Book Review: Big Fat Disaster.

Title: Big Fat Disaster.
Author: Beth Fehlbaum.
Series: No.
Pages: 286.
Source: Netgalley, for Review.
Publisher: Merit Press.
Published Date: 4/18/14.
Links:
Book Depository.
Goodreads.

Summary:

"Insecure, shy, and way overweight, Colby hates the limelight as much as her pageant-pretty mom and sisters love it. It's her life: Dad's a superstar, running for office on a family values platform. Then suddenly, he ditches his marriage for a younger woman and gets caught stealing money from the campaign. Everyone hates Colby for finding out and blowing the whistle on him. From a mansion, they end up in a poor relative's trailer, where her mom's contempt swells right along with Colby's supersized jeans. Then, a cruel video of Colby half-dressed, made by her cousin Ryan, finds its way onto the internet. Colby plans her own death. A tragic family accident intervenes, and Colby's role in it seems to paint her as a hero, but she's only a fraud. Finally, threatened with exposure, Colby must face facts about her selfish mother and her own shame. Harrowing and hopeful, proof that the truth that saves us can come with a fierce and terrible price, Big Fat Disaster is that rare thing, a story that is authentically new."

My Thoughts:

Weight and being over weight is on a lot of girls mind, young old and in between. Too much weight, not enough; its a vicious state of mind. And Colby, our main character in Big Fat Disaster is no different.

Her mom is beautiful, her two sisters are gorgeous and her dad is a handsome candidate running for congress. Colby has no other option than feeling like a big fat disaster standing next to her perfect family, who doesn't mind telling her just how "fat" or "ugly" she might be looking that day.

When Colby discovers that her dad is cheating on her "perfect" mother, she knows that she can't keep this a secret, and decides to tell her mom. Her mom at first tries to keep everything inside, tries to deny or ignore what is going on. But before Colby knows it, her older is sister is moved off to college, and her mother packs up their stuff to move into a trailer, in her aunts backyard.

Colby is surprised that they are at her aunts, because the last time she saw her, was when the entire family was shaming her. Colby's aunt was abused, both physically and mentally, but still exiled by her family, and told it was her fault. The family members who did that, included her mother.

*Felt so good to know that Colby's mother had a taste of her own medicine!*

Colby is struggling with so much; the betrayal of her father, the judgment of her mother, living in a trailer, going to a new school, as well as her weight. Colby doesn't know what to do for herself or to make her "family" happy. She knows what her last option is, suicide....and she's willing to try twice...

Final Verdict:

Even though I was frustrated at Colby's mother throughout the ENTIRE book, I liked Big Fat Disaster. It demonstrates just how much of struggle eating and our weight is to girls. I haven't read any YA books that incorporated this topic. I'm so used to reading stories about "average girls" who some how "miraculously" catch the most "popular" guy's eye.

Big Fat Disaster was different, and REAL!

This story was another one of those emotional roller coaster; I was sad when Colby had to endure all of this bully and mental abuse. I was mad when Colby's mom was being a complete B-word. I was upset when her own sister told her she was fat. I was happy when Colby finally discovered that it doesn't matter what someone says or thinks about her. That she just needs to be herself, and no one else. That she needs to make sure she's happy, and not someone else.

In the end, I LOVED Big Fat Disaster, for it's message. It was so meaningful and important.