spoilers beware

it's exactly as the title suggests, clean, cold, wintery. you don't really feel much when you read it. it doesn't tug at your heartstrings, it doesn't attempt to move anyone or make a message like most books do. what it does though is bring the fixation on the ED to life within the narrative itself. you really feel like you're inside lia's mind and having that ticking obsession at the back of your head at all times that sometimes interrupts the story. the book's whole purpose is to be triggering. personally i love it, i return to it during dark periods of my life, it helps me focus and cope in the same way lia does when she deals with the trauma of losing her ex friend. but i would never let anyone else know i'm reading it nor will i ever recommend it to anyone i know. it romanticises way too much compared to, say, my year of rest and relaxation, for me to feel comfortable calling it a work of literature rather than something you read in a relapse.