for a while. i don't even know what to say about the book except that it just seems perfect to me. i got so frustrated wtih lia's parents not recognizing the severity of the problem or doing enough to take control, but i also know that when people like lia don't want help, they won't get it. her parents could have done everything in the world to intervene, but lia would've still fallen apart. i really love that the book is about anorexia, and depression, and self-mutilation, but somehow all of those problems don't turn the book into some sort of preachy or stereotyped "problem novel." and because lia has so many problems--the ones listed above but also more common ones like feeling alone, feeling ignored, feeling lost--i think it makes her so easy to relate to, even if you can't imagine being anorexic etc. the scene where lia is in her bathroom and cuts the hell out of herself will stay with me for a long time. i think the line that sums the whole book up, for me, is "they never hear me; they can barely see me" (pg 248). lia never spoke up and let her family into her personal nightmare, never let them hear her. lia, a wintergirl, caught between two worlds, simultaneously wanted to disappear (literally, by wasting away to nothing) and feel nothing, but also wanted to feel so much (cutting herself to feel the pain, punishing her body for its desires). what an interesting, real, complex character.
hey rebecca - i definitely don't mean to compare the quality of the two books, or even give equal weight to the two subjects, merely the way they are received by people who don't take the time to read them or make panicked assumptions about teenage life.
i most definitely recommend wintergirls, and i find its portrayal of the disease to be realistic but horrifying enough to erase any glamor. i agree it's very complicated though.
Dawn, I do completely agree about the inanity of people making conclusions about books without reading them. Doesn't it seem to be many of the same people who make those panicked assumptions about teens! It makes me crazy when people treat teens (and little kids too) without basic human dignity and integrity.
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