Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
Chris Crutcher
HarperTeen (March 18, 2003)
SPOILER ALERT: The following review contains plot points that you may not want to know about before reading the book.
PARENTAL ADVISORY: This book contains material inappropriate for children. This review may reference that same material and thus may also not be appropriate for children.
In short: An extremely well written novel with superb characterizations and a gripping plot, that could be a great conversation starter about important social and religious issues but, unfortunately, to get there requires a walk through a “locker room” of language and sexual situations.
Senior Eric Calhoune has become comfortable with his nickname, “Moby”. His best friend since grade school, Sarah Byrnes, her face horribly disfigured from a childhood “accident”, has helped him in that regard. His obesity that led to the nickname is not as much of a problem anymore since he started competitive swimming. The emotional scars are still there however, and Sarah, which Eric describes as “the toughest person he knows’, has suddenly become silent, withdrawn, and committed to a psychiatric ward. Eric, a loyal friend, faithfully visits Sarah to provide comfort and hopefully find an answer to what led to her current condition. Between visiting Sarah, swimming competitions and his mother’s new relationship the suspense builds to a confrontation with Sarah’s malevolent father, Virgil.
A major part of the drama in this powerful novel centers on classroom discussions of important social and religious controversies.
“…most of the right-to-lifers I know…get all wrapped up with life in the womb, and life after death, for that matter, but they don’t give a rip about life after birth….I just don’t think you can have this argument without talking about quality of life. Not just life. Quality.”
The themes and ideas presented here are important and useful to understand as characters on both sides of the issue discuss their positions. These conversations however, bring out a major flaw in the book, namely that the “deck is stacked”. The conservative Christians are portrayed as heartless hypocrites who argue in a most ungracious manner.
“I’m tired of all the excuses…You step up and take your medicine! You should be damn glad you’re alive and that God loves you!”
“People throw out this line of c _ _ _ for one reason: so they can do whatever they darn well please. It’s a bogus way of not having to be accountable to God.”
Even the other characters emphasize this.
“One thing about Mark, he forgives himself a lot more easily than he forgives others.”
“The religious argument, at least the way Mark Brittain presents it, is one cold damn argument, and it doesn’t address human pain.”
“He’s so damn righteous, such a dumb, plastic God Squadder. I with I could have religion their way. You know, no responsibilities in life but to cut down people who don’t think the way you do.”
All of us have a worldview with pre-suppositions which we bring in to any situation. (The question is which worldview portrays the truth).
“We started out talking about abortion, but the discussion quickly drifted to several beliefs. No amount of effort could have stopped that, because our points of view – the way we perceive things – are inextricably linked to our beliefs…What I hope we can learn is to be aware of how our beliefs color what we see.”
It is unfortunate that the view portrayed of Christians here is inaccurate, unfair, and stereotypical. It is convicting however.
“Mark Brittain, I’ve been in the same class as you from first grade on, and I could count the number of times you’ve spoken to me on an amputee’s fingers. I can’t even get you to look me in the eye. Are you telling me my life is as sacred to you as Jody Mueller’s?...And this man, who goes to the same church you go to, you know how many decent words – hell, any kind of words – he’s uttered to me in the past six years? Zip. Zero…How come you people care so much for the unborn when you don’t give even a little bit of a s _ _ _ for the born?”
This is how, at least a part of, the world sees us, and we need to do our part in changing that. This could be an excellent work to use in that regard. In addition to abortion, questions arise about the “innocent heathen”, the problem of evil, the character of God, universalism and accountability to God. All of these are “big” issues and this novel could help us train our minds, and our children in how to discuss these issues in an irenic way.
“If God is fair, how do you explain me and Sarah Byrnes on the same planet?”
“My plan is to get baptized late in the afternoon of the evening I die, so I don’t have time to sin. A spot in heaven awaits me.”
“…his own little view of the universe wasn’t the only view possible; that if there’s a heaven, decent people all over the world who have never even heard of Jesus Christ would get to go there. Even if they’d made mistakes.”
That being said, the filth one must wade through to get to these questions is formidable. It feels like walking through a guy’s locker room to get to the lecture hall. No obscenity or profanity is left unsaid, from descriptions of bodily functions and anatomy to frequent uses of blasphemy. Discussions of masturbation and sexual activity are unfortunate and gratuitous. The blatant cheapening of such a sacred gift as sex is a heartbreaking consequence of our society’s obsession with sexuality.
This poignant novel ends with some wonderful observations about the blessings of suffering, a Christian concept, and about truth.
“I think it is impossible to tell the good things from the bad things while they’re happening…if I hadn’t been fat I would never have known Sarah Byrnes.”
“The point is, if you go around making things look different than what they are – and what everyone knows they are – nobody’s going to want to get close to you because they know you don’t tell the truth. You just have to tell the truth in a way people recognize.”
Although extremely well written with superb characters this book is for mature audiences only. I say this not only because of the constant “locker room” setting but also because the important ideas discussed are often presented in a very emotional and one-sided manner.
