Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher

Wow. This book was amazing. I started Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes this morning before work and I just finished it. I read it on the bus, while walking around at work, during lunch and during my workout today. I seriously could not put it down.

"Staying fat..."is a young adult book about at young boy and his troubled friend. I wouldn't consider myself a fan of young adult fiction but, I may have to start getting used to calling myself based on some titles I've read lately. Like I said in my previous post, this book was recommended to me by a high school english teacher as one of the books they teach in their cirriculum. And honestly, it should be and I have no idea how I managed to miss reading it in school.

The main character, Moby is a formerly fat high school swimmer whose best friend, Sarah Byrnes is a severely disfigured high school girl. When we meet her she is in a mental health institution and is refusing to talk. We learn through flashbacks and their friendship was based everyone around them rejecting them in one way or another. While Moby eventually loses weight, Sarah can never overcome her disfigurement, burns all over her face.

As the book goes on we learn more and more about their lives. The narration by Moby is witty and touching. It makes you long for a friend like him in high school. He is compassionate yet tough and is willing to fight for Sarah and does many times throughout the book.

One issue I sometimes have with young adult books is the need to have secondary characters be cookie cutter people. The main character in many books will have the brainy friend, the hippy friend and the big jock friend. This book is a happy exception to that. All of the secondary characters including the friends, teachers and parents are all complex and interesting and really bring something to the story.

Without giving anything away, because I hope you all will read it, the whole story was amazing from start and finish with no dull points are uninteresting subplots.

If you are looking for a quick, but interesting and thought-provoking read I highly recommend Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes.