Fat Boy Saves World

by Ian Bone

Sixteen-year-old Susan Bennett faces a world of confusion between her difficult parents and overweight, non-speaking brother, but when her sibling finally speaks in order to confess that his plan is to save the world, Susan realizes that the time has come to confront her parents. Original.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction

228 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

I am an author of books for young readers and young adults. I am Australian, and my books are published in Australia, the USA, the UK, Germany, Korea, Brazil and Finland.

My novel, The Song of an Innocent Bystander is being adapted into a major feature film. My children's book series, Philomena Wonderpen, has been bought by an International media company to be adapted for television.

I teach writing and I work as a video producer and e-learning developer in my spare time!

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting Australian YA about an incredibly obese boy who does not talk and his angry older sister (who does -- early and often). When "Fat Boy" finally does talk, he says he wants to save the world with the help of Mr. D. Who is Mr. D? His stuffed animal ducky, of course.

If you like family melodrama, then this will be your cup of Fosters, mate, as Ian Bone explores the ins and mostly outs of a daughter-father relationship (Dad has published a book about his non-talking son, you see). In fact, with time, the sub-plot of daughter Susan and father Peter jumps out of the bushes and becomes the main plot. Less satisfactory is Bone's handling of the original narrative arc dealing with Brian (Fat Boy), who has a few "Jesus" moments and winds up with his own Community TV show.

Strong female lead and a good example of jumping POV, this YA book will probably appeal to adults as well as more patient teens.

[Sarah (is clearing her shelves) · Rating 2 out of 5]

15/11 - Originally, I read this for English in Year 10. I can't remember whether I liked this or not. As I'm reading it some of the plot's coming back to me, but the overriding feeling I'm getting is that I didn't understand it very well when I read it 13 years ago (goodness, has it been that long?). I'm still not really getting it now, probably because I still don't get imagery or themes or subtext or most of that other stuff I was supposed to learn in high-school English. I would read the book (usually before the rest of the class had started it), enjoy it, or not (as the case may be), but I was never able to discuss the subtext or themes etc of any of the books as I didn't see them, I couldn't read between the lines (and I still can't). To be continued...

23/11 - Whether I understood the themes, imagery, WHATEVER, is of no concern because I'm sure that I could not possibly have liked the characters. ANY of the characters. I don't get any of their motivations for most (in some cases all) of their actions. I don't understand why Neat (also known as Brian, but for inexplicable reasons his younger sister, Susan, gave him that nickname, as a young child, and it stuck) stopped talking or what the hell he's doing now - eating, swallowing people's unhappiness; speaking in the third person through a stuffed duck called Mr D and other general craziness.

I don't understand Susan's treatment of poor, pathetic Todd - going crazy slapping him for some crazy reason that had to do with a 'disgusting' old man that Neat was 'saving' by cuddling and rocking in his arms, shaving her head to make herself appear even more disturbed than everyone already thought she was, and her constant paranoia and self-persecution that everything everyone (especially Todd) was doing was to make her appear stupid (an attitude to which I have to paraphrase a speech Buffy made to Jonathan in Earshot - she tells him that no one cares about him and his problems, that everyone has too many of their own problems to worry about what's going on with him and I would say the same thing to Susan - everyone is too busy with their own lives to be going out of their way to make you look stupid, so stop looking at your feet for the trap you're about to fall into, you're more likely to trip and fall looking at your feet anyway, you've got to look ahead to where you're going).

I don't understand Todd's behaviour with Susan, letting her get away with treating him like shit (including physical violence) and continuing to chase after her expecting to be treated differently. Isn't that the definition of insane, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? I don't think Todd's insane, just a bit pathetic. Everytime I imagine him I see him drenched through from standing in the rain outside her window, his hair's long enough to be drippy and is hanging in his eyes and if she ever happened to let him in his dripping clothes would create a large puddle in her entrance foyer - all images of patheticness that might stretch to stalkerish behaviour if he got desperate enough (although she could probably beat him up and he would probably let her, the way their going). At the moment I probably wouldn't finish this if it wasn't going to the Big Library in the Sky, but I don't want to be regretting not finishing it a month after I've given it away to a more deserving home, so I will perservere with the last 50 pages. To be continued...

I forgot to mention that I don't like Bone's use of language. Some of the sentences I feel like he's going for intelligent and 'hip with the kids nowadays' (except nowadays was 15 years ago and it all sounds a little flat to me), but misses and lands on pretentious and stuffy instead.

"He saw again that she was a girl that could take him beyond the boundaries of safety, where joy and terror danced hand in hand. To a place where he could act on instinct alone, because there were no scripts to guide him, no tried and true lines to follow."

