A review by arisbookcorner
Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, by Crystal Maldonado
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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
3.5
“I’m fat, and I celebrate other fat people, but I don’t quite celebrate me. It makes me feel like a fraud."'
FAT CHANCE, CHARLIE VEGA is a very endearing YA book about a fat Puerto Rican girl, Charlie, learning to love herself, falling in love and learning how to address and combat her white mother's fatphobia. Other reviewers have noted trigger warnings so I'll just generally say Charlie's mom's toxic body shaming comments can be hard to read but are also unfortunately authentic. We all know or hae have heard someone utter similar comments to Charlie's mom and it's absolutely devastating. I do wish Maldonado had dived more into the cultural dynamics, in most Latine cultures dieting is less of an obsession. It's not uncommon but it can be slightly more accepting of larger bodies. Charlie is a teen so I didn't necessarily expect her to naturally draw the conclusion that some of her mother's behaviors were a result of white supremacy but I wanted the author to help her get there by interacting more with her Puerto Rican family. My other critique is around the character of Amelia, it felt laughable to me that Charlie, someone portrayed as incredibly empathetic, would think her Black, queer best friend was seen as PERFECT and had it easier than her in high school. I thought Amelia let her off too easily when Charlie's misconceptions are rightfully corrected and race is never brought into the conversation which didn't feel accurate. Especially because Charlie talks about being the only Latina in her school. Other than those issues the romance was adorable, Brian was a convincing awkward teenage love interest who wants to get it right but can't quite get there. And Charlie herself was sweet, her bouts of insecurity and battles over her inner fatphobia made my heart hurt and I loved the triumphant arc of her story. A special YA story with charming characters and a compelling self acceptance message that tried to be inclusive and could have done better but wasn't deeply harmful, just naive when it came to racial diversity.
FAT CHANCE, CHARLIE VEGA is a very endearing YA book about a fat Puerto Rican girl, Charlie, learning to love herself, falling in love and learning how to address and combat her white mother's fatphobia. Other reviewers have noted trigger warnings so I'll just generally say Charlie's mom's toxic body shaming comments can be hard to read but are also unfortunately authentic. We all know or hae have heard someone utter similar comments to Charlie's mom and it's absolutely devastating. I do wish Maldonado had dived more into the cultural dynamics, in most Latine cultures dieting is less of an obsession. It's not uncommon but it can be slightly more accepting of larger bodies. Charlie is a teen so I didn't necessarily expect her to naturally draw the conclusion that some of her mother's behaviors were a result of white supremacy but I wanted the author to help her get there by interacting more with her Puerto Rican family. My other critique is around the character of Amelia, it felt laughable to me that Charlie, someone portrayed as incredibly empathetic, would think her Black, queer best friend was seen as PERFECT and had it easier than her in high school. I thought Amelia let her off too easily when Charlie's misconceptions are rightfully corrected and race is never brought into the conversation which didn't feel accurate. Especially because Charlie talks about being the only Latina in her school. Other than those issues the romance was adorable, Brian was a convincing awkward teenage love interest who wants to get it right but can't quite get there. And Charlie herself was sweet, her bouts of insecurity and battles over her inner fatphobia made my heart hurt and I loved the triumphant arc of her story. A special YA story with charming characters and a compelling self acceptance message that tried to be inclusive and could have done better but wasn't deeply harmful, just naive when it came to racial diversity.