History Literature / Wintergirls

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Cassie has died an UndignifiedDeath, and her loved ones will have to accept that. But Lia finally realizes that she wants to live, and is on the way to recovery from her eating disorder, finalyl internalizing what anorexia was doing to her family and her body.]]

** Jennifer gives one to Lia just before the climax of the book over how Lia's lies have damaged her family, and how Lia's determination to destroy herself has hurt Emma. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone It's one of the few times Lia's stunned into silence, unable to come up with any excuses.]]

* PaintingTheMedium: Whenever Lia sees food and briefly thinks about wanting to eat it or how good it'll taste, it's in crossed-out text, followed by thoughts about how the food is actually disgusting or will taste bad.

* MadnessMantra: An entire chapter is filled with nothing but the words "Must. Not. Eat." over and over again. The last one of them is written in bold text. It's meant to show Lia's SanitySlippage, both from being dramatically underweight and the fact that all of the stress of constantly lying to her loved ones is taking its toll.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Cassie is still dead and her loved ones will have to accept that, but Lia finally realizes that she wants to live and is on the way to recovery.]]

* BloodOath: As kids, Lia and Cassie swore to always be friends using berry juice to supplement actual blood. Years later, they swore a real one on a snowy midnight: Cassie swore she'd be skinny and hot and free to do whatever she wanted, and Lia swore to be the skinniest girl in school. They made it a bet, then agreed to be the skinniest together. [[spoiler:One of Cassie's last thoughts was that Lia won.]]

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: '''Cassie.''' As brutally described: her esophagus ''rips open'' after drunkenly binging and purging for two days, sending her into shock and killing her. Lia's mother outright tells her that she "died in terror and she died alone", even lampshading the trope with "It is an awful way to go".]]

** Lia mentions that a rumor spreads throughout the school that Cassie died of a heroin overdose. [[spoiler: She hesitates to correct the rumor, since she's unsure if it's better or worse than Cassie's [[UndignifiedDeath actual cause of death.]]]]

* MadnessMantra: An entire chapter is filled with nothing but the words "Must. Not. Eat." over and over again. The last one of them is written in bold text.

* NeverGotToSayGoodbye: When Cassie was drinking herself to death in a motel room, she tried to call Lia 33 times, but Lia was still angry at her since Cassie had, months earlier, broken off their friendship and blamed her for everything that went wrong in her life.

* RuleOfThree: [[spoiler:Lia is admitted a total of three separate times to New Seasons, a clinic for patients with eating disorders. Her third stay is when she actually tries to get help, cooperate with the doctors, and put her life back together.]]

* SoapPunishment: A self-inflicted one after Lia eats a bunch of cookies and cupcakes at the elementary school bake sale, can't force herself to vomit them back up, and gargles with liquid soap to punish herself.

* TheReveal: Cassie's cause of death, though spoiled very casually on Website/{{Wikipedia}}, is a driving point of the story. [[spoiler:Lia learns from her mother, a doctor, that Cassie succumbed to bulimia, compounded by a lot of vodka and pills, and died in a very painful manner. In medical-mode, she goes on to describe ''exactly'' how it happened and what it did to her. It isn't pretty.]]

* ToughLove: Lia's on the receiving end of a lot of it. When attempts to reach Lia about her anorexia don't work, people have to start resorting to more drastic measures. This includes giving her a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how she's damaging the entire family with her constant lying about her anorexia. At the end, [[spoiler:all of this tough love finally manages to get through to Lia, especially after she realizes that [[KickTheMoralityPet she's hurt Emma]] and that she needs to be better]].

* WeightWoe: Very much PlayedForDrama. Anorexia is a main theme of the novel and given the gravity it deserves.

** Lia isn't the only girl at school with weight issues, either. One girl only referred to as "lettuce&ketchup" because that's all she eats for lunch is frustrated that she's not losing weight as quickly as she wants and keeps giving Lia jealous looks. If only she knew...

** Dr. Marrigan describes what happens to the body of a bulimia victim as they die in excruciating medical detail. On top of that, it's excruciating ''accurate'' medical detail; what Dr. Marrigan describes is really what happens to bulimics.

* AbusiveParents: Cassie's father is definitely guilty of some pretty bad emotional abuse to his daughter - Lia notes Cassie tended to have explosive tantrums because of her father's constant scolding of her as a kid, and his reaction to her anguish over her beloved pet mouse dying was to tell her to stop crying because she was interrupting his football game. Dr. Marrigan also mentions that the Parrishes had a huge fight with Cassie before she flipped out and fled to the motel where she died.

-->[[spoiler:I am beginning to measure myself in strength, not pounds. Sometimes in smiles. I am thawing.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Cassie is still dead and everyone will have to accept that, but Lia finally realizes that she wants to live and is on the way to recovery.]]

* CrimeOfSelfDefense: In fifth grade, Cassie got dragged down to the principal's (her dad's) office for beating up Thatcher when he snapped the back of her bra.

* TheReveal: Cassie's cause of death, though spoiled very casually on Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}, is a driving point of the story. [[spoiler:Lia learns from her mother, a doctor, that Cassie succumbed to bulimia, compounded by a lot of vodka and pills, and died in a very painful manner. In medical-mode, she goes on to describe ''exactly'' how it happened and what it did to her. It isn't pretty.]]

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Cassie dumped Lia after deciding she was a bad influence; they didn't speak for six months, and then Cassie died. Although they consider the death a tragic one, Lia's parents were pretty happy that [[PoisonousFriend Cassie]] called off their friendship. Lia, though bitter enough about how Cassie ended things to turn a deaf ear to 33 back-to-back calls from her ex-best friend, never really got over it and spends a lot of time looking up memories of them together online.

* BrokenAce:

** To some extent, Cassie's mother is also implied to have a reputation she's trying to uphold, volunteering for field trips, leading Girl Scout troops, scrapbooking, and running a book club. The SlaveToPR part comes from her appearing at the elementary school holiday concert dressed as Mrs. Claus after Cassie's death. She's still trying to be a pillar of the community, but her heart's not in it, as seen when a group of little kids run up to her and ask her to tell Santa they've been good this year, and she either doesn't notice or ignores them.

* AdultsAreUseless: When Cassie was in fifth grade and being bullied for her growing chest, none of the adults intervened when she was teased by the boys for weeks. The second she retaliated and beat up Thatcher for snapping the back of her bra, she got sent to the principal's (her dad's) office and yelled at. Everyone else was forced to write essays about tolerance and kindness, and the popular girls blamed Cassie for it.

[[caption-width-right:260:"Who wants to recover? It took me years to get that tiny. I wasn't sick; I was strong."]]

For all that, and much to the author's dismay, ''Wintergirls'' is held up in certain circles as the [[MisaimedFandom pro-anorexia bible, its self-destructive and deeply disturbed protagonist an inspiration rather than a warning]].

The book was a hit and went on to earn both critical acclaim and controversy. Best known for its intimate, graphic take on extremely sensitive issues, ''Wintergirls'' is at times abstract, at times gruesome, and does not shy away from the ugly and destructive effects of its subject material. For all that, and much to the author's dismay, ''Wintergirls'' is held up in certain circles as the [[MisaimedFandom pro-anorexia bible, its self-destructive and deeply disturbed protagonist an inspiration rather than a warning]].