sarah_thebooknerd 's review for:

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado

5.0

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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This book was one that I knew would be a lot for me to process as a fat person who grew up with a fat body as a kid, teen and adult and it also was so healing. 

Charlie is in high school and her father is deceased. She has a mother who was fat and lost weight and projects her insecurities about being fat onto Charlie and as a result it strains the relationship and Charlie feels that her mother would love her more if she was more like her best friend. As a result it also puts a strain on the friendship because Charlie cannot handle if she is picked 2nd which becomes a conflict as she is dating someone for the first time. 

Charlie begins dating and he is also fat and this is also something her mother struggles with because she feels that by dating another fat person she will not be motivated to make better decisions to lose weight. Charlie is constantly reminded that her body is not okay yet she is seeking out fat liberation and fat positivity on her own to feel good about her body and some of that comes through her first relationship. She is finally being desired and wanted and it feels good, she also learns that some of her validation cannot come from him and she needs to learn how to have it on her own. 

There are a couple themes in this book that I connected with so much- the way in which you the fat friend are targeted by other teen boys through friendship in an effort to get close to the conventionally attractive straight sized friend. This happened to me a bunch in middle/ high school to a point that I thought some of these boys were my true friends but they were not, I was just a pawn to them.