
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
In this sequel to Fat Angie, things have gone from bad to worse for Angie. Her sister, the war hero, has died in Iraq, and Angie is experiencing all of the stages of grief simultaneously. It doesn’t help that her mother has made it clear that she wished Angie had died instead of her sister. Angie is still being bullied at school, her girlfriend has moved away, and her best friend Jake is dating Stacy Ann, one of her worst tormentors. When Angie has had enough and breaks bully Gary Klein’s nose in self defence, Angie’s mom threatens to send her to Whispering Oaks, a juvenile rehabilitation facility with behavior modification treatments for challenging teens, including conversion therapy for those experiencing “sexual identiy crisis.” Angie decides to take a road trip with an estranged friend who has recently moved back to town: Jamboree Memphis Jordon. Jamboree’s RV, her friend Zeke, and tag-along Darius prove to be the perfect companions and cheerleaders as Angie decides to do everything on her sister’s road trip wish list. Even though everything on the list terrifies her, Angie realizes that there are some things that she just needs to do in order to figure out how to live.
It had been 3 years since I had read Fat Angie, and even though the sequel mostly stands on its own, it helps to have read the first book. It took me a couple of tries to get into the sequel, however, mostly because I didn’t really care for Angie as a character in either book. Her use of “gay-girl-gay” to describe herself was annoying to me; I never really understood why “gay” wouldn’t suffice. The use of 80s and 90s songs for chapter headings also annoyed me. I know that many adults are now reading YA literature for fun, but the primary audience is still teens, and I don’t know many teens who are familiar with music from my generation. Angie has many, many issues, and I wanted to like her because she has been through a lot, but I just didn’t find her to be a likeable character. Readers should be aware that there are many instances of violence, fat-shaming, homophobia, and hate speech, with references to suicidal thoughts and self-harm. Parts of the book, specifically the road trip, were fun, and I was rooting for Angie to accomplish everything on her sister’s list. Other parts, however, were unrealistic and played on stereotypes. Overall, I would only recommend this book to students in gr. 9-12 who read and enjoyed Fat Angie. Otherwise, it’s an optional purchase.
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