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A review by fatalisticshrug
Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado
emotional
hopeful
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? Yes
2.0
Cute and easy to read, but I have notes:
1) Yes, it’s important to have a fat person be the main character and we need more of that, but I wish their fatness wouldn’t always have to be at the center of the story.
2) The writing felt a bit unnatural at times. Some conversations didn’t feel authentic, like there was no way two emotional people could articulate their thoughts this clearly in an intense conversation. Also a good author can tell me what the protagonist has just realized/learned about themselves or a situation without having the protagonist articulating all these thoughts as if they were writing a diary.
3) Keeping this vague to avoid spoilers: the character development and “resolution” of the problem felt staged and too fast. Life is messier than that.
All in all this book gives you something to think about, especially if you haven’t dealt with fatphobia yourself before, but it wasn’t what I hoped it would be.
1) Yes, it’s important to have a fat person be the main character and we need more of that, but I wish their fatness wouldn’t always have to be at the center of the story.
2) The writing felt a bit unnatural at times. Some conversations didn’t feel authentic, like there was no way two emotional people could articulate their thoughts this clearly in an intense conversation. Also a good author can tell me what the protagonist has just realized/learned about themselves or a situation without having the protagonist articulating all these thoughts as if they were writing a diary.
3) Keeping this vague to avoid spoilers: the character development and “resolution” of the problem felt staged and too fast. Life is messier than that.
All in all this book gives you something to think about, especially if you haven’t dealt with fatphobia yourself before, but it wasn’t what I hoped it would be.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Minor: Grief