History Literature / OneFatSummer

* SelfDepreciation: Bobby is quite ready to put himself down, at least in his own head, criticizing almost every aspect of himself he doesn't like. He actually starts to think the bullying he endures is more HIS fault at one point, and Pete Marino has to give him physical evidence that all the hard work he's done over the summer has resulted in him having a slimmer frame.

* {Foreshadowing}: Early in the book, Bobby comes home from his summer job, exhausted as he collapses into his bed. He imagines his flabby body melting away into his sheets, eventually getting up as a skinny version of himself. Later in the book, he's surprised to find that weeks of hard work for Dr. Kahn, as well as not feeling compelled to stuff himself on junk food, has indeed resulted in him becoming visibly thinner. Needless to say, in this version the police are not called in to learn the whereabouts of the "original" Bobby Marks.

* WellDoneSonGuy: Marty Marks seems to have little patience with his son, even berating HIM when Marty finds out the adult Dr. Kahn is taking advantage of Bobby. Still, once Bobby begins to lose weight, Marty is the one who encourages Bobby to get a new wardrobe, over his wife's protests.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: The super power the normally body-shy Bobby imagines having? Invisibility.

* WellDoneSonGuy: Marty Marks seems to have little patience with his son, even berating HIM when Marty finds out the adult Dr. Kahn is taking advantage of Bobby. Still, once Bobby begins to lose weight, Marty is the one who encourages Bobby to get a new wardrobe, over his wife's protests.

But there is more to Bobby than his 200 lbs. girth. He's about to find out just how terrifying and exhilarating, how dangerous and wonderful, one fat summer can be.

* EroticDream: A somewhat generic one for a fourteen year old, arising from a recurring dream Bobby had as a kid of inventing an invisibility potion. When he tells Jodie about it, she accidentally kills the dream's appeal when she points out that Bobby would essentially be an InvisibleStreaker in these dreams, and he realizes he doesn't always know how long the options last.

* EroticDream: A somewhat generic one for a fourteen year old, arising from a recurring dream Bobby had as a kid of inventing an invisibility potion. When he tells Jodie about it, she accidentally kills the dream's appeal when she points out that Bobby would essentially be an InvisbleStreaker in these dreams, and he realizes he doesn't always know how long the options last.

* TheAce: Pete Marino, who is one of the most popular guys at the lake, a champion swimmer, and part owner of the local beach club. He even manages to be one of the few shown to be nice to Bobby.

* [[CorruptHick Corrupt Sheriff]]: Downplayed version. Willie Rumson's uncle is the sheriff, and its implied and outright stated that his influence keeps Willie from getting in trouble for some of his sketchier activities. Of course this protection doesn't extend to covering up an assault charge if Willie goes too far.

* TheAce: Pete Marino.

* PostStressOvereating/ComfortFood: Part of the reason for Bobby's weight problem. Vividly shown after his horrible first day cutting Dr. Kahn's lawn when he returns home and raids the fridge. His mother and father come home to find him wolfing down a tub of ice cream.

* InternalDialogue: Bobby is fond of these as a way to escape reality, assuming a new identity to distance himself from the problem. The fact that all of these identities are based on HIM is what gives him back his resolve during his HeroicBSOD.

* HeroicBSOD: Utterly humiliated by a gang of hoods and left naked on Make-Out Island as it starts to rain, the chapter ends with Bobby collapsing to his hands and knees, able only to sob patheticly as he feels the cold water splattering against him. Fortunately it only lasts until the next chaptsr

* ShamefulStrip: Kidnapped by Rumson and his gang and taken to Make-Out Island, Bobby is rather violently stripped in an effort to humiliate him.

* HeroicBSOD: Abandoned and naked on Make-Out Island as it starts to rain, the chapter ends as Bobby can only sob patheticly in the cold.
* HollywoodHomely: Played with. In addition to being overweight, Bobby thinks he's not really much of a looker. In the MovieOfTheBook, his actor Blake Cooper isn't really bad looking. Then again, Bobby has low self esteem and his friend Joanie thought he was cute even before the end of the book.
* IronWoobie: Bobby proves himself one of these about three-fourths of the way in the book.

* WellDoneSonGuy: Marty Marks seems to have little patience with his son, even berating HIM when he finds out the adult Dr. Kahn is taking advantage of him. Still, once Bobby begins to lose weight, Marty is the one who encourages Bobby to get a new wardrobe, over his wife's protests.

* WellDoneSonGuy: Marty Marks seems to have little patience with his son, even berating HIM when he finds out the adult Dr. Kahn is taking advantage of him. Still, once Bobby begins to lose wait, Marty is the one who encourages Bobby to get a new wardrobe, over his wife's protests.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Debatable. Anyone who has lived in a resort town can probably sympathize with Willy Rumson's ReasonYouSuckSpeech monologue about summer people taking over the town, particularly when you learn his family used to own the entire lake (hence its name). That sympathy lessens significantly as you read some of the cruel things Rumson submits Bobby to, and disappears entirely when he [[MoralEventHorizon attempts to [[KneeCap knee-cap]] a fourteen year old]].

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