Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher

Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.Īutumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart their mothers are still best friends. Pulse-pounding, on both visceral and intellectual levels-a wild, brutal ride. Readers may find the storybook ending a welcome relief, though it does seem forced after the pain that precedes it. In the end, he deals out just deserts all around: Eric gets a stepfather he can respect Virgil, a vicious mauling plus 20 years in stir Sarah, a new and loving set of parents.

Though Crutcher doesn't always play fair in developing his themes-all the conservative Christians here are humorless dupes or hypocrites, and one tries to commit suicide after it comes out that his girlfriend had an abortion-his language, characters, and situations are vivid and often hilarious. Enter Virgil, her psychotic father, who speaks only in threats in a terrifying passage, he stalks and stabs Eric in order to learn where Sarah (who has escaped) is hiding. Between trenchant classroom confrontations over abortion and other religious controversies, exhausting swim team workouts, and a sudden relationship with a classmate, Eric loyally finds time to visit Sarah. Sarah Byrnes, her face hideously scarred from what she calls a childhood accident, sits silent and withdrawn in the psychiatric ward her friend Eric (``Moby''), who has admired her since grade school as the toughest person he knows, wonders what could have finally pushed her over the edge. Once again, Crutcher assembles a crew of misfits to tackle the Big Issues.

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher