Book Thirty Two

This book was haunting and there is no other way to describe it  Written by the author of Speak, Laure Halse Anderson paints an incredibly vivid picture of a teenage woman grappling with a deadly eating disorder.  She gets the voice down pitch perfect.  Lia is sarcastic and disillusioned about life.  I liked the strike-outs that Anderson inserts when Lia censors her own thoughts.  I don't know how Anderson identified with the teenage voice quite so well.  By the end of the book, I felt the author certainly must have struggled with her own disordered eating.  But then, don't we all . . .

This is not a book I would have on my shelf because it's too dark.  But, I'm glad it has been written as it expertly depicts the experience.  I don't know who I would recommend the book to.  It doesn't exactly glorify eating disorders but in many ways it could be misconstrued as a "how to" manual.  Parents reading this book would get chills and fear for their own daughter.  The scenes depicting cutting were difficult, if not impossible, to read.  I wanted to hate Lia for the pain she inflicted on herself and others.  Like I said, Anderson nails this disease.  She couldn't have written a more authentic novel if she had tried.

Read this in a day and a half.  Need some uplifting chick lit, stat.