Young Adult Fiction: 45 Pounds (More or Less)

Ann Galardi is a size 17 teen, and I introduce her this way only because, as far as Ann can tell, it's her size that defines who she is.

It doesn't help that Ann's perfect mother is a perfect size 6, and often says things like, "I'm so fat!" and refers to herself as a cow. Her mom is also a compulsive tag checker. When Ann goes to try on something that is actually her size, her mother's response after seeing its tag is, "You're not a seventeen! That thing is huge!" With comments like that flying around all of the time, it's no wonder that Ann makes sure to always cut off the size tags on all of her clothes; after all, if her mom thinks herself a cow at size 6, what does that make Ann at size 17?

Ann is a classic stress eater, which is a major problem for a teen with lots to be stressed about.

Home is tough for Ann because her parents are split, her brother has moved away, and her dad takes a minimal interest in her. Not to mention, both parents are remarried and have new "better" children with their new "better" spouses. Ann doesn't feel like she even fits into her own family anymore.

School is tough because Ann's best and only friend moved to a new school and hangs with a different crowd now. The rather rough, drinking, dare I say vapid crowd is not one in which Ann fits. As a teenager, it seems that she's doomed to not fit anywhere, except maybe at her grandma's house, but what teen wants to only fit in with grandma? Whenever Ann starts to feel the pain of life she eats, and whenever she feels bad about the amount that she eats, she eats even more in an ever repeating cycle of self-loathing and pizza.

When Ann's Aunt Jackie asks Ann to be her bridesmaid, Ann makes a resolution: She's going to lose 45 pounds (more or less) in time for the wedding.

Ann's done it all before, the infomercial diets, the magazine diets, the crazy mom monitoring her food diets, but she's never been able to stick with it for long. This time she knows she'll do it for real. Ann starts exercising, she monitors her own eating, and she even gets a job to pay for her own food. While everything doesn't go as planned, eventually Ann is able to make new friends, come to understand her family, and learn to control her life. It's very funny and, despite the heavy topics and struggles, pretty positive.

I really liked this book. I expected it to be "meh" because most contemporary troubled teen books I've come across do turn out kind of....well, not worth reading.  but the feelings in this book and the issues it brought up were so real that I couldn't help but like it. And Ann, even though she can be a bit of a downer, is a hilarious narrator (which lightened the tough topics tackled here).For instance, here is a scene when Ann gets stuck in a dress in the changing room at the mall:

What I really want to say is, Call 9-1-1 and have them bring the jaws of life to cut me out of here. 

I imagine the call now:
9-1-1 state your emergency. 

We have a girl here trapped in a dress. 

Excuse me? 

Yes, you heard right. A girl trapped in a dress. A fat girl. Trapped in a Snaps! size 3. 

Really? Whatever compelled her to do that? 

That's what everyone will want to know. The operator. The sales staff. The news crews and anchors. Mom. Me. What was I thinking?

Along with being funny, Ann is also very real. I didn't always agree with what Ann thought, but I completely understood why she thought the way she did. While I often have a hard time relating with teenage emotions in books (they tend to be either too extreme or too shallow all of the time) Ann just read as a real person for me. I love being in Ann's head because it takes me back to my own teenage thoughts. In particular, Ann has a way of reasoning a little like this:

I know what I'm doing wrong, I know what I should do to fix it, but when everyone else points it out- I'm suddenly not motivated to change. 

That was totally me in high school, and still is me now sometimes. Ann wants to make changes, but it's hard for her when she's being told to make changes. When Ann begins to diet and exercise she hides it, even though she knows it's what others (namely her mother) want her to do.  Ann has a very real and relatable self consciousness.

I really thought the conclusion was handled well; there were some surprises at the end that I felt were in very good taste and added true depth to the story (and explained a lot about the characters that really fleshed them out). I was worried initially because I thought that there were only two possible endings, one being that Ann would realize it was fine for her to stress eat and be overweight (which I don't like because what Ann was doing was extremely unhealthy), or two, Ann would succeed in being super thin and would magically have a better body image (doubtful considering the weight wasn't the real problem). Neither of those things happen, and I don't want to spoil it for you, so I'll just say the end was executed very very well. There is a strong feeling of progression for many characters in the closing chapters, and the growth in relationships is really what I liked: Ann's mother, her grandma, her step-siblings, and her friends all wrap into a conclusion that really gets the reader thinking and is, like I said before, progressive.

Content Warnings: Some mild language, underage drinking, eating disorders, homosexuality, dysfunctional family relationships

(None of these things are gratuitous or graphic. I feel the subjects are handled well)