When I was a young teenager I flipped through this book and thought "No, it sounds really boring." The little bit I read didn't endear me to any of the characters and I didn't find myself feeling much of anything. A good book would make you care a little bit, at least I think so. That's where my ties to it begin and end.
I'm one of the first people who prefer/recommend realistic endings and I firmly agree with you that being overly obese is not fine. That being said, I'm with the original poster in that all novels starring a protagonist who deals with being overweight (whether it's five pounds or five hundred pounds) should not end badly. The whole bunnies/sunshine/rainbows perfect ending doesn't work, but writers don't have to end with "main character dies" or "main character gets deathly sick" or "everyone makes fun of main character until she/he commits suicide" for a novel to be realistic.
On a related (but very general) note, I'm tired of all the fiction that makes "super thin" a good thing. Being healthy is good. Being an appropriate weight for your body type is good. Feeling good/confident about yourself is good. Heck, not talking about body weight period because it's not relevant to the plot is good. Super thin as ideal is not good.
I'm one of the first people who prefer/recommend realistic endings and I firmly agree with you that being overly obese is not fine. That being said, I'm with the original poster in that all novels starring a protagonist who deals with being overweight (whether it's five pounds or five hundred pounds) should not end badly. The whole bunnies/sunshine/rainbows perfect ending doesn't work, but writers don't have to end with "main character dies" or "main character gets deathly sick" or "everyone makes fun of main character until she/he commits suicide" for a novel to be realistic.
On a related (but very general) note, I'm tired of all the fiction that makes "super thin" a good thing. Being healthy is good. Being an appropriate weight for your body type is good. Feeling good/confident about yourself is good. Heck, not talking about body weight period because it's not relevant to the plot is good. Super thin as ideal is not good.
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