Review: Butter by Erin Jade Lange

A lonely obese boy everyone calls "Butter" is about to make history. He is going to eat himself to death-live on the Internet-and everyone is invited to watch. When he first makes the announcement online to his classmates, Butter expects pity, insults, and possibly sheer indifference. What he gets are morbid cheerleaders rallying around his deadly plan. Yet as their dark encouragement grows, it begins to feel a lot like popularity. And that feels good. But what happens when Butter reaches his suicide deadline? Can he live with the fallout if he doesn't go through with his plans? With a deft hand, E.J. Lange allows readers to identify with both the bullies and the bullied in this all-consuming look at one teen's battle with himself.

My Review:

Butter is a great book that tells a story that keeps you flipping the pages.  It is an emotional read with great messages about bullying.  The characters are interesting, and the narration is well done.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

Butter is a great character.  He's clearly been through a lot in his life since he is morbidly obese with diabetes.  The kids at school basically ignore him, but he has experienced some bullying in the past.  An incident with a stick of butter caused the kids at school to give him the nickname Butter.  Butter wants the girl he likes to notice him, since he speaks to her online, but she doesn't know that Butter is her online "boyfriend."  He also is a talented sax player, but he doesn't want to play for people because it will draw attention to him.

The girl that Butter likes is named Anna.  She wasn't too bad of a person, and there were some good moments between her and Butter.  When she was talking to "Sax Man" online, she said she didn't care what he looked like; she would still like him, even if he was ugly.  I feel like she was lying because she became upset when she found out that her online "boyfriend" was Butter.  Even though she seemed to begin to forgive Butter near the end, I don't think that the two of them could have a relationship.  

I was not a fan of the kids in Butter's school.  Jeremy was an awful bully.  He was blatantly mean, and he started the bullying that caused Butter's nickname.   Trent and Parker, Butter's new "friends" were pretty awful too.  They were taking bets on whether or not he would kill himself, yet Butter thought they were his friends.

If you like emotional YA contemporary, read this book.

Katie