Fat Chance is a novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 that was published in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 in 1996. It is one of several similar books written by Australian author Margaret Clark.

Plot summary

The story is set in suburban Melbourne, Australia. The protagonist

Protagonist

A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

, Lisa Trelaw, is a teenage girl who is overly concerned about her weight. Other characters include her brother, Nick, who frequently teases her; Lisa's hard working father and over-weight mother; and her best friend Penny.

The narrative follows Lisa through a series of life changing events. First, the 'Dog Squad' food van her parents bought and she worked in. Also, the cliff accident where a large rock fell, crushing two of Lisa's friends and narrowly missing her.

The story has an ambiguous climax when Lisa is offered a modelling contract. By this stage Lisa's attitude had gone full circle. She had started out obsessed with her weight, always binge eating and then starving herself. In the end she is confident, eating healthy, with no eating disorder.

Characters

• Lisa. is a teenage girl with symptoms of an eating disorder
  Eating disorder
  Eating disorders refer to a group of conditions defined by abnormal eating habits that may involve either insufficient or excessive food intake to the detriment of an individual's physical and mental health. Bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and binge eating disorder are the most common specific...
  
  . She is terrified of being fat and thinks her body is disgusting. Lisa is the protagonist
  Protagonist
  A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
  
   of the story, and it is her narrative we read in Fat Chance.
• Dad. Lisa's hard working father. It was his idea to buy the 'Dog Squad' food van and set it up at Jan Juc
  Jan Juc, Victoria
  Jan Juc is a coastal town of Victoria, Australia, adjacent to Torquay, Victoria. At the 2006 census, Jan Juc had a population of 3,158.- History :Jan Juc Post Office opened on 25 January 1862, but was renamed Bellbrae in 1923....
  
   Beach. He wanted the family to make more money so he could work less hours.
• Mum. Lisa's mother. Lisa thinks she is 'fat' and can't understand what her father finds attractive in her mother. Lisa has several conflicts with her mother about the types of food the family eat.
• Nick. Lisa's brother. Always teases his sister; calls her 'Lisa lard legs' and other names that upset Lisa. Nick is very popular and many girls in the story think he is 'cute'.
• Penny. Lisa's best friend. She is slim and her family are very health conscious. Pen is seriously injured when a large rock breaks off a cliff and falls on her.
• Brad 'Creepy' Crawley. Always teases Lisa, but seems to secretly like her.
• Mike. Another boy who likes Lisa. He is very kind and supportive after the cliff accident.
• Shelley. Another one of Lisa's Friends that is slim and healthy. Shelley was injured in the same accident as Penny.

Narrative

The narrative is first person point-of-view. The narrator is Lisa Trelaw. The first person narrative suits the story for a couple of key reasons:

• It allows the reader to get more emotionally involved in Lisa's story.
• Overall, it gives the text greater emotional pull. This is important in a text that is directed at teenagers. A Third person narrative would be too distant and aloof.

The narrative presents the events of the story in chronological order.

Major themes

There are several issues raised in the text, the most notable are:

• Peer pressure
  Peer pressure
  Peer pressure refers to the influence exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes, values, or behavior in order to conform to group norms. Social groups affected include membership groups, when the individual is "formally" a member , or a social clique...
  
   - the influence of friendship on a persons behaviour.
• Media
  Media
  Media may refer to:- Communications :* Media , tools used to store and deliver information or data** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising...
  
   - the role of the media and the influence it has on young minds.
• Eating disorders - the impact of eating disorders, like anorexia and bulimia, on the lives of young women.
• Family relationships - the importance of a supportive and caring family environment for the growth and development of young adults.
• Friends
  Friendship
  Friendship is a form of interpersonal relationship generally considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association are often thought of as spanning across the same continuum...
  
  - the importance of friendship in the lives of young adults.