Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff

I was so hoping to read a good book over the Christmas vacation. All those days off stretched before me and I imagined time to relax, be lazy, and just find time for reading. With a stack of books in my arms, I left my public library with so many choices. Not so fast!

The first two I tried were way too graphic. I like a good mystery but these were beyond being the simple "who dunnit" mysteries. I had to stop reading them because the images I created in my mind were just too gory.

Let me try a young adult fiction. How bad can that be? I usually find the authors of YA lit to be quite good with stories that keep me intrigued. So I opened Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff. I knew this was going to be a story of a high school boy with very low self esteem - he was fat and bullied for it. What I didn't expect was a predictable story. You know what I mean - boy eats too much and feels depressed - boy gets bullied at school yet has a few friends who stand up for him - boy inadvertently connects with the captain of the football team - boy soon is a star player - boy discovers he was tricked into joining the team - boy stands up for himself and quits but not before the big game which he pulls off the big win - boy goes back to his original friends realizing the true meaning of life, family, and friendship.

Maybe I just wasn't looking for that kind of predictable story. Afterall, I did finish reading it and did not give up. What was I looking for? Maybe just a simple story that didn't task my brain. It was vacation.

Reviewed by Mrs. Boehm