One Fat Summer Characters

Imagine being so fat that you never wear a t-shirt in public. Ever. Imagine having only one friend that understands you in the whole world. This is what life is like for Bobby Marks, in One Fat Summer, an entertaining and inspiring novel. This book is a good read because the characters are unique, the plot is exhilarating, and the author entertains you through riveting scenes and thrilling action.
There are many interesting characters in this book. Bobby Marks, the main character, is an overweight teenager living on Rumson Lake for the summer. Bobby is very self conscious about his weight. In fact, he only goes out in public if it is cool enough to wear a long sleeve shirt and sweatpants. So, as you can imagine, he hates summer. Bobby is also
quite imaginative. When he was younger he would spend hours each day imagining what life would be like to be invisible. Sometimes when he is mowing at Dr. Khan’s house, he pretends to be a soldier in a fierce battle just to get through the hard work. Dr. Khan is the old man that Bobby works for. He is a stern old man with high expectations and little forgiveness. When Bobby mows the lawn, Dr. Khan just stands in the window, looming over Bobby, waiting for him to mess up one time, just so he can come out and yell and him and charge him for a broken lawn mower blade or something. After a few days of work, Khan lowered Bobby’s pay significantly because Bobby didn’t meet his high standards. Another way Dr. Khan expresses his strictness is that he is very picky about the time. If Bobby is so much as 30 seconds late, Dr. Khan gets on his case about wanting the job or not. Even though Dr. Khan is a mean old man, he shows some signs of kindness at times. On the second day of Bobby’s employment, he met Willie Rumson. Willie was applying for the same job as Bobby, so Willie got mad when he saw Bobby coming to work. Willie started to insult Bobby about his weight and kept harassing him until Dr. Khan stood up for Bobby and told Willie to go away. Pete Marino is a friend of Bobby’s sister. He is a swimmer and is a really great guy overall. He is very kind and friendly. At the beginning of the summer Pete helped out Bobby when Willie and his gang were harassing Bobby at a fair. Even though he may not remember, when Bobby was younger Pete gave him swimming lessons without making Bobby feel insecure about his weight and his body. Bobby probably will remember that act of kindness his whole life. Also, at first when Bobby started his job he didn’t want his parents to know about it so Peter agreed to pretend like Bobby was spending time at his house instead of at Dr. Khan’s. Joanie is Bobby’s best friend. Even though Joanie is not in a whole lot of the plot of the book, she has a big impact on the story and on Bobby. Joanie and Bobby really understand each other and they rely on each other all the time for support. Joanie’s nose is really big, and she and Bobby became friends in elementary school because they both had physical features that made them stand out and they both were made fun of. If it weren’t for Joanie, Bobby would have no friends and no one to talk to, share secrets, or to hang out with. Without Joanie, Bobby’s life would be pretty miserable.
The plot of the book revolves around the one summer of Bobby Marks and how it changes his life. At the beginning of the book, Bobby is very self conscious about his weight. His weight dictates his life in many ways, including his self confidence. He feels like his weight determines what he can do. He feels like it holds him back from the things he wants to do, like swimming and diving. Bobby and his friend Joanie’s family both have summer homes on Rumson Lake. Bobby is excited about getting to spend the summer working on a school project with Joanie, until unexpectedly her family goes back to the city for the rest of the summer. The night before Joanie left, she helped Bobby get a summer job, mowing the lawn at Dr. Kahn’s house. Bobby spends the summer making the long walk to Dr. Kahn’s house every day. The work is hard at first for Bobby, but he starts to lose weight and gets stronger, and the work becomes easier and easier every day. There is one problem however. Willie Rumson isn’t too happy about losing the job to fat Bobby Marks. Willie and his gang start ambushing Bobby almost every week. One time, Willie got so mad that he kidnapped Bobby and took him to the island in the middle of the lake. It is there where he strips Bobby of all his clothes, leaving alone and bare naked for the night. Luckily, one of Willie’s buddies feels bad about leaving Bobby on the island and retrieves Bobby and gives him a fresh pair of clothes. After being alone on an island naked in terrible, stormy weather, somehow Bobby becomes more comfortable with his body, and is more confident. Joanie returns to the lake a few weeks later and Bobby realizes why she had been gone over the summer; to get plastic surgery on her nose. Now that Joanie is beautiful, Bobby feels like they have nothing in common any more. But Bobby is changing too. He isn’t fat anymore, and is quite handsome. Joanie and Bobby remain friends and complete their school project the rest of the summer. As for Bobby, he has gone through a complete transformation during the summer. He is a confident young man instead of being the shy embarrassed fat kid all the time. Instead of hating summer, he now thinks summer is the best thing in the world. The purpose of this novel is to entertain through drama.
The author uses action and suspense in many exciting scenes. When Bobby and his parents get home after shopping in the city one night, they see the Marino family truck in the driveway. The Marino’s son, Pete, and Bobby’s sister, Michelle, had been dating for a while but sort of in secret. This time Pete had come over to Bobby’s house and then the dad caught them there together. When Bobby’s dad confronted Mr. Marino about it, Mr. Marino insulted Michelle and blamed her. Bobby’s dad then became furious and charged at Mr. Marino and they got into a huge fight, wrestling on the ground, bumping into cars. Another example of suspense is one day at work Bobby was cleaning the gutters on the roof. He was minding his own business until the Smith brothers came along. The Smith brothers worked for Mr. Kahn as well, doing the heavier duty jobs. The Smith’s were friends of Willie Rumson, so as you can imagine they didn’t really like Bobby too much. They thought it would be a funny prank to throw the ladder onto the ground. When Bobby realized what they had done, he became very scared, because he had never been up that high in his whole life. Bobby was stuck up there for a couple hours until Dr. Kahn realized that he was up there. Lucky for Bobby he didn’t charge him for the damaged plants and flowers because Dr. Kahn knew it was the Smiths who did it, not Bobby. Probably the most dramatic thing that happened in the whole book was when Bobby, Joanie, and Pete were all in the shack on the Marino’s beach, and they turned around to see Willie Rumson standing there, pointing a .22 rifle to their faces. He then escorted them out onto the dock, and said he was going to shoot Bobby in the knee. Then Jim arrived. Jim tried to talk Willie out of shooting Bobby but nothing worked until he brought up Willie’s mom and how Willie had done nothing in his life and this would only make it worse. Willie then realized that Jim was right.
Pete, Joanie and Bobby all got away with their lives. The author, Robert Lipsyte, uses interesting characters, an intertwining plot, and a nail biting writing style that makes One Fat Summer a great read for all ages. It really applies to today’s society where people get discriminated against for numerous things, whether it weight, looks, or race.