Overview
Overweight, fifteen-year-old Tristan, who lives happily with his divorced mother and her boyfriend, Frank, suddenly finds that he must deal with intensified criticism about his weight and other aspects of his life when Frank's popular but troubled, nutrition-obsessed daughter moves in.Synopsis
Overweight, fifteen-year-old Tristan, who lives happily with his divorced mother and her boyfriend, Frank, suddenly finds that he must deal with intensified criticism about his weight and other aspects of his life when Frank's popular but troubled, nutrition-obsessed daughter moves in.
Publishers Weekly
Marino, an English professor and playwright, clearly knows teenagers as well as drama and comedy-and effectively meshes all three in this insightful first novel. Tristan, the pudgy, levelheaded and thoroughly sympathetic 15-year-old who narrates, spends alternate weeks with his recently divorced professor parents, each of whom is involved with someone who is overweight. In his comical commentary, he explains how his contentment with his highly functional family wanes when the daughter of his mother's likable beau, Kelly ("so gorgeous I was embarrassed to be alive," according to Tristan), comes back to live with Frank, her father, in whose home Tristan's mother now resides. Self-righteous and nutrition-obsessed, Kelly criticizes her father and Tristan for their girth; she begins dating Marco, Tristan's arrogant so-called best friend, from whom the hero feels increasingly estranged ("Marco was now very popular at school, and somehow that gave me recognition, like a backup singer"); and she drives a sharp wedge between her father and Tristan's mother. Tristan's candid, wry narrative brims with on-target observations (e.g., "Fairness comes in small lumps. Unfairness comes in barrels," he notes, discussing Kelly's meteoric rise to popularity at school and his own comparative anonymity). Readers will easily feel the boy's anger and will applaud his resilience and resolve to remain true to himself. The story's supporting players-especially Tristan's parents-help make this a winning debut, at once humorous and heartrending. Ages 14-up. (Oct.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Marino, an English professor and playwright, clearly knows teenagers as well as drama and comedy-and effectively meshes all three in this insightful first novel. Tristan, the pudgy, levelheaded and thoroughly sympathetic 15-year-old who narrates, spends alternate weeks with his recently divorced professor parents, each of whom is involved with someone who is overweight. In his comical commentary, he explains how his contentment with his highly functional family wanes when the daughter of his mother's likable beau, Kelly ("so gorgeous I was embarrassed to be alive," according to Tristan), comes back to live with Frank, her father, in whose home Tristan's mother now resides. Self-righteous and nutrition-obsessed, Kelly criticizes her father and Tristan for their girth; she begins dating Marco, Tristan's arrogant so-called best friend, from whom the hero feels increasingly estranged ("Marco was now very popular at school, and somehow that gave me recognition, like a backup singer"); and she drives a sharp wedge between her father and Tristan's mother. Tristan's candid, wry narrative brims with on-target observations (e.g., "Fairness comes in small lumps. Unfairness comes in barrels," he notes, discussing Kelly's meteoric rise to popularity at school and his own comparative anonymity). Readers will easily feel the boy's anger and will applaud his resilience and resolve to remain true to himself. The story's supporting players-especially Tristan's parents-help make this a winning debut, at once humorous and heartrending. Ages 14-up. (Oct.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.VOYA
What does one call an overweight, romantically challenged, fifteen-year-old approval junkie who fears puberty has past him by? For Tristan, the answer is "Dough Boy." The son of divorced parents, he gets along with Cyndi, his father's girlfriend (who struggles with her weight), and his mother's boyfriend, Frank, "whose definition of eating right means eating right away." His life, aside from fad diets and "extreme eating," is good. Then Frank's daughter, Kelly, a sixteen-year-old budding nutritionist, moves in and decides to save Tristan from his poor eating habits by monitoring his exercise, introducing him to "the lettuce diet," and inflicting a "health-food Thanksgiving" on the family. Kelly hooks up with Tristan's best friend, Marco, further straining a relationship complicated by Tristan riding Marco's popularity at school while Marco takes advantage of Tristan to stay afloat academically. Marino crafts a coming-of-age story that teens of both genders will enjoy. Scenes-Tristan's annual P.E. test; his discovery of Marco and Kelly having sex; and his finding enjoyment in cross-country skiing-are filtered through bouts of low self-esteem and his desire to both be a part of and escape from his high school's in-crowd. Teens picking up this title will appreciate the sarcasm and re-read a number of laugh-out-loud moments having just the right amount of teenage paranoia. The ending, although unexpected, falls flat, leaving readers waiting for a resolution that never comes and wondering what might have been. VOYA CODES: 3Q 3P J S (Readable without serious defects; Will appeal with pushing; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2005, Holiday House,221p., Ages 12 to 18.—Jay Wise