Writing Craft in Wintergirls

Since we are just finishing up Fahrenheit 451 in my CP classes and are moving into creative nonfiction, it was nice to read a book that was full of both voice and writing craft.  I raced through Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson.  I started it in class during the day on Thursday and finished it Saturday night as I was falling asleep.

First, a brief summary if you have any interest in reading this novel: Two teenage girls, Cassie and Lia, were best friends growing up and both found themselves facing eating disorders in high school.  We never meet Cassie, as she has succumbed to her inner demons at the beginning of the book, so the novel traces Lia.  Lia is not a character I could relate to, but I do believe Laurie Halse Anderson did a good job creating this character and all the idiosyncrasies that come along with an eating disorder.  Though this is a topic I have no personal experience, she made me believe that it really is a mental illness.

I thought the writing itself was unique and crafty.  Laurie told the story from Lia's perspective and frequently she would have writing crossed out (showing Lia's inner thoughts or what she wanted to say) followed by the true dialogue or narration.  To me, this is a really interesting way to show inner thoughts.

She also used many rhetorical questions and fragments - two syntactical techniques we've studied recently.  The book is filled with figurative language, for example this metaphor: “We are crayons and lunchboxes and swinging so high our sneakers punch holes in the clouds," or this personification, “This girl shivers and crawls under the covers with all her clothes on and falls into an overdue library book, a faerie story with rats and marrow and burning curses. The sentences build a fence around her, a Times Roman 10-point barricade, to keep the thorny voices in her head from getting too close.” 


I would most definitely recommend Wintergirls to teen girls.  It was a powerful read.