Teenage Waistland

October 25, 2010
Marcie, East, and Bobby are obese—though they don't like that word—and everything they do, think, and believe about themselves is determined by their weight. The possibility of rescue arrives when all three are selected for a clinical trial that allows them to undergo bariatric "Lap-Band" surgery, which physically restricts their eating and requires them to be heavily monitored by doctors and attend group support sessions. Through Marcie (smart, beautiful, and sharp-tongued), East (quiet, sweet, and terribly lonely), and Bobby (the football player ashamed of his moobies, or "man boobies"), Biederman (Unraveling) and debut author Pazer will win over readers, although East, whose obese mother refuses to leave the house, is this novel's center and soul. Friendships are tested, romance blooms, and hopes remain high as they navigate the complicated family pressures they face and changes that the surgery brings to their lives—not always for the better. Without sidestepping the seriousness of the teens' weight or the surgery they undergo, the authors offer an important and hopeful story about a little-discussed subject that affects many. Ages 14–up.

October 15, 2010

This overambitious addition to Fat Lit follows four morbidly obese New York City–area teens who sign up to undergo a clinical trial for Lap-Band weight-loss surgery. In alternating chapters, the quartet—Marcie, living with her recently divorced mother and seemingly perfect cheerleader-captain stepsister; Bobby, whose father wants him to follow in his college-football and family-business footsteps; East, of Japanese ancestry and still grieving for her father, who committed suicide; and Char, who always hides her real feelings—relate their time before and after surgery and how they confront the real issues behind their weight gain in a support group, dubbed Teenage Waistland (after The Who lyrics). Melodrama takes over the novel as the teens also face guilt, family secrets, squashed dreams, lost identities, gender stereotypes, new romance, abortion and not one but two deaths. Lengthy dialogue turns into informational and instructive lessons on Lap-Band surgery and how patients fail and succeed with it. The lone attempt at humor—a dildo-buying expedition—fizzles out. Possibly more than its characters, this story suffers from excess. (Fiction. YA)

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February 1, 2011

Gr 9 Up-"Your weight is not your problem, it's merely a symptom," says the psychiatrist to a group of teens approved for surgical weight loss. The statement does not immediately stick, even though, prior to their gastric surgery, Bobby had felt the strain of living up to his father's expectations and football legacy, Marcie harbored resentment toward her new stepfamily, and East still mourns her father's suicide and her mother's retreat from the world. Throughout the teens' operations, recovery, and drastic changes in diet, their problems become more complicated as they shed pounds. While these numerous betrayals, revealed secrets, and tragic losses threaten to overwhelm readers, they effectively illustrate the various health risks and emotional consequences involved with the procedure. One senses that the authors felt a need to get all the information out there, and though this results in the characters occasionally straying into medical lecture speak, their internal journeys and external transformations help drive the narrative. An afterword from the director of the Center for Adolescent Bariatric Surgery at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center is included.-Joanna K. Fabicon, Los Angeles Public Library

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2010
Grades 9-12 Marcie, Bobby, East, and Char are candidates for a teen surgical weight-loss trial. Each is severely overweight, and each has significant issues in their past that have led to their current need for surgical intervention. Three of the teens alternate the narration in a novel that is surprisingly upbeat given its emotional intensity. A mandatory support group dubbed Teenage Waistland brings the teens together with others undergoing the trial. They are encouraged to explore their habits and relationship with food, and in doing so, they uncover and face demons ranging from parental disapproval to suicide and statutory rape. Although group-leader Betsys role sometimes lends the air of a self-help book wrapped in a novels cover, the teens themselves are vibrantly drawn characters whose journeys into their past as they envision a healthier future for themselves will draw laughs, tears, and much compassion.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)