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bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Alcohol
caribbeangirlreading's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Review – Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado
“They say you can’t really be with someone until you can love yourself, but I’m learning that it can also sometimes take the admiration and support of someone else to help you get there. I was already on the path to seeing my own self-worth, but . . . took my hand and made the route less lonely.”
Fat Chance, Charlie Vega is a charming and heartfelt coming-of-age tale about a brown, plus-sized Puerto Rican girl growing up in Connecticut. The book tackles our relationships to our parents, our bodies, our cultures, and ourselves.
LIKED
*Cast of characters – I really liked Charlie, Amelia, and Brian. Teenaged me would have totally been friends with them.
*Charlie got her HEA!
*Cover – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
DISLIKED
*Way too much telling when showing would have been more than enough. Young (and not so young readers) are smarter than that.
*Themes were presented but not properly (or superficially) explored, specifically Charlie’s relationship with her mom and Charlie’s latinidad.
*The author wanted so badly to make Charlie a woke brown girl that she was THIS CLOSE to preachiness.
IT’S COMPLICATED
*Narration – I loved that the book was narrated from a first person pov by Charlie. You truly got to feel her joy, her pain, her insecurities. Unfortunately, too many times Charlie would be in the middle of doing/being, the book would stop cold, and Charlie would become the third-person narrator. It made for clunky reading.
*Making Charlie's mom (the only Anglo/white character in the story) the "bad guy” was lazy writing on the part of the author. Making Charlie's mom a skinny, white-passing Latina would have made for a much more complex and nuanced story.
This book was lovely. I love today’s young readers get to see themselves reflected in the pages of a book. But I also think that young readers reading diverse stories deserve better writing and editing, not just woke stories.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, and Fatphobia
Minor: Death of parent and Alcohol
ashleycmms's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Racism, Grief, and Alcohol
Really great book. Realistic and difficult, but still light and enjoyable. I loved the diversity in sizes, races, and sexualities in this book. I love that it impacted everyone, but wasn’t overdone just for some quick rep. You still get to know everyone for who they are and learn to know what they are dealing with, without them becoming just a commodity. It was really emotional reading where Charlie is in her journey, but I loved how much you see she’s trying to unlearn these toxic ideas, change her behavior, and allowing herself to take chances by the end. The relationship between Charlie and her mother, Jeanne, was also ridiculously well written. As someone who has a strained relationship with their mother, I understand how you can long for a close bond with someone who simply may not be treating you the best. I also understand the constant fighting, the put downs, and being told that they want you to be better when you feel like you just want to be yourself. Things with Charlie and her mom didn’t end perfectly, but I loved that they were in a better place with no big talking about it, but just some better acceptance on both sides. Things aren’t perfect, but there’s definitely room to carve out happiness where you can.