Sugar Legowski-Garcia wasn't always fat, but fat is what she is now at age seventeen. Not as fat as her mama, who is so big she hasn't gotten out of bed in months. Not as heavy as her brother, Skunk, who has more meanness in him than fat, which is saying something. But she's large enough to be the object of ridicule wherever she is: at the grocery story, walking down the street, at school. Sugar's life is dictated by taking care of Mama in their run-down home--cooking, shopping, and, well, eating. A lot of eating, which Sugar hates as much as she loves.
When Sugar meets Even (not Evan - his nearly illiterate father misspelled his name on his birth certificate), she has the new experience of someone seeing her and not her body. As their unlikely friendship builds, Sugar allows herself to think about the future for the first time, a future not weighed down by her body or her mother.
Soon Sugar will have to decide whether to become the girl that Even helps her see within herself or to sink into the darkness of the skin-deep role her family and her life have created for her.
3/5 stars (liked it)
Poor Sugar and poor Even. Both come from dysfunctional and abusive families. Sugar's Mama is verbally abusive and it explains why Sugar would turn to food for comfort. Her brother Skunk is physically and verbally abusive. Even lives with a father that resents him and treats him like crap. I loved seeing how Sugar realizes throughout the book that she is beautiful and she doesn't have to take any of the abuse her family or herself has given her. I really liked the ending. I would love to see a follow up book to see all the things Sugar has accomplished.
