Fat Chance, Charlie Vega

Name: Fat Chance, Charlie Vega
Brand: Penguin Random House
Availability: InStock
Author: Crystal Maldonado
ISBN: 9780593397183

Author: Crystal Maldonado

Narrator: Carla Vega

Unabridged: 11 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Listening Library

Published: 02/02/2021

Categories: Young Adult Fiction, Coming Of Age, Girls & Women, Social Themes

Synopsis

Coming of age as a Fat brown girl in a white Connecticut suburb is hard.
Harder when your whole life is on fire, though.

Charlie Vega is a lot of things. Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat.

People sometimes have a problem with that last one. Especially her mom. Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it's hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn't help. The world and everyone in it have ideas about what she should look like: thinner, lighter, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired. Be smaller. Be whiter. Be quieter.

But there's one person who's always in Charlie's corner: her best friend Amelia. Slim. Popular. Athletic. Totally dope. So when Charlie starts a tentative relationship with cute classmate Brian, the first worthwhile guy to notice her, everything is perfect until she learns one thing-he asked Amelia out first. So is she his second choice or what? Does he even really see her? UGHHH. Everything is now officially a MESS.

A sensitive, funny, and painful coming-of-age story with a wry voice and tons of chisme, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega tackles our relationships to our parents, our bodies, our cultures, and ourselves.

About Crystal Maldonado

Crystal Maldonado writes inclusive stories about fat brown girls. By day, Crystal works in higher education marketing, and by night, she writes young adult novels like Fat Chance, Charlie Vega and No Filter and Other Lies. She lives in western Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and dog. Camp Sylvania: Moon Madness is her middle grade debut. Visit her online at crystalwrote.com.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Chelsea on February 03, 2021

Hello I am crying this book was EVERYTHING. I loved it so damn much and related sooooo hard to everything that Charlie went through and I just want to give her (and high school Chelsea, tbh) the biggest hug. I cannot wait!!!! to read more from Crystal Maldonado in the future. What a fantastic debut!......more

Goodreads review by Gabby on February 17, 2021

This book was cute, it’s a really soft YA contemporary about learning how to be happy in your own body. I think this book has a really important message for young adults, but some of this book just fell flat for me. Charlie could be so naive at times it would have me rolling my eyes, but that’s prob......more

Goodreads review by Dayla on February 18, 2021

TW: Fat Shaming, Gaslighting I absolutely loved this book, not just because of the amazing representation, but because I saw myself in Charlie. I grew up as the fat friend. I lost my father when I was young and grew up with a mom who didn’t always say the right thing about my size. My mom and I are i......more

Goodreads review by Kayla on April 07, 2021

Ugh. I wanted to like this so much but unfortunately I had a lot of issues. But first the positives; the writing is great in terms of capturing my attention, and keeping me somewhat interested, at least at the beginning. The conversations about fatphobia were important, and I do think this book coul......more

Goodreads review by Melina on May 29, 2021

4.5 -> 5.0 Eu amei esse livro! Chorei, fiquei triste, fiquei feliz e senti o quentinho no coração. Quero ser amiga da Charlie! Gatilhos: gordofobia, "vício em dieta"/shakes, perda de parente, ser a segunda opção (?), relacionamento tóxico de mãe e filha.......more