Fat Chances

J.S.
Wilsoncroft
ISBN Number: 
978-0985218966
Genre: 
Young Adult

Annie is your normal, if slightly overweight, high-school senior. She hates school (or maybe it would be more precise to say that she hates her classmates) and can’t wait to get as far away from her hometown as possible. Things start to change when she meets her sister’s Zumba instructor - Cory. He’s young, handsome and built like a Greek god. For his part, Cory is enchanted by Annie.  Something simply clicked in him when he saw her.  Now all he has to do is convince her that his feelings are true.
With Fat Chances, the author deals with a subject that is mostly ignored in the Young Adult fiction – obesity. The mocking and bullying that Annie suffers is painful and her insecurities are real.  However, there were some major problems with the story. First of all, the immaturity of the characters and the unnecessary drama - it seems like they all shout, yell or bellow all the time! Second, Annie and Cory’s falling in love tipped into the unbelievable. They barely spoke to each other, and yet one is to believe they’re so in love that they can’t seem to live apart. Also, most of the characters feel pretty flat – they display only two or three feelings and then simply oscillate between them. While the book shows promise, it fails to deliver. More character development and more time dedicated to the relationship itself would have made for a much more satisfying read!

Ana Smith