He risks their friendship by breaking his vow of secrecy and enlisting others' aid-help that comes from such unlikely quarters as a former bully, Eric's swim coach and, most surprisingly, his mother's seemingly wimpy boyfriend. When Sarah abruptly stops talking and is committed to a mental ward, Eric is compelled to take action to help her, but quickly finds that he is in over his head. Now a senior and considerably slimmed down through competitive swimming (though still aptly called ``Moby''), Eric remains fiercely devoted to his friend, whose caustic tongue is her only protection from life's inequities. A social outcast in junior high due to his excessive weight, narrator Eric Calhoune found a kindred spirit in Sarah Byrnes, whose face and hands were hideously disfigured in a childhood accident. While probing such issues as friendship, free speech and moral values, Crutcher ( Chinese Handcuffs Stotan! ) tells a tale whose mordant humor, poignancy and suspense pack a breathtaking wallop. Once again Chris Crutcher slaps us in the face with compelling questions that demand dignified answers.Such superlatives as ``riveting'' and ``powerful'' can only hint at the craftsmanship on display in this transcendent story of love, loyalty and courage. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes is a darkly funny, suspenseful novel about friendship, fear, and making the best of a bad situation. Then the truth of Sarah Byrnes's horrific past finally catches up with her. Fearing the loss of the one friendship he treasures, he gorges to "stay fat for Sarah Byrnes," who discovers his motive and threatens to beat him more senseless than she thinks he already is.
When Eric turns out for the high school swimming team, he begins to shed layers of extra poundage. Because of their "terminal uglies," he and Sarah Byrnes have become true masters in the art of underhanded revenge directed at anyone who dares to offend their sensibilities. Eric passed through his early years on a steady diet of Oreos and Twinkies and root beer floats, and he sports the girth to prove it. You enter into Sarah Byrnes's world on her terms, or you don't enter.Įnter Eric Calhoune-Moby to his friends. She developed a suit of cold, stainless steel armor to defend herself against the taunts of a world insensitive to her pain. Her face and hands were badly burned in a mysterious accident, and her father refused to allow reconstructive surgery. When Sarah Byrnes was three years old, her condition became synonymous with her surname.
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