"He felt safer meeting here, out in public. There was less chance of being blown away by her stormy eyes."

"...joy and terror danced..." "...act on instinct alone...no scripts to guide him..." The first sentence gives me the image of a little white 'angel' with wings and a halo hand in hand with a little red 'devil' with horns and a pitchfork skipping along merrily, swinging their joint hands. The second sentence annoys me because it seems to be saying that with Susan he's suddenly on his own, without a script to tell him what to do. Is that not how you've lived your whole life? Except for the short period of time you've been on stage, you've never had a script to life. Why is it suddenly so difficult? And "...blown away by her stormy eyes.", is that akin to being blown away by garlic breath?

Plus, he has one incidental character call cigarettes 'suicide sticks'. Obviously he's trying to get a point across, but does he have to lay it on so thick? I feel like I've been coated in message goo and I can't wipe it off. I was the same age as Todd and Susan are supposed to be, in 1998, and no one would call cigarettes suicide sticks, everyone would howl with laughter and never let you live it down. To be continued...

28/11 - Finished it and it's definitely going into the 'donate to the library' pile. I'm glad I re-read it but I didn't enjoy reading it. I got quite annoyed with the constant reminders that Neat is fat. Susan used so many different euphemisms for the word fat, as well as the word fat, that it became depressing and offensive. Who wants to read a book about a sister who, generally, loves her older brother but constantly puts him down in her thoughts. She calls him bloated, whale, blimp, fat, huge, blubbery and the list goes on. It wasn't nice to read, it didn't sit well with me - it's like an ingrained form of some kind of -ism (is there an -ism for overweight/super skinny people?) and Susan doesn't even know she's doing it, it's just how she's always seen him, not as her brother, but as her fat brother. I'm not sure that's such a good message to be putting across to impressionable teenagers. I wouldn't recommend this to, well, anyone as I can't think anyone who would enjoy it. The target market, the teenager, would see it as being horribly dated and adults wouldn't enjoy some of the themes (as I didn't), intended or not.

[Khadija · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is an incredibly original book. it's short and funny.

[Demariea]

The book Fat boy saves the world ,I liked the book because it is my type of book.I liked the book because its a type of book that wants you to get out there in the world and make a change.Its a book that make you want to help others.The book is about changing the world and other people lives.
Like I said this book is about change her brother is like a fat,lazy,depressed guy.So through out the book its like hes like a kid in a candy store tht cant have no candy.Me personally i didnt like thi character because hes like the debbie downer and thats how he is throughout the book until the end.
Then comes there parens. There parents are the type that if you get a B on a report card they would be mad.There parents are very uptight.Sometimes her parent look at their son in dissapointment because he dont get good grades he just sit home and watch tv,but their not that uptight on there daughter because she gets done what she needs to get done.
Theres one more characte and its the reporter.The reporter is the uy whohelps her sspread her word. I cant tell you the end so there for I cant tell you the word.but yeah basically he just helps her out in the book.And yeah, this book has alot of personalities.to name a few anger depression happy and sad.And tosum it all up I liked it and i hope you do as well.

[Ariel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this one more than I did because someone I really adore recommended it so wholeheartedly. It reminded me of The Planet of Junior Brown by Virginia Hamilton in some ways, how fat can be isolating and can be an expression of isolation as well. But I was annoyed by how the character kept calling himself "Fat Kid." Probably it was supposed to be symbolic of his inability to take charge of his own life and identify with himself. But could it not have only happened 3 x instead of every other page and still have hammered the point home? I think so. Also everyone's way too hopeful about the prospects of the junkie musician kid. And then the junkie musician kid has this mystical idea that the "Fat Kid" can play drums with virtually no training because his attitude is "so Punk." I think that was supposed to be a rock 'n' roll version of Leaves of Grass. But eh.

[Ana Miljak · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really weird book, and thats why i liked it so much. The interesting storyline made you want to keep reading, and in a strange way, you could relate to the characters. Its the perfect dysfunctional family.

[Maddy froehlich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok I must admit I was kind of surprised. Not a big fan of the book but the characters in this book are quite interesting. It wasn't exactly funny but it has a very interesting outlook on people and what different personalities will do when faces with a difficult situation.

[Jose · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an okay book, but there were many parts of it that didn't make much sense at the end of the book I was left there thinking..."what?". I feel like it would've been better if there had been a sequel.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Teenage angst resolves positively.
Too heavy for teens!

[Ms_M_Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was very disapointing, i thought the plot was confusing and didnt have an ending.

[Mary Acuña · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lost my copy before I could even finish the book. I read most of it, though, and I didn't really connect with the story.

[Andrea]

Poignant story on a child's love for parents.