Fat Boy Saves World - Softcover

Bone, Ian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0743422457 ISBN 13: 9780743422451

Publisher: Simon Pulse, 2001

Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Susan Bennett faces a world of confusion between her difficult parents and overweight, non-speaking brother, but when her sibling finally speaks in order to confess that his plan is to save the world, Susan realizes that the time has come to confront her parents. Original.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Australian author Bone's offbeat but ultimately tender novel opens as 16-year-old Susan Bennett returns home after being booted from boarding school. She takes her overweight but graceful brother, whom she's nicknamed "Neat," to the Theater of Possibility, where audience members can write down their wishes and performers act them out. Neat, the subject of their father's award-winning book, The Silent Boy, breaks years of silence (he stopped talking on Susan's eighth birthday) to tell Susan that his wish is to save the world. With the help of Todd, a performer they meet at the theater, Neat lands a spot on community TV. But while the "fat Buddha" can reach strangers, there are still problems at home, like the battle that's raged between Susan and her dad since Neat stopped talking. The story alternates between Susan, Neat and Todd's perspectives (and with occasional excerpts from The Silent Boy). Readers will connect with each of the characters' complicated points of view, from Susan's anger toward her father, whom she felt used her brother for his own fame, to Neat's innocent longing to devour the pain he sees in others including their father's feelings of loss when his son stopped speaking. The rather bizarre plot takes some jarring turns, e.g., the appearance of Mr. Goodman, a washed-up game show host who becomes Neat's TV cohost. Yet readers will find themselves swept up in the Bennetts' world, trying to figure out who's telling the truth about what happened eight years ago and how to interpret the fat boy's lyrical but often mystifying words. Ages 14-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 9 Up-This Australian novel boasts quirky, offbeat characters, but its uneven writing and slow pace will discourage most readers. Kicked out of boarding school, 16-year-old Susan Bennett returns home to a troubled, overweight older brother who hasn't spoken in eight years. When Neat publicly breaks his silence, his words are surprising: "I want to save the world." Soon the two meet up with Todd, an aspiring young actor who has run away from a family that doesn't understand his creative impulses. The story alternates between Susan's and Todd's points of view, with an occasional jump into Neat's head. When Susan and Neat's parents return from their extended trip to Europe, Susan confronts them and finally gains insight into the source of her anger. Unfortunately, the plot is sometimes confusing and not always believable. The Bennett family's secret, finally revealed, is anticlimactic and not terribly convincing. Susan is too defensive and unreasonable to be sympathetic and Neat remains an enigma throughout. Readers will have an easier time identifying with Todd, who refuses to give up on Susan or on his acting dreams. However, lengthy passages of internal dialogue often slow the plot to a crawl, and the story eventually sinks under the weight of its characters' excessive introspection.

Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon Pulse
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0743422457
• ISBN 13: 9780743422451
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 228