Saturday, October 16, 2010

Book Review: Fat Cat

Up to this point all the books I had read in conjunction with my diet and budgeting plan were non-fiction, so this week I ventured into a novel that addresses body image issues.

The YA novel Fat Cat by Robin Brande is the story of a high school girl, Catherine Locke, a good student with high ambitions and few friends. Overweight since childhood Cat has turned her focus to what she does well, school.

One day, a science project changes Cat's world. A picture of early man and woman, the photo pulled from a random stack to serve as the jumping off point for her year long project, spurs Cat to change the way she lives and eats.

She embarks on a diet of whole foods, prepared very basically and gives up almost all modern conveniences (she draws the line at running water). Her health improves and her body changes and all of a sudden Cat has more attention than she ever wanted from boys.

This novel reads like a Micahel Pollan book, a little heavy on the vegetarian agenda, but an interesting lesson in the pitfalls of modern conveniences.

I related to Cat's long struggle with her weight and the cruelty of children towards those that are different. A quick and entertaining read, its message will stick with me.

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