FAT BOY SWIM
Catherine Forde
Delacorte Press
Fiction
ISBN: 0385732058
240 pages

It’s a deal with the devil. Jimmy "Fat Boy Fat" Kelly, a 14-year-old boy mercilessly teased at school and completely inept at sports, has been commissioned by Father "GI Joe" Joseph, the unforgiving sports coach, to make food for a fundraiser. In exchange for Jimmy’s cooking, GI Joe will teach Jimmy how to swim. Swimming, Jimmy feels, is in his blood, no matter how many times his mother tells him that no one in his family can swim. Add to this picture a pretty, myopic girl with chocolate-brown hair, some bullies, a hushed family secret, a strange dream with a shadow figure, and a crushing defeat of a bully and you have … a poorly constructed, superficial novel with underdeveloped plot lines and too much British slang.

There are a number of plot elements with the potential to be interesting and have a strong impact on Jimmy and the story, but none of them are fully realized, and the book feels as if it’s trying too hard to cram too much into Jimmy’s life. Jimmy’s advances in competitive swimming are unrealistic, especially when he defeats his nemesis, an experienced swimmer, in his first race. He also learns a life-changing secret about his heritage, but the impact that this has on him is explored very little, if at all.

Unfortunately, FAT BOY SWIM falls down on its promises and delivers nothing that hasn’t been done already in other novels.

   --- Reviewed by Carlie Webber

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