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kathydavie's review against another edition
5.0
A standalone novel in the horror literature genre that will make you laugh.
This ARC was sent to me by James Sabata for an honest review.
My Take
That's right, horror that easily pulls the laughter from you as Sabata embraces his inner teen and lets us have it from the enlarged right bicep to the smell of the locker room...and oh yeah, I could definitely smell that reek. All set in the horror slasher movie genre. I don't watch horror movies...too scary!! But Sabata's tale brought them to life in Fat Camp without the idiot tropes we all despise.
The literature part? Yes. Sabata crafts a brilliant story about the woes of being super-fat as a teenage boy. Nope, he's not taking potshots and cracking jokes about being fat. Sabata is serious in his exploration of Phillip's problems. It's also an opportunity for the fat boy to show us what's it like to be trapped in that fat body and have to use it. The problems of simply living. And he does it so well, lol.
It's all through Phillip's eyes in first person protagonist point-of-view, as he moans about Seth signing up right along with him... Hey, shouldn't a best friend just moan and groan about the idea?, lol. It's that time spent at fat camp, and the horrors that come along with it that change Phillip's perspective on himself. Those thoughts Phillip has about always being picked last, and then the absolute humiliation of being picked last amongst a group of other kids who are always picked last really resonated. The more I think on Fat Camp, the more impressed I am with what Sabata has created. Funny. Scary. Realistic in exploring those themes of bullies, horror films, self-analysis, bravery... Damned good.
That Seth is something else, an incredibly empathic friend to Phillip, even if Phillip isn't impressed. Of course Phillip has his own insights into his sister, especially since his sessions with the camp doc. Emily is surprising as well, seeing inside the book instead of focusing on the cover. Nikki's not too bad either.
The change in their relationship leads to some interesting discussions, including the one about cliques and why people form up with each other.
Poor Phillip, his best friend is dating his sister. Gross. Truly gross is the Perkins family's reaction to the afterwards.
Oh, lord, that shower scene after Phillip slides through the mud. Crack. Me. Up.
No, no, just...no. I don't care if it's Fit Camp or Fat Camp or whatever, I will never be able to see food as simply fuel. No matter what Dr Munson says:
On the surface, Fat Camp is about Phillip's need to lose weight, and it's a journey that takes him through hell in so many ways. But it's a hell that helps him to grow within himself and begin to understand the whys of it.
Always remember, you can't save anyone until you save yourself.
The Story
The emotional baggage Phillip carries weighs more than that physical 400 pounds, and he's about to give up. Sure, he's learned a lot from Dr Munson and will learn a lot more when Emily opens up and sees him as someone more...until a homicidal maniac hell-bent on revenge attacks.
Phillip must either find the courage to save the people around him or fall victim to his own self-doubt … and possibly a machete.
The Characters
Phillip McCracken is 400 pounds overweight, and he has learned that his father's death and his mother is his trigger to overeat. Nicole "Nikki" McCracken is his cheerleader sister. JT is their oldest cousin. Emily Clausen, a seventeen-year-old cheerleader, is Nicole's best friend, and the love of Phillip's life. Although he knows she'd never even think of looking at him. Michael is Emily's brother.
Camp Wašíšu is...
...Fit Camp, first opened in 1985 with the intention of helping kids lose weight, gain self-confidence, and turn their lives around. Frank Doyle is the legend of the camp for the strides he made in losing weight, breaking records, and winning every competition.
Seth Jenkins is his best friend and doing much better at losing weight than Phillip. Georgie Perkins is Phillip's roommate and comes from money. (An ancestor, Kane H. Perkins donated the money to build the place, and the family rents it out as an upscale B&B the rest of the year.) Others include Obi who is too excited about being a normal teen without all those expectations from his parents, Timothy Mallick prefers his online playing and his parents' too-few expectations, Jason Kramer and Fred Hoffman are high school defensive linemen, Jonathan Young, Chuck Denlon, Randy Waterhouse will get you what you want...for cash, Bobby Whannell is the sole anorexic, Brandon Katz, Kyle Messineo, Vincent Alesio is Kyle's basketball partner, Eduardo, Logan, and Jared are fellow campers.
