KidLit Forum

I also enjoyed reading this book because it tells a good story, is full of irony and is very suggestive, as Larisa has already mentioned. It was the first time when I realized that overweight girls, especially, face so many problems. Beside the fact that they have to withhold from the food they like, they also have to face people's nasty remarks. And, as regards the fact that they punish themselves, I felt like the society and the people around them force them to punish themselves.

"Hey, baby,” he said, “did you ever think about going on a diet?”
“No WAY!” Carla blurts out, pressing her hand over her mouth.
“His friends cracked up, and I just wanted to completely die,” Bunny says, dropping her head. “But the worst thing is not just what he said, it’s the way that the words stay in my head and haunt me. Instead of just dismissing it as a stupid, cruel remark, I keep using that memory over and over to beat myself up.”

This is Bunny's confession about the way she feels. It's not just a sad memory, it's something which follows her, it's like a guilt. This is why they punish themselves.
There is something else about this story which I think, is worth mentioning. Cam's best friend's love story which was temporary and superficial because that boy had only cared about the way she looked. Unlike Cam's love story which was true and long-lasting because they were able to see each other beyond the looks.

Fat Camp shows the struggles of a teenager overweight girl. Being an overweight teenager must be no doubt very hard at a time when the insecurities are at their best. It seems that Cam, the main character is dealing with her insecurities by showing a tomboy type of behavior and denying her feminity, (it seems to me) as a defense mechanism. The "I say it so you don't have to say it" auto-irony is sometimes too much, and not even funny:

Quote:
Now, though, I am about to do the kind of rowing that was popular on slave ships, assuming that I can manage to step into the boat without tipping it over. To his credit, Rick, the rowing counselor, doesn’t laugh or make any of us feel like the pack of elephants we must appear to be.


Cam shows interest in 'hotties', usually fit boys from the silver screen industry, although she blames people who do this, she is very much attracted to appearances, not only in people, but also we find a lot of 'product placement' in the book.

Quote:
"So it’s ten o’clock at night, and I’m already in my Victoria’s Secret PINK nightshirt, getting into my bed, when I am summoned and have to drag ass to the phone", ", a black Mercedes SUV screeches up and a girl who doesn’t look to me as though she has to lose anything but some of the contents of her overstuffed Marc Jacobs bag gets out of the front seat and dashes up to us", "and because their personal trainer is obsessed with “hydration,” and now they are buying designer water the way normal families buy juice packs. I take the shopping bag filled with Fiji bottles and try to wedge them into my already bursting backpack. Is there really a difference between Fiji and, say, Dasani? My mom swears there is. The only thing that I like better about Fiji is the way they decorate the bottles."


Quote:
There are a few kids here who are seriously overweight—like over 300 pounds—and whether we admit it or not, none of us wants to look like them and we don’t go out of our way to be their friends. It doesn’t matter who they are inside, we fixate on their size, and first impressions die hard.


Serious issues as eating disorders are put in question, there is also a love story, but I don't think this book has something authentic, not credible pain, not credible joy... it did't convinced me at all, and it sounds like a cheap metro book. Not a fan!

Without a doubt it was a little annoying that I had to read again about rich problems, I had a Danielle Steel feeling at the beginning of the book. It reminded me of my mother’s books. She loves Danielle Steel. But after a while, something has changed. After Evie, Cam's super slim and successful friend who is in another summer camp broke up with his boyfriend felt that finally, the author switches the angle. She presents the lives of riches with fair. They can have problems at any kind as well. They can have those ups and downs like anyone. She presents it very lifelike.

Of course, the book concentrates on our society’s issue with lookism. Every girl in Cam’s camp has something on her look that she doesn’t like. Even Karen, who is slimmer like any of others.

Besides in this book appears family and friendship as important themes. I didn’t find this book boring, I sympathized with the characters, and I was content that it had a happy ending.