Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes is a young adult novel by writer Chris Crutcher. Welcome back. Moby is a high school senior whose best friend, Sarah Byrnes, has been put in a hospital because she refuses to speak. Sarah Byrnes realizes that Dale must have learned Moby was the author through the principal at the school, so she befriends Dale to present a united fate against the principal with latter issues of the paper.
They bond because they are both outcasts. The staff there suggests that he recall some moments that may jog her memory and bring her and back to reality. While they are gone, Virgil Byrnes hunts down Eric after school and threatens to kill him, and eventually stabs him in the back. Chapter 6- Eric is in the hospital with Sarah, and he sees that Virgil Byrnes sitting on the couch next to Sarah. I couldn't. No higher praise than that. I read Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes when I was taking a young adult literature class in college. Moby then uses the information Dale gave him to force Sarah Byrnes to show that her break with reality is fake. Sarah Byrnes: Extreme facial and hand scarring result in her being a social outcast, and she has a somewhat bitter outlook on life. I think the book is very well-written, and has some funny moments. Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes [1] It is also one of fifty books on Young Adult Library Services Association's The Ultimate Teen Bookshelf. I'd just finished reading Chinese Handcuffs, also by Crutcher, and even though I'm not interested in sports at all, I really enjoyed it. There are many great discussion points in Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. endobj After being friends for a long time, Sarah ends up in the Psychiatric Unit at the hospital -. Eric Calhoune is an overweight whale of a swimmer... so of course everyone knows him as "Moby.". “From a distance,' he says, 'my car looks just like every other car on the freeway, and Sarah Byrnes looks just like the rest of us. It was clearly just the author's writing style and I wished he had created different voices for the other characters. When Sarah Byrnes learns that Moby told Ms. Lemry, she explodes, revealing her ability to talk to the hospital staff. I'd just finished reading Chinese Handcuffs, also by Crutcher, and even though I'm not interested in sports at all, I really enjoyed it. Your IP: 158.69.181.129 Sarah's damaged face is one of the few things that makes Eric (Moby) feel that someone else has it worse than him. Makes me think twice about how I treat people in all settings. Okay, so can you really read just the title of this book and not want to dive into the rest of it? Out of fear of losing his friend Sarah Byrnes, he continues to eat, and even tries to eat as much as he can so that he can “stay fat for Sarah Byrnes”, so that he won't stop being an 'outcast' with her and lose her friendship. The plot and catchy title looked intriguing, but it was hidden too deep underneath the annoying characters. Moby visits Sarah Byrnes, his best friend, in the hospital where she was taken after she quit speaking. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. Round down is appropriate, I feel though. Sarah admits that she never fully trusted Eric, but learns to do so by giving him a very personal letter.

The plot concerns a fat boy who takes up swimming and his friend, whose face was badly burned in an accident when she was very young. It was also my first. The problem is that if I drop this one word on you, you'll be like, "What?!" I never took the class, so I never read the book, but I’d heard good life affirming things about it from some of the derelicts that did take the class, and that stuck with me. Desperate, Sarah Byrnes decides to run away, but Moby and Ms. Lemry are able to stop her. As a result, Moby finds himself turning to one of his worse enemies when Sarah Byrnes is admitted to the hospital in an attempt to help her. The staff there suggests that he recall some moments that may jog her memory and bring her and back to reality. Ms. Lemry teaches the Contemporary American Thought class, which includes discussions on abortion, suicide, religion, body image, social justice, and many other topics. Sarah attempts to run away because she doesn’t want any more of her friends to get hurt, but Eric and Ms. Lemry stop her. And if she's going to get help, she'll get it from herself or she'll get it from us. Print. Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes Summary and Study Guide Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of “Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes” by Chris Crutcher. Ms. Cynthia Ellen Lemry: She is the swim team coach and teacher of the controversial class Contemporary American Thought. Carver Middleton: Eric's mother's boyfriend. Steve Ellerby: Ellerby is Eric's best male friend and a teammate on the swim team.

This was one of our monthly Young Adult Reading Group (YARG) Readerville selections back in the day. Confused as to what to do, Eric reveals all to his teacher and swim coach, Ms. Lemry. �o�xa���.�I �8:X�3J��v\Cr$�t'OJM�o��-���3i��b����@��.4ܼ1v� Sarah Byrnes, a young woman disfigured by burns she received when she was three, has always been a friend to Moby even when his excess weight made him an outcast at school. Eric's mother's boyfriend, Carver Middleton (former Vietnam Special Forces soldier), figures out that Virgil Byrnes must be hiding out in his house and lays a trap for him, capturing him and severely injuring him, which lands Carver in jail. After the ensuing events, they recruited Dale as “protection”, and their lives became a bit easier. This novel is a heart-wrenching, very real novel of two best friends that stayed close for so long due to their alienated qualities. Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes is a young adult fiction novel by Chris Crutcher. Dale, Sarah, and Eric wrote about Mautz family in Crispy Pork Rinds. In fact, it was very similar to other books of Crutcher's I've. The characters are well rounded and Crutcher does an incredible job extracting the best of each character while also attributing their faults. I just don't like the themes and values in this novel. ]��~�e�����ׯ~4��"�����8��d+���B�'Տ�)%l��CC�(��{�77'nl[G��Q��|�,̴3�3��>���e�x(�E�ޚ�Ź�Z{�ŏ��e�8a�v��k���]K�8H�}�&'�{,�n��]nO&�dA|� �]nϲ,��e�����:�ϟ��q��]� Despite this controversy, Crutcher's writing has received many awards. Will appeal to fans of Marieke Nijkamp, Andrew S. Sarah Byrnes and Eric Calhoune have been friends for years. g�n� M��i]ٷ�����Ꮇ$��-Lot$���'�@P��WT�~jc�+��m��lY:�0�Myē�;���4M�����і4��7��&�,��$�`fEgz6�?dK��U�Ntr{WqJ�с�o����[K~��!�W�-�@��L$�w�s�a�ɺ��Wa���0�χM�&Fɍm�[�æ�U���qh~G�P�t��Z#�9�GL��N����kt�6���+���� ��G=�8� m ���lX�p�9a9uL&��&���td���N�����w��b��xI�SCڋ�F�Ƥn���_ǰ��{�&�u I greatly enjoyed this book. Was a Vietnam War veteran and confronts Virgil Byrnes himself. Eric and Sarah Byrnes (who insists on being called Sarah Byrnes, rather than just Sarah) have been friends for a long time, originally because he was extremely overweight and she was severely burned as a child, leaving her with scars on her hands and face. This study guide contains the following sections: This detailed literature summary also contains Topics for Discussion and a Free Quiz on These two have built a friendship based on their mutual misfit status at school. It’s not because I revile the genre, but rather there is so much of it and I lack any sort of guide through the maze. Now Sarah Byrnes needs Moby to be her strength like she was his in junior high. Get Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes from Amazon.com. He convinced her to have an abortion the previous year, and then blamed her for their actions as a couple. This book reinforces my objections to Chris Crutcher’s novels, since it had the same problems I saw in his earlier books. <>>> Related Posts about Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes Chapter 9 Summary.