Gordon "Sarge" Stanheight had been a Marine Drill Instructor who had also served in the First Gulf War and Operating Enduring Freedom. Now he's the head counselor. Greg Munson is the doc's husband who is also a camp counselor along with Eric Schultz; Jeff Halden, who's the resident vegetarian hippie; and, Tony and Todd are the overnight counselors. Diane is the head cook. Dr Jessica Munson is the camp therapist.
A few years back, John Walker really failed Fat Camp. Orlando washed out this year. Melissa is another cheerleader along with Nicole and Emily.
Karen Young is Jonathan's mother. Amber is the local weather girl on the radio. Chris is the boyfriend who dumped Emily. The Hochstein sisters appear to be talkers. Dr Rezac is another therapist. Rachel will be a friend of Nikki's from college.
In those camp stories...
...Jessica got her head cut off in the prologue. The dog turned into Doug who turns into a werewolf and meets his old owner, Robert Stuart. Sir Robert of the Lake became Sir Robert the Bob.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a scary cartoon of leafless writhing trees with log cabins set among them, and muddied, terrified, chins and tummies wobbling, screaming in fear as Seth and Phillip run toward us with the machete wielding, hooded killer behind them. The sky above is dark gray with wobbling stripes of lighter gray angling across with a full moon behind it all. The title is at the top in a deep pink, the fear oozing down from the foot of the letters. The author's name is in white at the bottom in a distressed font. Perfect.
That sign may have once read "Fit Camp", but a little paint and the title is no euphemism. It's Fat Camp, where every camper needs to lose weight.
This ARC was sent to me by James Sabata for an honest review.
My Take
That's right, horror that easily pulls the laughter from you as Sabata embraces his inner teen and lets us have it from the enlarged right bicep to the smell of the locker room...and oh yeah, I could definitely smell that reek. All set in the horror slasher movie genre. I don't watch horror movies...too scary!! But Sabata's tale brought them to life in Fat Camp without the idiot tropes we all despise.
The literature part? Yes. Sabata crafts a brilliant story about the woes of being super-fat as a teenage boy. Nope, he's not taking potshots and cracking jokes about being fat. Sabata is serious in his exploration of Phillip's problems. It's also an opportunity for the fat boy to show us what's it like to be trapped in that fat body and have to use it. The problems of simply living. And he does it so well, lol.
It's all through Phillip's eyes in first person protagonist point-of-view, as he moans about Seth signing up right along with him... Hey, shouldn't a best friend just moan and groan about the idea?, lol. It's that time spent at fat camp, and the horrors that come along with it that change Phillip's perspective on himself. Those thoughts Phillip has about always being picked last, and then the absolute humiliation of being picked last amongst a group of other kids who are always picked last really resonated. The more I think on Fat Camp, the more impressed I am with what Sabata has created. Funny. Scary. Realistic in exploring those themes of bullies, horror films, self-analysis, bravery... Damned good.
That Seth is something else, an incredibly empathic friend to Phillip, even if Phillip isn't impressed. Of course Phillip has his own insights into his sister, especially since his sessions with the camp doc. Emily is surprising as well, seeing inside the book instead of focusing on the cover. Nikki's not too bad either.
The change in their relationship leads to some interesting discussions, including the one about cliques and why people form up with each other.
Poor Phillip, his best friend is dating his sister. Gross. Truly gross is the Perkins family's reaction to the afterwards.
Oh, lord, that shower scene after Phillip slides through the mud. Crack. Me. Up.
No, no, just...no. I don't care if it's Fit Camp or Fat Camp or whatever, I will never be able to see food as simply fuel. No matter what Dr Munson says:
"...when you stop eating food for the flavor and you eat it as the fuel you need to get through the day, it becomes incredibly easy to eat the same thing every day."No. Okay, yeah. I do eat the same thing every day, pretty much. Lord knows I'll cook up a week's worth of food, so I don't have to cook from scratch every night! But what's the point in eating if it's not for the flavor!? If I'm eating, I want to enjoy the flavors. Otherwise, why not just take a pill or down a diet drink?
