Call Me Mimi

by Francis Chalifour

Mimi loves flowers, crystal chandeliers, kittens, Céline Dion’s voice, the color pink, swaths of satin, the Queen of England, and chocolate. Far, far too much chocolate. She craves beauty and her own overweight self is emphatically not beautiful, at least in her own eyes. And despite her size, she doesn’t feel whole because all she knows about her father is that he was a sperm bank donor seventeen years before. Mimi is a fractured soul.

Although she knows it could be disastrous, she is drawn to her school’s prom because it will be held in a beautiful ballroom and, for once, she’ll be able to dress up. But her instincts prove to be right and, after merciless bullying, she flees in tears.

Mimi knows that she needs to take charge of herself to find a person she can love within her self-imposed wall of weight. She leaves her doting mother and Montreal behind and heads to Toronto to find her father. What she finds is far more important than anything she could possibly have imagined.

Francis Chalifour’s ability to bring the unforgettable Mimi to life makes this a novel that will touch the reader’s funny bone and heart.

184 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2008

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good book, if short. The characters felt real, they were diverse, and they underwent development. They all had stories and those stories were important. Bonuses for Canadian, queer, donor conceived, overweight characters, and characters of different ethnicities.

The bad: I felt so much secondhand anxiety when reading this book. It was only 100 pages or so but I had to put it down to calm down because of the situation Mimi got herself into.

The personal: although there were other themes and story lines going on, I connected with Mimi's hunt for family. I recognized in her the wanting, the exhaustion, and the sheer frustration of going through the search, and strongly felt her disappointment at the result. But I'm glad she reconnected with other family on her journey.

[Stephanie A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fluff, but it really nailed the mental state of an overweight girl more than most such stories. That's weird considering it was written by a guy. True, the excessive lying led to mortified page-flipping, but the French phrases littering every other page fixed a lot.

[Renee Chalifour · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Tells of a young girl who is has Low self esteem due to her probably over weight person. She is very interested in knowing who her sperm donor father is. Which is perfectly normal for a person to know where they come from and what medical history they need to know.

[Wendy Wayling · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although this book was recommended, I didn't enjoy it. The main character constantly lies and doesn't seem bothered by it. She is also obsessed with Celine Dion - something I cannot relate to!