Chris Crutcher
HarperTeen (March 18, 2003)
SPOILER ALERT: The following review contains plot points that you may not want to know about before reading the book.
PARENTAL ADVISORY: This book contains material inappropriate for children. This review may reference that same material and thus may also not be appropriate for children.
In short: An extremely well written novel with superb characterizations and a gripping plot, that could be a great conversation starter about important social and religious issues but, unfortunately, to get there requires a walk through a “locker room” of language and sexual situations.
Senior Eric Calhoune has become comfortable with his nickname, “Moby”. His best friend since grade school, Sarah Byrnes, her face horribly disfigured from a childhood “accident”, has helped him in that regard. His obesity that led to the nickname is not as much of a problem anymore since he started competitive swimming. The emotional scars are still there however, and Sarah, which Eric describes as “the toughest person he knows’, has suddenly become silent, withdrawn, and committed to a psychiatric ward. Eric, a loyal friend, faithfully visits Sarah to provide comfort and hopefully find an answer to what led to her current condition. Between visiting Sarah, swimming competitions and his mother’s new relationship the suspense builds to a confrontation with Sarah’s malevolent father, Virgil.
A major part of the drama in this powerful novel centers on classroom discussions of important social and religious controversies.
“…most of the right-to-lifers I know…get all wrapped up with life in the womb, and life after death, for that matter, but they don’t give a rip about life after birth….I just don’t think you can have this argument without talking about quality of life. Not just life. Quality.”
The themes and ideas presented here are important and useful to understand as characters on both sides of the issue discuss their positions. These conversations however, bring out a major flaw in the book, namely that the “deck is stacked”. The conservative Christians are portrayed as heartless hypocrites who argue in a most ungracious manner.
“I’m tired of all the excuses…You step up and take your medicine! You should be damn glad you’re alive and that God loves you!”
“People throw out this line of c _ _ _ for one reason: so they can do whatever they darn well please. It’s a bogus way of not having to be accountable to God.”
Even the other characters emphasize this.
“One thing about Mark, he forgives himself a lot more easily than he forgives others.”
“The religious argument, at least the way Mark Brittain presents it, is one cold damn argument, and it doesn’t address human pain.”
“He’s so damn righteous, such a dumb, plastic God Squadder. I with I could have religion their way. You know, no responsibilities in life but to cut down people who don’t think the way you do.”
All of us have a worldview with pre-suppositions which we bring in to any situation. (The question is which worldview portrays the truth).
“We started out talking about abortion, but the discussion quickly drifted to several beliefs. No amount of effort could have stopped that, because our points of view – the way we perceive things – are inextricably linked to our beliefs…What I hope we can learn is to be aware of how our beliefs color what we see.”
It is unfortunate that the view portrayed of Christians here is inaccurate, unfair, and stereotypical. It is convicting however.
“Mark Brittain, I’ve been in the same class as you from first grade on, and I could count the number of times you’ve spoken to me on an amputee’s fingers. I can’t even get you to look me in the eye. Are you telling me my life is as sacred to you as Jody Mueller’s?...And this man, who goes to the same church you go to, you know how many decent words – hell, any kind of words – he’s uttered to me in the past six years? Zip. Zero…How come you people care so much for the unborn when you don’t give even a little bit of a s _ _ _ for the born?”
This is how, at least a part of, the world sees us, and we need to do our part in changing that. This could be an excellent work to use in that regard. In addition to abortion, questions arise about the “innocent heathen”, the problem of evil, the character of God, universalism and accountability to God. All of these are “big” issues and this novel could help us train our minds, and our children in how to discuss these issues in an irenic way.
“If God is fair, how do you explain me and Sarah Byrnes on the same planet?”
“My plan is to get baptized late in the afternoon of the evening I die, so I don’t have time to sin. A spot in heaven awaits me.”
“…his own little view of the universe wasn’t the only view possible; that if there’s a heaven, decent people all over the world who have never even heard of Jesus Christ would get to go there. Even if they’d made mistakes.”
That being said, the filth one must wade through to get to these questions is formidable. It feels like walking through a guy’s locker room to get to the lecture hall. No obscenity or profanity is left unsaid, from descriptions of bodily functions and anatomy to frequent uses of blasphemy. Discussions of masturbation and sexual activity are unfortunate and gratuitous. The blatant cheapening of such a sacred gift as sex is a heartbreaking consequence of our society’s obsession with sexuality.
This poignant novel ends with some wonderful observations about the blessings of suffering, a Christian concept, and about truth.
“I think it is impossible to tell the good things from the bad things while they’re happening…if I hadn’t been fat I would never have known Sarah Byrnes.”
“The point is, if you go around making things look different than what they are – and what everyone knows they are – nobody’s going to want to get close to you because they know you don’t tell the truth. You just have to tell the truth in a way people recognize.”
Although extremely well written with superb characters this book is for mature audiences only. I say this not only because of the constant “locker room” setting but also because the important ideas discussed are often presented in a very emotional and one-sided manner.
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