Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson

Book: 4
Title: Wintergirls
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Genre: YA/teen
One-sentence summary: An eighteen-year-old anorexic, Lia has always had a complicated relationship with her bulimic friend Cassie; the two have always understood one another a little too well, and become entangled in a dangerous downward spiral together. Lia is estranged from Cassie the night that Cassie leaves thirty-three messages on Lia's cell phone voice mail -- and turns up dead the next day. In the coming months, Lia's anorexia becomes more and more severe as she finds herself confronted with Cassie's ghost over and over again, blurring the line between life and death and drawing her closer to the brink.
Why did you get this book? I <3 Laurie Halse Anderson.
Do you like the cover? The cover is absolutely beautiful. I don't know who did the cover art for that book but if I ever become a published YA author I will feel myself to have arrived if I can snag this person for my cover art.
Did you enjoy the book? I did, though that seems much too simple a word. My reaction to it was actually incredibly complicated and I want to do a full review on my other LJ. It made me think a lot about what it means to write a good YA novel, and what LHA was trying to do with the book, and what I liked about that and where I thought she could have taken it a step further, and the social context in which she's writing AND... you get the point. Mostly it made me think a lot about what I want to do with my own writing. But it was... I don't even know how to put it. As I was reading it, the word "engulfing" was the only word I could find to describe the feeling I had. It's very, very rare for me to feel so completely that I *am* the protagonist, and rarer still for that to happen when the protag's specific issues are ones I've never dealt with.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? No, LHA's my girl from way back. And her teen stuff is AMAZING.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping it, though λ will read it, I'm sure.
Anything else? I'll link back to my full review when I finish it.
Scale of 1 to 10: 9/10