Episode 95 with Crystal Maldonado
Fat Girls Get To Fall In Love – Crystal Maldonado
Show Notes & Full Transcript
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Crystal Maldonado (she/her) is a young adult author with a lot of feelings that she’s channeled into romcoms for fat, brown girls. She shares what it was like to write the stories she wished she’d had when she was growing up, the gatekeeping she had to overcome to get published, and her ‘glimmers’ writing practice that connects her to joy each day.
Crystal has written several books, including The Fall of Whit Rivera, which People Magazine called a “pumpkin-spice-latte-flavored treat”; Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, which was a New England Book Award winner, a Cosmopolitan Best New Book, and a Kirkus Best YA Fiction of 2021; and No Filter and Other Lies, which was named a POPSUGAR and Seventeen Best New YA. Her middle grade debut, Camp Sylvania: Moon Madness—a paranormal summer camp story featuring two fat besties, co-written with #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy—releases in spring 2024.
Please connect with Crystal through her website, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and tiktok.
This episode’s poem is called “My friends got married today…” by Yesika Salgado.
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A Fat Joy Podcast Book Review
The Fall of Whit Rivera (Fiction)
Written by Crystal Maldonado
Respectfully reviewed by A. Cavouras
Book Summary
The Fall of Whit Rivera is a journey through Whit’s senior year of high school. Told through intimate journal entries, amazing lists, and a narrator you will instantly root for, this work of fiction reads and breaths like real life. Her relationships are nuanced and complicated as she navigates high school friendships, partner relationships and her home life. Much of the novel focuses on the planning of the fall homecoming - an event she has been thinking about since entering high school. Throughout all this she navigates the complexity of living with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and the myriad of changes that brings to her body. Told with refreshing honesty and true multi-dimensional characters, this coming of age book is a gem.
What’s Special About This Book
The very first page - the content note and context provided by the author read as a welcoming and inclusive hug. I feel like we are in a groundbreaking era for YA fiction when that is what greets me. My millennial heart broke a bit that this wasn’t there for me. But it’s here now for all of us.
Fatphobia - This is called out instantly on page 3 (and repeatedly acknowledged throughout her story), when Whit goes to many doctors and receives the same advice over and over: lose weight.
The normalisation of having crushes on both genders - Whit talks openly about it, she has a close friend that is in a queer relationship, and it is all presented as a fact of life. It is delightful and so fully human to read stories like this.
Self care - Whit discusses how important self-care is with overt messages around fuelling your body, enjoying food, sleep, personal hygiene, as well as expressing herself through fashion and makeup.
Validating Lines for Your Heart, Your Mirror, or Your Socials
P. 45 “Some days I’m thinking I’m such a freaking queen I want to rock a crop top and miniskirt and have people grovelling at my feet. Other days, like today, my eyes seem to hone in on all the parts of myself that jiggle a little too much.”
P. 74 “Apparently letting people in can be a good thing.”
P. 167 “ I take back what I said about the fluorescent light in grocery stores being the worst, because clearly the worst-lighting award goes to the doctor’s office. At least in grocery stores you might yourself surrounded by colourful flowers or freshly baked bread…”
End Note
The book has the happy ending prevalent in YA literature and I was thrilled to read it. With a diverse cast of characters, a complex and trustworthy narrator, and many pumpkin spice lattes, this book is a treat to read. More importantly it serves as a balm for us readers who grew up in generations where a story like this never saw print.
Respectfully reviewed by A. Cavouras (a.cavouras@gmail.com)