Upon my first view of the synopsis of Chris Crutcher’s novel Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, I was anything but impressed by the summary of the book I was about to read. The short, uninteresting text located on the back of the book would not have enticed me to read the novel had I come across the book under normal circumstances (like finding it in a library instead of reading it for school…) The synopsis makes the book out to be just another “ho-hum” novel and gave me no enthusiasm to dive into the text. To my surprise and utter delight, my initial reaction proved to be anything but correct, as I thoroughly enjoyed the book from cover to cover and could not put it down throughout my reading experience. However, the synopsis simply covers the main idea of Sarah Byrnes and Eric Calhoune being friends for an extensive amount of time and Sarah Byrnes being in the mental psychology ward in the Sacred Heart hospital. It also briefly touches on the obesity of Eric and the scars of Sarah. In the summary, Crutcher fails to mention any of the hard-hitting issues mentioned in Ms. Lemry’s Contemporary American Thought class she offers or the heat Vice Principal Mautz throws at her for holding the class. He also could have mentioned something about the recurring drama that unfolds between Mark Brittain and the rest of the school as he attempts to shove his religion “down their throats” and how he believes that Eric Calhoune and Steve Ellerby have a personal vendetta against him both in the classroom and in the pool. He possibly could have touched on Sarah Byrnes’ family life and how her mom deserted her almost immediately after the scarring incident as a child and how her dad refuses to allow reconstructive surgery to repair her face from the horrible scars. Or maybe he could have touched on the idea of how Eric Calhoune is constantly having to prove his friendship and loyalty to Sarah Byrnes in order to convince her that he is truly her friend and not just another social worker who can do nothing about her situation because there is no evidence to send her father behind bars for good. Or maybe, just maybe, he could have mentioned the hardships that come with a changing family as Eric Calhoune experiences as his single mom dates different guys and he finally begins to warm up to and respect his potential father as the novel progresses. The list of possibilities is quite extensive, and yet the synopsis simply sticks to the main idea of Byrnes’ hospitalization which ends up being less of a main theme than I had originally predicted before reading the book (or while reading it, for that matter…). Not that her hospitalization was a minor theme, but the book did not center around that one idea as the synopsis did. I would readily recommend the novel Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes to anyone, but I think it will be a little more difficult to interest others in the novel because they may make the same false assumption that I made about the story’s plot when I read the summary. The novel has sports, philosophy, religion, and challenges with friendships, respect, loyalty and so much more that was far more intriguing to me then the main theme itself in my opinion. Now I understand the concept of not giving away the entire novel in the synopsis and leaving some surprises for the text, but I think Crutcher could have given away just a little bit more in order to intrigue his first-time readers who know nothing about his writing prowess and were not referred by a friend to read the story (like my classmates and me…). Isn’t the whole purpose of the synopsis to captivate the reader and entice them to crack the cover and read the book with enthusiasm and eagerness? Had I come across this book in the library under different circumstances, I would have read the summary and become bored, and then quickly placed the book back on the shelf. I hate to admit it, but I think I would have. Had that been the case, I would have missed out on one of the greatest books I have ever read and also missed out on an opportunity to read all of the novels in Chris Crutcher’s repertoire.
4 comments:
I totally agree with you that the synopsis, as you call it, wasn’t very interesting. I wasn’t too thrilled either when I read it. I defiantly agree with you that they could of included more about CAT class and also more about all the fighting, for lack of a better term, that Eric and Mark when through. A question I have is do you think that if Chris Crutcher would of added more into his summary, like I did, that it would of ruined the book and wouldn’t of let the reader discover to many more exciting things? I do agree with you though that he could of added a little more but not so much that the book would have been ruined.
Andrew.
I also agree very strongly with you about the synopsis. At first I was like "oh great, this is going to be a horrible book." But as the book went on, so did my interest in it. It eventually became very intriguing. I also agree that a little more could have been added to the book, but not a ton. Otherwise, the book could have been ruined. Wonderful job andrew!
ellie.
You both seem to share my feelings about the less-than-impressive synopsis (good to know I'm not the ONLY one...) I do believe more could have been added to the summary. Not so much that it gives the entire book away, but just enough for my thoughts of "Oh boy, another school novel" to disappear BEFORE I open the cover. The summary makes me wonder if Crutcher wrote it himself or if another party such as the publishing company wrote it for him...it would be interesting to find out.
I do think that another person wrote the synopsis. I think that if Chris would of wrote it he would have included a little more then the other person did. I do wonder though if Chris had to sign off on that synopsis. He might of felt if he gave away too much of the book it wouldn’t be interesting when you read it. I also think he tried to use the technique of leaving us without answers and than the thinks that we will read the book to find them out. Lets just say it didn’t work out very well.
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