Big Fat Manifesto

Love

I am very glad i read this book

Big fat MAnifesto

The theme of weight loss is clearly the main topic in this shockingly true book by Susan Vaught. The first sentence of the novel is "I am so sick of reading books and articles about fat girls written by skinny women". I could not agree more. This is written in the newspaper articles titled "Fat Girl". This story starts with Jamie Carcaterra, a high school senior that is overweight. Although she is different than her classmates, she has great ambitions to obtain a scholarship for her articles and be a journalist. She goes on to proudly call herself "fat girl" in her school's newspaper and says that the way society views weight is not healthy or fair. She experiments this by going to a local store that only carries smaller sizes and recording the way she is treated. Not surprisingly, she is treated in a disrespectful and demeaning way. Vaught makes Jamie a relatable character because the emotions she feels are the same that any girl would have for being treated differently because of their appearance. Jamie flaunts her weight and says she sees no wrong in her "curves", yet when the store clerk at the clothing store does not want to attend her because of her size, she goes to the changing room and cries like any girl would. In contrast to Jamie's acceptance of her weight, her boyfriend Kurt is less accepting of his weight and takes drastic measures to change this. Kurt decides to have a gastric bypass surgery even though he knows this could be dangerous. The realism that Vaught uses to describe this procedure is disgustingly true and sheds light on the truth about weight loss surgeries. Vaught describes this whole procedure from the side effects and dangers to the aftermath. Someone that does not know about this surgery can learn a lot from this. During the surgery, Kurt has a complication and stops breathing so the surgery does have dangers. In addition to this, Kurt loses his hair and cannot eat solid food for a while. The part that will really wake readers up is when Kurt froths because since his stomach is smaller now, it digests food faster and comes out his nose and mouth as green froth. A person will think twice about weight loss surgery after reading that Kurt "dumps" after eating a candy bar now that he had this surgery. This novel is the truth about being overweight in today's society. Besides showing the difficulty of being overweight in today's society, it also shows the dangers of weight loss. The theme is obviously the wrong turn society has taken in its view of the ideal body and Susan Vaught successfully shares with us the pain and discrimination that comes with being overweight. However, she speaks on the side of Jamie, the overweight teenage girl. Even though people may look down on her or even overlook her, she is ambitious and driven, happy with the way she is. Vaught makes us all change position to supporting the overweight teenage girl. This also empowers us to feel confident with ourselves. If Jamie Carcaterra is happy with her full figured body then anyone can. Finally a book about fat girls that speaks the truth. Not just the dangers of being overweight, but the real emotions and feelings that are behind the weight. Not just a book about fat girls written by skinny women that are trying to understand them.

Reviewed by Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

Does the world discriminate against fat people? Jamie Carcaterra thinks they do, and she is out to change things.

Proudly calling herself "Fat Girl," Jamie has started a feature column by the same name in The Wire, her school newspaper. Making people aware of the unfairness suffered by overweight people is her goal. She is also hoping her top-notch journalistic efforts will help her win the National Feature Award which could earn her a fully paid college education.

With the help of her friends, Freddie and NoNo, Jamie has planned an attack on a popular clothing retailer offering clothes in sizes designed for the very thin. Jamie weighs in at over 300 pounds, and her plan is to enter the store, request an item, and demand a fitting room to try it on. Armed with her notepad and a video camera, she gathers material for her column.

Jamie is comfortable with her size. She doesn't try to disguise the fact that she is fat. Her mother is fat. Her father is fat. Her boyfriend, Burke, is fat, but not for long. Another issue Jamie explores in her feature column is the fact that Burke has decided to undergo gastric bypass surgery. The risks are enormous (pardon the pun) but Burke tells Jamie he is tired of it all. She agrees to support him, but will things ever be the same?

Teen readers of all sizes will relate to Jamie. She has lots of friends, is active in school activities, and is feeling the stress of senior year with ACT pressure, college applications, and financial concerns. She candidly reveals her thoughts and feelings about being fat in a world that worships those who are thin.

BIG FAT MANIFESTO is a must-read. Susan Vaught offers everything in this book. She has great characters, humor, roller-coaster emotions, and romance along with interesting statistics and opinions about being overweight. I hope she will give us another peek into the life of Jamie Carcaterra some day.

well written and entertaining

Ok, this book was very entertaining and the author writes very well. I laughed a lot. Now, as an 8th grade teacher, I am not going to put it on my shelves. It has too much foul language.

Fabulous book

I got this book as an advanced readers copy and i thought it was amazing. I am not a fat girl but if i was this is the kind of fat girl i would want to be. scratch that i would want to be like Jamie any day of the week! AMAZING BOOK

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.