Benji’s Book Corner : Fat Chance, Charlie Vega

YA Book Review | Fat Chance, Charlie Vega | By Crystal Maldonado

I loved the voice of this novel’s MC, Charlie immediately. She’s smart, hilarious, and creative. Page after page, I couldn’t wait to read what was going to come out of her mouth next. 

From the Cover: Charlie Vega is a lot of things. Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat. People sometimes have a problem with that last one- especially her mom. Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it’s hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight-loss shakes on her dresser doesn’t help. The world and everyone in it have ideas about what she should look like: thinner, lighter, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired. Be smaller. Be whiter. Be quieter.

But there’s one person who’s always in Charlie’s corner; her best friend Amelia. Slim. Popular. Athletic. Totally dope. So when Charlie starts a tentative relationship with the cute classmate Brian, the first worthwhile guy ti notice her, everything is perfect until she learns one thing- he asked Amelia out first. So is she his second choice or what? Does he even really see her?

Because it’s time people did.

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega is described as a sensitive, funny, and painful coming-of-age story with a wry voice and tons of chisme. Fat Chance, Charlie Vega tackles our relationships to our parents, our bodies, our cultures, and ourselves.

I would agree! Except I had to look up the meaning of chisme- which is Spanish and means – gossip. In the sense, of a story worth telling your friends – spilling the T as my daughter would say!

As you know Benji loves a good book review- but he had a hard time grasping why any one would consider Charlie less attractive or desirable than her slim, beautiful best friend. He was like, “I don’t get it. Does she smell nice? Does she have kind eyes and a soft voice? Does she have gentle hands? Does she love snacks and is she willing to share them? If so, what’s not to love?” I think that’s an excellent question. I wish the whole world judged us the way that dogs do.

I photographed Benji and this book with a birthday cake because Charlie celebrates her 17th birthday in the book. It was a bit of a challenge getting a fiesty wiener-mutt, a chocolate cake, and a book all in the same shot. LOL.

Three Things I Loved About Fat Chance, Charlie Vega

1. The Dysfunctional Mother/Daughter Relationship: This is a weird thing to love I guess. Actually, it was  painful to read many of the body-shaming exchanges between Charlie and her mother. Her mother had been overweight once and  recently became thin by consuming weight-loss shakes and exercising like mad. Before her mother’s weight-loss, Charlie and her mother were bonded by their love of their family food -especially recipes from Puerto Rico. But when Charlie’s mother decided to lose weight, she emptied their home of all those loving dishes, smells, and traditions. She relentlessly “encourages” Charlie to try harder. Eat less. Exercise. At one point, she even wants Charlie to get a thin boyfriend. Ugh! So hard to read, but I must say- very realistically written. My mom is very petite. She weighs a good twenty pounds less that I do- and that started when I was around twelve. Although, my mother never put pressures on me to be any certain size, she was hard on herself about her body. I found Charlie’s inner dialogue about her mother’s slimmer body to be spot-on.
2. Charlie the Writer: Charlie is an aspiring writer. She spends all of her spare time crafting stories. Her favorite thing to write about is (un-apologetically) romance. The irony of living out a variety of romance tropes in her real life doesn’t escape Charlie. The author weaves Charlie’s writing with her own desires, problems, and love-related disasters. So clever!
3. Self-Love: Charlie knows she should accept herself the way that she is, but knowing that and practicing it are two different things. She simultaneously follows #fatfashion on Instagram, buys herself cute clothes she looks great in, and enjoys herself when eating out at coffee shops and on dates. She also encourages her mother to loosen up and live her life- which should include pizza. However, she also holds onto the idea that everyone would like her more if she was thinner. Charlie finally figures out that she’s the one who needs to like herself more and when she does- all the slices, er I mean, pieces come together.

In case you’re concerned … Yes, Benji was pretty bummed about this chocolate cake- naturally he couldn’t have any. I did feed him copious amounts of raspberries though. He liked that.