On the surface, Fat Camp is about Phillip's need to lose weight, and it's a journey that takes him through hell in so many ways. But it's a hell that helps him to grow within himself and begin to understand the whys of it.
Always remember, you can't save anyone until you save yourself.
The Story
The emotional baggage Phillip carries weighs more than that physical 400 pounds, and he's about to give up. Sure, he's learned a lot from Dr Munson and will learn a lot more when Emily opens up and sees him as someone more...until a homicidal maniac hell-bent on revenge attacks.
Phillip must either find the courage to save the people around him or fall victim to his own self-doubt … and possibly a machete.
The Characters
Phillip McCracken is 400 pounds overweight, and he has learned that his father's death and his mother is his trigger to overeat. Nicole "Nikki" McCracken is his cheerleader sister. JT is their oldest cousin. Emily Clausen, a seventeen-year-old cheerleader, is Nicole's best friend, and the love of Phillip's life. Although he knows she'd never even think of looking at him. Michael is Emily's brother.
Camp Wašíšu is...
...Fit Camp, first opened in 1985 with the intention of helping kids lose weight, gain self-confidence, and turn their lives around. Frank Doyle is the legend of the camp for the strides he made in losing weight, breaking records, and winning every competition.
Seth Jenkins is his best friend and doing much better at losing weight than Phillip. Georgie Perkins is Phillip's roommate and comes from money. (An ancestor, Kane H. Perkins donated the money to build the place, and the family rents it out as an upscale B&B the rest of the year.) Others include Obi who is too excited about being a normal teen without all those expectations from his parents, Timothy Mallick prefers his online playing and his parents' too-few expectations, Jason Kramer and Fred Hoffman are high school defensive linemen, Jonathan Young, Chuck Denlon, Randy Waterhouse will get you what you want...for cash, Bobby Whannell is the sole anorexic, Brandon Katz, Kyle Messineo, Vincent Alesio is Kyle's basketball partner, Eduardo, Logan, and Jared are fellow campers.
Gordon "Sarge" Stanheight had been a Marine Drill Instructor who had also served in the First Gulf War and Operating Enduring Freedom. Now he's the head counselor. Greg Munson is the doc's husband who is also a camp counselor along with Eric Schultz; Jeff Halden, who's the resident vegetarian hippie; and, Tony and Todd are the overnight counselors. Diane is the head cook. Dr Jessica Munson is the camp therapist.
A few years back, John Walker really failed Fat Camp. Orlando washed out this year. Melissa is another cheerleader along with Nicole and Emily.
Karen Young is Jonathan's mother. Amber is the local weather girl on the radio. Chris is the boyfriend who dumped Emily. The Hochstein sisters appear to be talkers. Dr Rezac is another therapist. Rachel will be a friend of Nikki's from college.
In those camp stories...
...Jessica got her head cut off in the prologue. The dog turned into Doug who turns into a werewolf and meets his old owner, Robert Stuart. Sir Robert of the Lake became Sir Robert the Bob.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a scary cartoon of leafless writhing trees with log cabins set among them, and muddied, terrified, chins and tummies wobbling, screaming in fear as Seth and Phillip run toward us with the machete wielding, hooded killer behind them. The sky above is dark gray with wobbling stripes of lighter gray angling across with a full moon behind it all. The title is at the top in a deep pink, the fear oozing down from the foot of the letters. The author's name is in white at the bottom in a distressed font. Perfect.
That sign may have once read "Fit Camp", but a little paint and the title is no euphemism. It's Fat Camp, where every camper needs to lose weight.
theboldbookworm's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 This was a fun coming-of-age slasher novel. I liked that it has another layer to the story as the reader gets to know Phil and how he ended up at camp. There is a bit of humor and a bit of blood. I wish it had been a little gorier and I also figured out who the killer was way before the end. I would recommend this if you like a quick slasher read that takes place at summer camp.
neon_capricorn's review against another edition
4.0
Fat Camp was a really fun read overall. It has everything in it: awkward teenagers, jealousy, broken hearts, family tragedy, best friends, raging hormones, and a sadistic killer stalking the woods. This is a good blend of a coming-of-age tale in a slasher genre. Further, the story has heart to it, it feels genuine. Also, the book has crude humor in it, and it does have some fat jokes as well, but it does promote the idea of loving yourself and making changes in your life for yourself and not for other people.
smithreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Addiction, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Eating disorder, Gore, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Car accident, and Dysphoria
bellashaven's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
nat1577's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. I enjoyed this book, and finished the whole thing in a day because I was so eager to find out what would happen next. Overall, I really liked the characterisation of most of the characters, and the main character in particular was very interesting. I liked that the novel took the time to flesh out some of the characters and their relationships with each other first. I thought it was an interesting, fast-paced read, and I was never bored while reading it. What let it down was the killer. I thought that the reveal was very predictable, and I guessed who it was almost immediately. I feel like the author was trying to be subtle about the clues he was handing out, but it was just very obvious very soon after the killings started. What bothered me the most about the killer was his motivation; sure, it might've worked as a motivator in certain situations, but it definitely did not work in the context of a slasher novel. I think this was the part that was the biggest disappointment in the novel, because there just didn't seem to be any point to it.
So overall, I really did enjoy the characterisation and overall story, but I was definitely disappointed with characterisation and reveal of the killer.
So overall, I really did enjoy the characterisation and overall story, but I was definitely disappointed with characterisation and reveal of the killer.
mickdsmith's review against another edition
4.0
The cover of this book tells the reader loud and clear the mood to be expected. It didn’t let me down. Sometimes you want a book that’s like a quick _____, without the dinner, small talk, backstory, and slow walk on the boardwalk. Fun, pithy, and enjoyable!
slimeandslashers's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars rounded down for Goodreads.
This read was fun, especially towards the second half of the book. The first half was more about scene-setting and getting to know the characters and their relationships. I don't mind that at all.
The one criticism I have is that there is a lot of self-deprecating humor that is joked about between the characters and even spoken in the main character's thoughts. I don't mind that being in the book, but there is so much of it that it gets tiring to read at times. That was the only big negative for me.
The best part about this book is the emotion and relatability contained throughout the story, especially near the end. I even teared up while reading the last page.
I found parts of the story predictable, but that doesn't bother me. I liked the slashing and the gore which is actually more prominent than I thought it would be. Overall, I'd describe this as a fun slasher that doesn't skimp on the blood but has plenty of heart too! So I'd totally recommend this to anyone who likes slasher stories...the bonus is that this one has some emotional depth to it which can be rare for slasher books.
This read was fun, especially towards the second half of the book. The first half was more about scene-setting and getting to know the characters and their relationships. I don't mind that at all.
The one criticism I have is that there is a lot of self-deprecating humor that is joked about between the characters and even spoken in the main character's thoughts. I don't mind that being in the book, but there is so much of it that it gets tiring to read at times. That was the only big negative for me.
The best part about this book is the emotion and relatability contained throughout the story, especially near the end. I even teared up while reading the last page.
I found parts of the story predictable, but that doesn't bother me. I liked the slashing and the gore which is actually more prominent than I thought it would be. Overall, I'd describe this as a fun slasher that doesn't skimp on the blood but has plenty of heart too! So I'd totally recommend this to anyone who likes slasher stories...the bonus is that this one has some emotional depth to it which can be rare for slasher books.
araviss226's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely adored this book. It checked all of my boxes. It had buckets of heart and buckets of blood. It had amazing, lovable, fleshed out characters, it has suspense, action, humor, and my god can it get emotional at times. It made me laugh out loud, it made me tear up, it made me gasp. It had it all for me. It's got twists and turns and is so well paced. Every word of the book moved the plot along and fleshed out the characters more and more with basically zero dead space or lulls in the story. The writing has so much character and such a clear voice. Also, I am a therapist and I have never seen a better representation of a therapist as a character or therapy in general as a process than in this book. This is not even a huge part of the book, but I was so impressed that I had to mention it. I just have nothing bad to say about this book. I could gush incoherently about it for days. Just trust and read it and I guarantee that you won't be disappointed. This is definitely going down as one of my all time favorites and it will definitely stick with me for a long time.