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Cabot’s latest fat with laughs

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Also by Johanna Lurvey:

Valentine's Day around the world (February 14, 2008)
Exhibit explores planes of normality (February 7, 2008)
Super Bowl ads carry hefty price (February 5, 2008)
'Body Drama' exposes all for women (February 4, 2008)
Film abandons religious ship, retains corny theme (January 21, 2008)

by Johanna Lurvey

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Any female between the ages of 12 and 20 probably knows the name Meg Cabot. Author of tween-favorite series "The Princess Diaries," Cabot has probably done for contemporary chick-lit what Judy Blume did for the genre in 1986 with "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret." Meg Cabot's most recent novel, "Big Boned," is the epitome of sweet, carefree fiction. It is cleverly written with a well-woven, absorbing plot.

As the sequel to novels "Size 12 is Not Fat" and "Size 14 is Not Fat Either," "Big Boned," when read as a stand-alone, is somewhat like starting to watch a television show during the second or third season. The plot is still easy to follow, but subtle relationship details are lost without any information from the prior novels.

Cabot's heroine, ex-pop star Heather Wells, is a confident, charismatic woman who cannot say no to dessert. Instead of singing, Wells now works for Fischer Hall, a fictional New York College residence hall that has been nicknamed "Death Dorm" because of the mysterious murders that regularly occur there. The novel begins as Heather Wells and her boyfriend Tad Tocco go for a five-kilometer run. Not only is her beau extremely health-conscious, he is also Wells' remedial math teaching assistant, making their relationship taboo. During the run, Tocco quickly laps Heather as she furnishes a comical interior monologue.

"I think I felt something come loose back there. I'm not trying to overreact or anything, but I think it was my uterus. Honest. I think my uterus jiggled free. Is that even possible?"

After what ends up turning from a run into a walk, Heather arrives at her office to find that her boss, Dr. Owen Veatch, has been killed. Completely in shock, Wells must deal with her coworkers and detectives, since she was the one to report his death.

"'I'm not sick,'" she tells her co-workers. "But Owen is. Well, not sick so much as… dead."

Wells, by no means unfamiliar with homicide investigation, is leery to involve herself with this mystery because her life was threatened the last time she started crime sleuthing.

Not to mention her life is complicated enough without amateur detective work. Wells already has to handle a group of graduate students on a strike with no end in sight and Tocco's constant hints regarding a monumental question he must ask her.

However, it quickly becomes clear the focus of Wells' attraction is not her three-bean sandwich, protein shake-loving boyfriend, but instead her housemate and longtime friend, Cooper Cartwright. Heather secretly admits to herself when she is supposed to be running with Tocco that she and Cooper "have a lot in common."

As the title suggests, the food theme runs throughout "Big Boned." Yet, Wells' love of eating is part of what makes her character so likeable and relatable.

"I deserve a little whipped cream," Wells tries to convince herself. "Besides, whipped cream is dairy, and a girl needs dairy to fight off osteoporosis. Everyone knows this."

Cabot writes in casual, conversational manner throughout "Big Boned." This style makes the novel an escape from more demanding school reading. Of course, "Big Boned" is not Shakespeare by any comparison, and it will most certainly not leave the reader with newly recognized values or philosophies on life.

But in the right place, "Big Boned" is a pleasurable read. The dialogue and narrative are sweet and witty, and the plot is intriguing. Cabot's observations and commentaries are, at times, laugh-out-loud funny.

So, will Heather risk everything she has with Tocco and admit her possibly one-sided love for Cartwright before Tocco proposes? Will she find her boss's killer and liberate her the fellow student who has been imprisoned on charges of manslaughter? And, most importantly, will Heather ever attempt another five-kilometer run? We can only hope not.

4 out of 5 stars

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