History Literature / Wintergirls

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

* TruthInTelevision: Anderson did her homework for this novel. Lia's twisted self-image, meticulous cataloguing of every piece of food or drink she consumes, erratic desire to "purge" the filth inside of her through cutting, rigid mental suppression of hunger, and delusional insistence that the thinner she gets, the stronger she'll be are all very true to life symptoms of anorexia sufferers.

* MyGreatestFailure: Downplayed, as she spends the entire novel blocking it out, but Lia ignoring thirty-three of Cassie's cries for help on the night that she died haunts her both literally and figuratively.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Jennifer gives one to Lia just before the climax of the book over how her lies have damaged her family and her 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.]]
** Cassie herself gives Lia an even more cruel and vicious one in the psychiatrist's office later that day: she outright calls Lia fat and ugly and insinuates that her own parents don't love or want her.

* [[spoiler:SurprisinglyHappyEnding: After coming very close to a full-blown DownerEnding, Lia is able to pull herself together after running away on Christmas Eve and finally begins making a genuine turn for the better. The book ends on a hopeful note, with Lia repairing her frayed relationship with her family and realising that she does truly value her life.]]
-->''[[spoiler:I am beginning to measure myself in strength, not pounds. Sometimes in smiles.]]''

* ConsummateLiar: Using some clever tricks, such as tampering with scales and inflating her BMI, Lia successfully fools her father and stepmother into thinking she's in recovery. The latter at least has her doubts, and her mother isn't fooled for a second, but...
** And not only regarding her condition. Lia introduces herself to Elijah using her stepsister's name, not wanting to reveal that she is the "Lia" Cassie was talking about in her last moments. She gets busted by her own mother at Cassie's funeral.

* DespairEventHorizon: The entire novel is one slow crossing for Lia, culminating in her [[spoiler:cutting herself into a coma and preparing to either run away or kill herself for good.]]
* DontSplitUsUp: Lia's mother, more and more certain that Lia is not getting better at all at her father's place, wants her to move back in with her. One of the reasons Lia objects to this is that she wants to live with her stepsister, Emma.
* DyingAlone: Cassie. [[spoiler:Narrowly averted by Lia.]]

* GoodStepmother: Jennifer. Lia has a complex, but much better relationship with with her stepmother than she does with her actual mother.

* [[HisOwnWorstEnemy Her Own Worst Enemy]]: Lia, who's given to deep self-loathing.
* LonelyRichKid: Lia again.
* MadnessMantra: Infamously. An entire chapter is filled with nothing but Lia's: '''Must. Not. Eat.'''
* MamaBear: Jennifer for Emma, to the point she delivers a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Lia after Emma is traumatised by [[spoiler: catching Lia slicing herself up in the bathroom]] and tells her that, while she loves her as if she were her own, she will not let Lia destroy her daughter.
** Chloe tries to be one to Lia, who viciously resists it, but Chloe tells Lia that if her weight keeps dropping, she'll pull strings to have her put back in hospital, much to Lia's outrage.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Emma's basketball team is sponsored by her mother's bank; Jennifer gets the coach to give her daughter more time on the court by threatening to pull the sponsorship if Emma doesn't play enough. Emma is completely unaware of this.
** During a fight about her weight, Dr. Marrigan point-blank tells Lia that she's personally operated on some of the best judges in the country and if she needs to pull strings to get Lia back into hospital, she'll do it.

* MyNaymeIs: Lia's name is a homophone/variation of the common "Leah".

* YourCheatingHeart: Lia's father, David, frequently cheated on her mother. Lia observes about halfway through the novel that the same crop of excuses he'd given for his late nights and distant behaviour are starting to resurface, and [[TheReasonYousuckSpeech accuses him of cheating on his new wife Jennifer as well]] during a heated argument.

* ShipTease: Lia and Elijah have a little.

* TheReveal: Cassie's cause of death, though spoiled very casually on ThatOtherWiki, 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.]]

* StartOfDarkness: Cassie began starving herself after going away to drama camp and meeting girls who were doing it. She started making herself sick after meals, and Lia, though initially concerned by this behaviour, began trying it too (while good at staying thin, Lia was actually terrible at puking and forewent it entirely). Years later, Lia crashed her car (with Cassie inside) after an extensive fasting session, and was institutionalised by her parents when the full scope of the truth came out. Instead of making an effort to recover, Lia [[FromBadToWorse doubled down on her bad habits]].

* TheReveal: Cassie's cause of death, though spoiled very casually on ThatOtherWiki, 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 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 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.

* TruthInTelevision: Anderson did her homework for this novel. Lia's twisted self-image, meticulous cataloguing of every piece of food or drink she consumes, erratic desire to "purge" the filth inside of her through cutting, rigid mental suppression of hunger, and delusional insistence that the thinner she gets, the stronger she'll be are all very true to life.

* DespairEventHorizon: The entire novel is one slow crossing for Lia, culminating in her [[spoiler:cutting herself into a coma and preparing to kill herself for good.]]

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 subject material, ''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]].

The book was a hit and went on to win both critical acclaim and controversy. Best known for its intimate, graphic take on extremely sensitive subject material, ''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]].

* NoAntagonist: Lia's own twisted psyche drives much of the conflict, manifesting Cassie's "ghost" a persisting malignancy that pushes Lia further and further to going the save way.

* MadnessMantra: Infamously. An entire chapter is filled with nothing but Lia's: '''Must. Not Eat.'''

* {{FakeBrit}}: Cassie returned from drama camp with a fake British accent.

* FakeBrit: Cassie returned from drama camp with a fake British accent.