Artichoke's Heart [Hardcover]

Suzanne Supplee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 12, 2008

Blubber meets Steel Magnolias in this funny and honest story about body image and family.

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. And when your mom runs the most successful (and gossipy) beauty shop in town, it can be hard to keep a low profile. Rosemary resolves to lose the weight, but her journey turns out to be about everything but the scale. Her life-changing, waist-shrinking year is captured with brutal honesty and humor, topped with an extralarge helping of Southern charm. A truly uncommon novel about an increasingly common problem.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8–10—Rosemary Goode doesn't have a carefree life; being an overweight binge eater makes her self-conscious around other teens, and her Aunt Mary's constant criticizing doesn't help matters. Rosemary works at her mother's salon, where she sees the beautiful and popular girls getting primped for dances. Her single mother tries to help her, buying a treadmill (on which Rosemary hangs clothes) and arranging for therapy sessions. Rosemary's friendship with a fitness-obsessed, friendly new girl improves her outlook on exercise, and a budding relationship with Kyle, a popular athlete at school, confuses and exhilarates her. Her mother's cancer diagnosis shocks and unnerves her, but the teen and her mom deal with the situation with realism and honesty. Rosemary is a funny, sharp, and appealing narrator; Supplee has good insight into high school life, especially cliques, and teenage body issues. Cancer and obesity are handled with humor, care, and sensitivity. Southern euphemisms and speech are sprinkled throughout the novel, which takes place in a small town in Tennessee, but not to excess. This has the breezy fun of recent YA chick lit, but with an uncommon heroine dealing with serious issues.—Jennifer Schultz, Fauquier County Public Library, Warrenton, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Cursed with the nickname “the Artichoke” after wearing an ill-chosen green jacket to school way back in sixth grade, Rosemary continues to cope with the cool kids’ disdain by making food her friend. It’s a treacherous ally, though, and when she tops 200 pounds, she decides to make radical changes and begins to lose some serious weight. Then, Rosemary discovers that an A-list girl wants to befriend her, the boy she adores returns her feelings, and (most incredible of all) her mother has cancer. Rosemary’s wry first-person narration deftly portrays characters in her single-parent family, her high school, her mother’s beauty salon, and her Tennessee town. Jolted by fears of losing her mother, Rosemary begins to look beyond her previous preoccupations to see other people’s vulnerabilities as well as their more evident flaws. In her first novel, Supplee brings a cast of original characters to life in this convincing and consistently entertaining narrative. Grades 7-10. --Carolyn Phelan

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile; 1 edition (June 12, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525479023
• ISBN-13: 978-0525479024
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #798,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Suzanne Supplee is the author of When Irish Guys Are Smiling, a Students Across the Seven Seas series book, Artichoke's Heart, and Somebody Everybody Listens To. Currently, she is working on her fourth young adult novel.

Suzanne is a graduate of Southern Illinois University, and she earned a masters degree in creative writing from Towson University in Maryland. For a number of years, she has worked as both a teacher and a writer.

Suzanne is married and has three daughters. Her favorite hobbies include exercise (when it's over), reading, reading, and more reading, and gardening. You can visit her at suzannesupplee.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, June 14, 2008

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Artichoke's Heart (Hardcover)

Rosemary Goode is smart, funny, and sassy, but no one seems to notice. All anyone sees is her weight - all 200 pounds of it. She doesn't fit in at school, she finds herself getting made fun of by the popular Bluebirds, and the only boyfriend she'll ever have is Mr. Hershey, or Mr. M&M.

At the start of a new year, Rosemary finds herself disappointed. Santa just brought her an unwanted treadmill for Christmas and her Aunt Mary gave her tickets to a "Healing the Fat Girl Within" Conference. On top of that, Rosemary's mother has sneakily set up counseling sessions for weight loss.

After a meltdown at her mother's gossipy salon, Rosemary decides she is going to lose the weight - on her terms. Rosemary tries various methods to lose weight, but it's a slow process. When Rosemary's mother is diagnosed with cancer, the distance between them grows even more and Rosemary tries to keep from turning back to food. Things start to look up when Kyle Cox, the school's newest football star, starts to take a notice in Rosemary. But how can popular, good-looking Kyle ever like a girl like Rosemary? And how will Rosemary bridge the ever-growing gap between her and her mother?

ARTICHOKE'S HEART is one of those books I wanted to stay in bed on a rainy day with and never stop reading. The cover and storyline may make you think this is light chick-lit, but the plot digs much deeper and carries a wide range of emotions that are great for any mood.

Rosemary is a fantastic character and her growth throughout the book is realistic. I was cheering her on the whole way through and felt as though I was on the journey with her. I also have to admit I had a bit of a crush on Kyle while reading this book! Author Suzanne Supplee put so much into her characters; they felt real and I didn't want to leave them. The Southern setting added an extra dose of charm to the story. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author in the future!

Reviewed by: Sarah Bean the Green Bean Teen Queen

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heartwarming Story of a Southern "Big Girl", June 12, 2008

By 

K. Fournier "kr!sten" (austin, tx, usa) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Artichoke's Heart (Hardcover)

Rosemary is sweet, funny, and is always helping out at her mom's beauty salon in small town, Tennessee. She isn't happy with herself, though- she wants to drop some of her 190 pounds. When a regular customer and friend has a heart attack related to obesity, Rosemary starts getting drastic in her efforts.
Rosemary's life is filled with women - the only male character in the book is her love interest. Her family consists of her mom, aunt and grandmother. Despite this, the characters in this book are humorously realistic, and I thought this was a great book on self-image and battling weight loss, especially for young adults. I especially love the friendship between Rosie and Kay-Kay, one of the most beautiful girls at school.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book Everyone Should Read!, December 29, 2008

By 

Harmony Book Reviews "Harmony" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Artichoke's Heart (Hardcover)

Wow. I was so incredibly blown away by Artichoke's Heart. I only wish I'd picked it up sooner. The one thing that stopped me from doing so was the fact it was about a "fat" girl losing weight and generally, I shy away from those books. I rarely find them to be realistic and since I relate to this subject very closely, it just aggravates me. But Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee did anything but that.

Rosemary Goode is probably the most realistic character I've read about. Yes, she's "fat" to some people but she also has an incredible personality. The way she thinks and sees other people from a "fat girls" perspective is something you don't ever really hear about but is easily understood, especially when you've been through a similar experience. For those who can't relate to the way she thinks, Artichoke's Heart would definitely be an eye-opener.

The way Supplee handled the weight issue was amazing. People who are skinny seem to think that losing weight is simple as putting it on and that you can just decide you aren't going to be fat anymore. Yeah, sorry, but it doesn't happen like that. Supplee brings truth to what really goes on in a fat girl's mind.

The romance portion of the novel was also well-written. I just wish there were more boys like Kyle in the world.

Truthfully, I wish that I could force everyone to read this novel. It blew me away and I'm positive I'm not the only one. So, if you're going out to be a book this weekend, buy this one. You won't regret it!