Robin Brande: Fat Cat

I almost got throwing across the room mad at this book around page 300, when it seemed like it was never going to question the basic premise that fat is evil and being "hot" is all that really matters in the world. And because the book started out being about a smart girl who cares about school and spent most of its time talking about cute outfits and which guy liked her. We have those books already!

But! Fat Cat rose above all of that and turned in some great self-reflection and analysis of the way we judge people on their looks, or more specifically, on their weight.

I could have used more of that, though. More of that throughout. Because the level of self-loathing that Cat feels for most of the book is not really overturned by her moments of epiphany near the end, where suddenly she realizes that people who like or don't like you based on your looks are not worth the time. The message you walk away with is: you have to be hot for anyone to like you, including yourself.

Isn't there a way for a teenage girl to stop hating herself and her body without becoming completely typically gorgeous? Because although the book says that there is, we never see it. It's easy to say it's all about accepting yourself when the heroine turns into the girl all the boys like.

Okay, I guess I'm still a little mad at this book. But I really did love it. And couldn't put it down. I've been walking around the house doing things with the book in one hand, bumping into furniture. Cat is a fantastic heroine, completely real, especially in the way she holds on to hurt and uses it to justify her actions. She's so brutally honest! I adore that. And her friendship with her best friend is one of the best I've seen in fiction.

Here's a question, though: if this is an issue book, where the issue was race or sexual orientation or whatever it might be, this book is arguing for assimilation. Imagine if this book were about someone who didn't fit into their school because of race or something else, and at the end the message was: act like everyone else, and then you'll love yourself. Really? I'm still having trouble getting past the fat-girl-gets-hot-and-loves-herself book telling us that it's not about how you look, when the whole time it's 100% about how you look.

Also I suspect that if I were an anorexic reading this, or the parent or friend of an anorexic, I might completely blow a gasket. Losing weight isn't the solution to psychological problems about self-image. The book does *say* this, but as an afterthought.

I still give it five stars for being so fantastic but it's five stars with a caveat and a hmmmmm.