If that didn't annoy me enough, Crutcher takes some big issues and, with the help of the one-dimensional Bad Guys and the sympathtic and in-depth Good Guys, turns them into black-and-white choices. In fact, it was very similar to other books of Crutcher's I've read in that it deals with sports and angst.
Feeling in the mood for some more angst, but wary of the emphasis on sports in a lot of his books, I decided swimming would be an interesting sport to read about and picked up Staying Fat. I'd just finished reading Chinese Handcuffs, also by Crutcher, and even though I'm not interested in sports at all, I really enjoyed it. I read Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes when I was taking a young adult literature class in college. Such as the discussion of the separation of church and state and the role of religion in the classroom, bigotry, justice vs vigilantism, speaking up or staying silent (and when to know when you're over your head and need an adult), responsibility for other people's actions, and women's rights. While there are some things that don't hold up in 2019 (like Eric's body image, the general misogyny, the depictions of mental health/illness), there were a lot of things that were startlingly relevant. And of standing up for people less advantaged than yourself. There are themes of bullying-in all its various levels and impacts-of justice, of shame, of anger, of apology and moving on, and most of all-of becoming a person who sees other people as people.
Those who preach rigidity and a hard line, but there seems to be a sliding scale when it comes to their own actions? The ones who rail against abortion and taking lives, but don't seem to give a damn after the baby is born? The hypocritical people who refuse to believe that there is another way of thinking or rightness beyond their own.despite billions of people in the world not sharing their particular faith.īut this, surprisingly enough, is only a subplot in this fascinating and surprisingly heavy book that's at once YA problem novel and mystery-thriller. This book swings a fucking sledge hammer towards people of that kind of Christianity. Why isn't she talking? What happened? How can he help? As school and swimming and local bigots take up more of his time, Eric is drawn to the mystery of Sarah Byrnes. Well, he's not as fat as he used to be and he's not as fat as he'd like to be-not with his best friend, Sarah Byrnes, in the hospital and not talking to anyone. Trigger Warning: fatphobia, binge eating, child abuse, suicideĮric is fat.
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