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eicart_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Charlie Vega is a fat, Brown girl trying to shine in a world that does its best to make her feel less than. Sixteen, soon to be seventeen -- life is hard in so many ways. (I'm so glad I'm not a teenager!)
This book was difficult at times, watching Charlie deal with fatphobia and fat shaming, especially from her mom. Diet culture is so pervasive that even a mom who used to be fat still pushes that slim "ideal" on her daughter.
But this story is also filled with joy, growth, an amazing best friendship, and hope. I loved reading about Charlie's journey!
I wish I could have read this book when I was a fat teenager who had a complex, often difficult, relationship with my mother. I'm glad I read it now as an adult, and I'm happy it's out there for teens who will read it and feel seen and validated.
CW for
I read half on audio, half in print. The audiobook narrator was good but didn't really use different voices for the different characters. I switched to print so I could finish more quickly for my book club deadline!
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Death of parent
cover2covertx's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Grief
Moderate: Genocide and Death of parent
Minor: Sexism
behindherpages's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Eating disorder, Grief, and Death of parent
fatsss's review against another edition
- 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
This managed to explore deep issues such as fatphobia, self doubt, dealing with body image, jealousy, friendship, and mother-daughter dynamics but was still a lovely, feel good read.
I love how the author subtlety but unequivocally included queer characters through the book.
I also love that we also get to see into the supporting characters lives and struggles too.
The romance was cute and fluffy. The friendship between Charlie and Amelia, even better.
Of course I loved that the main character is a writer and I enjoyed seeing her on her writing journey.
The character growth was 👌🏾
Great book. Totally recommend; it got me out of a slump.
Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Moderate: Death of parent
nouriareads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I got an ARC of the French translation thanks to Netgalley France and Young Novel.
This was a lovely read! Between her best friend, her first reciprocal crush and her aspirations as a writer, Charlie gradually makes her way towards totally accepting her body. I identified with Charlie's inner conflict: although she's part of the movement encouraging fat women to love themselves and finds fat women beautiful, she's very critical of her own body. The book deals with friendship, first romantic relationships, mother-daughter relationships, being mixed-race (white and Latina), fatphobia and self-acceptance. The author's message is kind and clear and includes themes that are essential, especially in literature targeted to younger audiences.
The friendship between Charlie and Amelia is beautiful and I found the romance cute. I rolled my eyes a little at the conflicts because they were quite petty and dramatic, but for teens, they can make sense.
Charlie and her mother have had a complicated relationship since the death of her father, who was the guardian of the family’s stability and with whom she was closer. Since then, her mother has had an obsession with her own weight and tries to impose it on Charlie. I found their reconciliation quite frustrating because Charlie’s mother said horrible things to her and the surface discussion and lack of an apology paled compared to the resolution of the other conflicts.
I wish the summary didn't spoil the book.
Fat Chance Charlie Vega is a beautiful story about self-acceptance, especially when you don't fit into society's beauty standards. As a side note, the cover is gorgeous 😍
Moderate: Fatphobia
Minor: Death of parent
nafsaila's review against another edition
4.0
Her best friend Amelia is loved by everyone, but Charlie says she doesn't mind sharing her with her other friends and wonderful family. Can Charlie get over their differences to maintain their life-long friendship?
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Alcohol
hobbithopeful's review against another edition
- 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
Charlie has come second place her whole life to her skinny and stunning best friend Amelia, boys talk to her just to get to Amelia, and even her Mother seems more focused on complimenting how skinny she is then noticing Charlie. As much as Charlie strives to be body positive and love herself, finding out her new boyfriend actually asked out Amelia first sends her spiraling, and brings up must needed conversations.
I have never read a more realistic depiction of a Mother/Daughter relationship, and it was so heart wrenching. (I cried like a baby reading this) I would have given the world to be exposed to this book as a child, there were absolutely zero stories about fat brown girls in the library when I was a kid, let alone imperfect Mothers. (No, seriously)
I was hoping Charlie's relationship with her Mom would be resolved, but the fact that it isn't just hits harder, and is more realistic than if she just stopped being an emotionally abusive narcissist. (The highs and lows of narcissism and body shaming really took me back to my childhood guys)
If you want to read this please check your content warnings first, especially if you have ever suffered from fatphobia, body shaming, or have general mommy issues.
A must read for anyone, this is a true gem.
