Fat Vampire: A Never Coming of Age Story by Adam Rex
Title: Fat Vampire: A Never Coming of Age Story
Author: Adam Rex
Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 44352
Description: After being bitten by a vampire, not only is fifteen-year-old Doug doomed eternally to be fat, but now he must also save himself from the desperate host of a public-access-cable vampire-hunting television show that is on the verge of cancellation.
Rubric Rating: Level 1: Leave It
Why I Read It: This was all title and cover. I thought the cover image was fabulous and I was piqued by the humour of the title.
Lori's Notes: Doug is a vampire. But he isn't the typically good-looking, mesmerizing, adaptable vampire. He's a socially awkward, geeky, fat vampire. He is an overweight social misfit who just wants to fit in. Becoming a vampire just further emphasizes how out of place he is at school and even within his own social group. Sejal, a foreign exchange student (and Doug's crush) exemplifies this same idea having been diagnosed as having the "google." She becomes so consumed by her life online that she forgets to live her "real" one. The internet, in essence, has become a vampire feeding off of Sejal's life. When Doug is video-taped at the San Diego zoo trying to feed from a Panda, he attracts the attention of the obsessive host of the TV show "Vampire Hunters" Alan Friendly, who actually isn't friendly at all. However, Doug is not the only Vampire in this novel and we find out that Doug's transformation didn't happen exactly as he has described. Laugh out loud funny, I would have given this book a better rating for the exception of the last three pages. It seems as though the author didn't know how to finish the book and just left a mish-mash confusing ending. An enjoyable read until the end.
Recommended Readers: Grade 9 and Up. A good recommendation for those who are looking for a book with a lot of humour and those who are tired of the typical vampire/supernatural genre. Also a good book for those teens who have become "tech obsessed".
Favourite Passages:
"I think...I think sometimes you think you're the hero of the story, and sometimes you think you're the victim," said the voice. "But you're not either." Page 2
"Some people couldn't deal with all the new information. They couldn't pull themselves away from their computers. But that had always been a problem. That was nothing new. The people who contracted a clinical case of the Google couldn't pull themselves away from themselves...The new search engines could show these things to you. They could show you to you. The internet knew what you looked like. The internet had your scent. And if these rumors and blurry visitations weren't enough (and they weren't), you could move out of your body and onto the web's muddy crossroads for good, forever." Pages 45-46.
Themes: Vampires, Coming of Age, Sexuality, Homosexuality, Fitting In, Social Awareness, Online vs. Real Life, Dating, Losing Oneself, Friendship, Technology.
Cross-Genre Links:
Movies: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
Movies: Lost Boys (1987)
Music: People are Strange by The Doors
Music: Dracula's Wedding by Outkast
Media Search: Vampire History
Wikipedia Article: Vampires
Possible Discussion or Essay Topics:
- How does Doug actually become a Vampire?
- How do Doug and the other young vampires adapt to their new lives?
- What exactly is the "google" that Sejal suffers from?
- How does the author relate the internet and technology to vampirism?
- What do you think of the ending? How would you have finished the story?
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