Summary
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes is a book about an 18-year-old boy, Eric Calhoune. The book covers part of his last year in school. During this time, he trains for swimming, hangs out with his friend, steals his rival's girlfriend, and does generally normal adolescent things. However, there is one part of Eric's life that isn't normal. Eric routinely goes to visit his friend Sarah Byrnes in the hospital. Eric and Sarah had been friends almost their entire lives. Suddenly, one day in class, Sarah stops speaking, so she is sent to the hospital, where Eric visits. Soon, Eric finds out that Sarah fakes not being able to talk so that she can get away from her father. She confesses to Eric that the burns that cover her face were from her dad push her against a wood stove and that she was afraid that he would try something again. Eric, with the help of his teacher, Lemry, attempt to help Sarah get the life she has always wanted and to put her father in jail so that he can't harm her. However, Eric didn't count on finding himself facing off against Mr. Byrnes, the meanest guy on the planet and his hunting knife.
Literary Quality
Although this book can be a very heavy book to read, it does have some really good qualities that make it a good YA book. The plot is imagniative and has a lot of tension; however it moves slower than an average young adult book. The characters definitiely reflect what students experience in their lives and can lead them to consider their own personal issues, but some of what happens seems a little contrived. Although the language used is relatively simple, the themes counterbalance this simplicity because they are so complex and challengin. The themes could really get students thinking and have the potential to help students consider their own thoughts or values and grow. The books themes also require a level of sophistication on the student's part to comprehend the book as well. The only quality of this book that detracts from the YA qualitites is the ending. An adult ends up finding hte father that everyone is looking for and Eric really has no major role in the book after he is hurt, which is dissappointing as an adult reader and makes it feel like the adult needed to rescue the adolescents from harm.
Theme Focus: Adolescent Self-Worth
In the book, many of the characters have identity or self-worth issues. Eric, the main character, considers himself fat and is nicknamed "moby". His best friend Sarah, sees herself as ugly and worthless because of the way she looks and how others treat her. Eric's rival Mark tries to hold himself up to everyone else's expectations, but when he makes and mistake and feels humiliated, he attempts suicide. These three characters in the book all have poor self-esteem, all though the main character is doing what he can to try to improve his. Their lack of self-worth or self-esteem leads to many of the social issues of the book, such as morality of abortion, parental abuse, bullying, competition, unrealistic expectations, judgments based on physical characteristics, and suicide.
Potential Popularity and Student Interest
This book would seem to appeal well to both male and females, although the main character is a male, which does make it a little more male oriented. High school students would be the most interested in the book because the characters are older and because some of the themes do require somewhat of an emotional maturity to discuss, middle school students may lack. Slow readers might not enjoy this book because it starts off very slowly and doesn't really play up the tension until the last third of the book. However, discussing this book in relation to some of the hot topic issues could be a way to help slower readers stick with it.
Consideration for the Reader
The Lexile Level for this book is 920. This book might also present several challenges to comprehension in several ways. First, the shifts in time, from the present to Eric describing the past happen with very little announcement, so students may get confused about the plot. Second, students may not understand is the discussions of religion that go on in the text, especially if they have no experience with Christianity in their own lives. Third, the students may have trouble understanding the issues talked about such as child abuse and abortion. Finally, some students may have trouble with some of the descriptions, such as when he is describing his swimming. For students with absolutely no experience at swimming, they wouldn't understand why it was such a big deal that they were beating Mark in the pool or what they were doing in there in the first place.
Potential Uses for the Classroom
This book has several potential uses in a classroom. First, it could be used to discuss some of those difficult social issues because it touches on quite a few hot button topics. Beyond those, a focus on character and plot would be useful in the classroom. The characters are described so well and developed throughout the book that it would be a great example of characterization for students. The plot would be interesting to focus on because there is a lot leading up to the conflicts that occur, so many in fact that the book almost seems multiplot in nature. Finally, the book could be used in a discussion about legal issues, such as pleading the 5th, accusing a parent of abuse, and attacking a person in their home and they could compare the truthfulness of the book to the real world.
Potential Censor Targets
This book has many potential censorship targets because it hits on so many sensitive issues such as: abortion, child abuse, suicide, bullying, and religion.