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Gaslighting
Minor: Homophobia and Death of parent
regent_ace's review
- 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? Yes
3.5
Things I love about this book is I loved the conversation the book had for the most part of the struggles of being a plus sized woman/person and how many project that and/or internalized that fatphobia. It's not often that the topic is the main conversation of the book especially while exploring how that struggle personally affects Charlie's relationships with others. I also found Charlie and her friends (Amelia and Brian mostly) really fun characters for the first half of the book and I found both of their relationships to Charlie really fun to read. I enjoyed 75% percent of the book the most and felt that I was really seeing Charlie's growth as a character and her relationships with her best friend and crush getting good development.
However
I began to find myself less invested in Charlie as a character due to her suddenly becoming unlikable as a character after her relationship with Brian. She became increasingly self absorbed and kind of made her self worth tied directly to Brain which was a message I didn't like especially since before her relationship she was on a good journey to learning how to love herself and her body. I also found her fight with Amelia kind of confusing since it tried to frame only Amelia as the bad guy when Charlie was also at fault. I also felt like the whole breakup thing was completely unnecessary and felt that it was resolved wayyy too quickly which I found a common trend in the book.
We spent a lot of the early portion of the book seeing Charlie unhappy with her body but her growth and learning to love herself was put at a halt and than suddenly rushed towards the end which made me a little disappointed and left wanting more. Her relationship with her mother was complicated and toxic for many reasons but then suddenly after one discussion it was just completely patched up? It felt rushed.
Overall I liked this book a lot and found the overall message done well and important but the last third of the book and some of the pacing at the end fell flat for me
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
sarabeardale's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Death of parent
hannaws's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book. This book.. Wow! I finished reading yesterday and I have been trying to gather my thoughts around before sitting down to write this. I'm not a good reviewer normally anyway, but with scattered brain, even worse. But I tried to sort through my thoughts and organize them, so we'll see what this becomes in the end. (spoiler: I'm pretty sure it'll be a mess, like always)
I see so much myself in Charlie. I, too, have a shitty relationship with my mom, if any even. She has always only seen my little siblings, I've been, and still am apparently, the biggest mistake and disappointment. So I kind of liked seeing a character go through that. I mean, obviously no one ever deserves being treated that way! But you know, see that maybe not everyone has their life all perfect.
Anyway, Charlie has it hard on all fronts. She definitely deserves a crown, okay! Because she is going through some shite in her home that no one ever should be going through, but on top of that, it is not easy for her in her social life either. But SHE. WALKS. THROUGH. IT. Like the freaking Queen she is. I agree that she could have handled some things a little differently, but at the same time I understand. She has been putting up with a lot, and when the bubble bursts, there's no stopping it.
I very much liked all the other characters as well. Brian especially. Though, being an adult this feels kind of wrong saying this. Anyway, I think we all should learn something from Brian, okay. He sees Charlie as an amazing person. Exactly, he sees her as a person! He doesn't see just a fat brown girl. He sees an amazing person.
All the character are well written. They all have different personalities, different hardships in their life. I'm saying that I went through all kinds of feelings with them.
Cal can burn in hell. That's all I'm saying. And the mom too.
And from mom we get to move on to the plot. I really liked that. It moved on in a rather nice speed. There are so many lessons in there for each of us to think. None of us is perfect, literally no one is.
But I still hate the mom quite bad. That is something I haven't gotten past. Every single time she made an appearance, she never once had anything nice to say! And every single time I felt like ripping the book apart. You can not treat your daughter like that! What the heck is wrong with you?! Yes, you both lost someone. Charlie a dad, you a husband. But that still doesn't give you the right to deal with that by bullying your own freaking daughter! Like what?!
During yet another argument where she has again been bullying her daughter about everything, mostly about her being fat, again. She ends it by saying: I'm sorry I care about you, Charlie. Sooo sorry! And let me tell you, I haven't been that much in rage in a long time. That is not a genuine apology. And you too shouldn't even be in that situation! If you are not fine with your own body, you have no right to take it on your daughter! Gosh.
They did have some kind of a conversation, to make it all better. Talk it over and all that. But I still don't really think that the mom really realizes what she did wrong. I don't the she grew to be any better.
But Brian's moms were amazing!
All in all, now that I have gotten all that rant out of me. This is an amazing book about a young lady growing up. It was a little hard to read at some points because it took me back to my childhood, which was pretty much as shitty with my mom and being fully bullied at school. But I think that on some levels that made the book just that much better. Being so true, you know.
Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Death of parent