A heart-warming teen story from the unique voice of Laura Dockrill, about Bluebelle, aka BB, aka Big Bones - a sixteen-year-old girl encouraged to tackle her weight even though she's perfectly happy, thank you, and getting on with her life and in love with food. Then a tragedy in the family forces BB to find a new relationship with her body and herself. Moving, memorable and hilarious.
Review: Oh my goodness this book was so good I wanted to go right back to the beginning again once I'd finished so that I could read it again!
First of all this book is hilarious. If you haven't read anything by Laura Dockrill before then you won't know what an amazingly funny person she is, but once you're into the first 5 pages of this one, you will soon realise. But this book gave me all the feels. I cried in pats of it, i was nodding along in agreement with BB in parts and I was laughing, loudly, in public, during all the other parts. I love the way Laura Dockrill writes, she just writes how she speaks and she tells it like it is and I love her and her books because of that.
BB as a character is great. People often say that they wish they had had a book when they were x years old because it would have changed their lives and I don;t think I've really ever found anything like that before, but I wish I had had this book to read when I was 16 so I could know that someone else looked a bit like me and felt a bit like me but was still being a badass fierce member of society and just not giving a damn about what others thought about her.
This book is also an amazing advocate for body positivity. BB speaks about her body candidly and often. She talks about the words she does and doesn't like being called and why she likes her stretch marks and her rolls and her shape. I loved every moment of that. She does questions things about herself but then she has a frank discussion with herself and gets on with it.
There is also great coverage for teenagers in that time between GCSEs and sixth form and that identity crisis that it can cause. I think this is such a pivotal time and again I would have loved to hear from someone who was questioning their choices at that age and had the backup to support the choices she wanted to make.
The structure of this book is like a food diary and this book does come with a health warning because you will definitely be hungry as you are reading this book. Laura Dockrill has amazing skills of description when it comes to anything and her purely descriptive paragraphs are always a joy to read but she has outdone herself in this book. She talks about crumpets and describes them the way I feel about them, with an obvious emotional attachment. There is description of Bakewell tart and shepherds pie and toast and chips and millionaires shortbread. My Favourite 'chapters' are the one on Nutella and the one on croissants 'Truth be told, my ideal boyfriend would be a proper buttery, warm, we-put-together croissant: you could almost imagine the fold of the croissant opening up and closing around you, tucking you in for a great bit puffy hug.'. That says it all really!
At the beginning of Laura Dockrill's novel Darcy Burdock, Darcy states that her novel is for everyone except two of her enemies and young babies and I think that this is true of Big Bones. I think that although it is YA, it is definitely suitable for the younger end of that audience and upwards. You will find truth in this novel and this novel will definitely entertain you. I loved it and I know you will too!
Definitely adding this to my TBR! I love the idea of a food diary format - I remember having to do those when I was a teen. And who couldn’t use some body positivity in their life??
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