This book was just plain annoying.

Chris Crutcher's writing is controversial, and has been frequently challenged and even banned by individuals who want to censor his books by removing them from libraries and classrooms. Courage to find help for your friends even though they might hate you forever for it, the courage to protect your students e. It boils down to courage. I liked the whole concept and the writing was great, but certain things pulled me out and kept me from being too invested: the narrator has a very snappy, witty sense of humor and thinks and speaks in a unique way. Sarah Byrnes is worth it, she is the glue in Eric Calhoune's life at school and after school. It is a fantastic concept! Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes - Chapters 15-16 Summary & Analysis Chris Crutcher This Study Guide consists of approximately 31 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. All characters (except of Dale Thornton) are members of her class.

Moby is a high school senior whose best friend, Sarah Byrnes, has been put in a hospital because she refuses to speak.
Well that was a heartbreaking story. Also, some of the characters just seemed like cartoons and the events were a bit over the top.

This page was last edited on 2 May 2020, at 19:25. The staff there suggests that he recall some moments that may jog her memory and bring her out of her catatonic state and back to reality. When Eric discovers that he has a great deal of talent at swimming and begins to lose weight he worries that the bond between them will be broken, their commonality will be broken, so he decides to maintain his large status and stay fat so that he doesn't lose Sarah. ����G,���x��m�|�86]�|ƻ�3 !����p�;��Y@�1�5�Ż���D�f��d��_�A�L��m0P�WкZ�{�^k�� �,�ЋQ��ŶB?�x�و��5DX�v�r�h/����q6�Ň��\����g1�qe�nW�.�#-�f.µF�:�� Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property. This Study Guide consists of approximately 31 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - ����8��2��n�����Hߍ}E�� �.���9"��Js�pFm(|�~��+� \B~E���1IQ�p�r9��D�F0A:�u��1V��Ѽ�䚅0�5zC�ȿ�W{��Pl;/��C?ճ]��ިzc]��4r���ݮ�xGo� ��5�ĦY�'A6�e���j����-Һ���i��]O�U�|�8#Sd���"�R��g�(�^Q�i�S�� Moby began to lose weight but was afraid if he became skinny, Sarah Byrnes would assume he no longer wanted to be her friend, so he began eating more to stay fat for her. Eric “Moby” Calhoune’s best friend Sarah Byrnes is catatonic, sitting in the mental ward of Sacred Heart Hospital. When they were children, his weight and her scars made them both outcasts. The characters are very strong and well-formed. He is fierce about the need to give young people tools to help them better their lives. Add some crazy Christian fundamentalists, and a discussion class that talks about all the hot topics, Sarah faking being crazy to get away from her asshole father and you have the makings of a great read! However, Eric takes up swimming and slims down. While Sarah Byrnes and Ms. Lemry are gone, Virgil Byrnes attacks Moby in an attempt to learn where Sarah Byrnes is. However, Sarah Byrnes is afraid her testimony against her father would never stand up in court because she was so young when the burns happened. Eric makes his way to Dale Thornton’s house where he passes out, and Dale and his father rescue him and take him to the hospital. Eric “Mobe” Calhoune's best friend Sarah Byrnes is catatonic, sitting in the mental ward of Sacred Heart Hospital. Sarah Byrnes first considered suicide but then decided to go into the hospital to find another solution. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes is a book that confronts bullies and presents heroes who fight continuing battles.

Chris Crutcher's writing is controversial, and has been frequently challenged and even banned by individuals who want to censor his books by removing them from libraries and classrooms. That's great, but ALL the characters talked like that, which did not feel realistic at all. However, it a lighter and more 'fun' novel than Whale Talk.

He has difficulty reconciling his actions with his beliefs and later attempts suicide, but fails. She becomes mute and catatonic in class one day, apparently for no reason. Only half the book was spent on the plot, the other half was spent bashing someone for their beliefs and making this one stereotypical character look like a real jerk. In fact, it was very similar to other books of Crutcher's I've read in that it deals with sports and angst. [2]. Single-sitting read. Search this site. chapter 2.