Review: Artichoke’s Heart

Title: Artichoke’s Heart
Author: Suzanne Supplee
Published: 2008 by Dutton Books (member of Penguin Group
Obtained: Library

Rosemary Goode is smart and funny and loyal and the best eyebrow waxer in Spring Hill, Tennessee. But only one thing seems to matter to anyone, including Rosemary: her weight.

Rosemary's only boyfriends are the "secret lovers" stashed under her bed: Mr. Hershey, Mr. Reeses, and Mr. M&M. Worse, Christmas brought nothing but unwanted presents: a treadmill from Mother and two tickets to the Healing the Fat Girl Within conference from nosy Aunt Mary. And when your mom runs the most successful (and gossipy) beauty shop in town, it can be hard to keep a low profile…especially when the scale just hit an all-time high.
Rosemary resolves to lose the weight, but her journey turns out to be about everything but fat. A life-changing, waist-shrinking year is captured with honesty and humor—topped with an extra-large helping of Southern charm—in this enchanting debut.

Okay, so this book was just really good.

In case you think this is another boring fat-girl book, it’s not. I’m not overweight, but I have my little things (procrastination…) that make me really horrible when I “indulge”, and so this book was still very relatable to me.

I loved every character and every moment of this book. Her mother’s personality was so realistic, and the dynamics of the aunt-mother-daughter relationship was so well presented. Also Kyle was completely perfect and a good example of looking beyond outside appearances.

I also started wishing my mother owned a beauty shop. How cool would that be?!
The detail in this book regarding how Rosemary feels about everything about her body, makes me wonder if the author was ever overweight. It is so perfect to how I would assume that would all go down.

There’s not much else to say, except, go read it. Because not only will in inspire you to tackle your own problems, but it will give insight into the world of overweight teenagers/teenagers with physical insecurities.

Suzanne breaks the mold of YA fiction with this story. Please keep writing!

Rating: 9/10

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Content Warnings: Mild language, kissing, and some teenager thoughts on sex.