The Fat Man
Maurice Gee
A Puffin Book
142p pbk
ISBN: 0-14-131017-0
An unbelievably fat mans out for revenge a starved boy out for chocolate... an old lady with an enormous fortune.
Colin Potter is a hungry boy who lives in a poor family outside of Auckland. On an exploration to a creek, he comes across a bar of chocolate belonging to an incredibly fat man named Herbert Muskie. The fat man catches Colin, and he is forced to break into an old lady hermits house for him. What he finds is a large fortune stashed away.
Later on in the story, Herbert reveals that he went to school with Colins parents, who were the two most popular people in the school. Herbert, being fat, was a pariah.
Things get more complicated when the old lady turns out to be the fat mans mother. She has said in her will that Herbert gets the entire fortune. A week later and she is dead after being murdered and it looks like Herberts done the job.
The fat man tries to force Colins father into becoming a burglar and he barely gets away. The enraged fat man kidnaps his daughter Verna and Colin and heads for the bush but the police are hot on the trail.
The book was good in writing, but the plot is confused in the middle and it is tricky to follow the story in some parts. However, it was a very good book and well deserving of an award.
Matthew, aged 14, Canberra, ACT
The Fat Man is a great read - I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the ending Maurice Gee has a great sense of humor with a zest for the weird and extraordinary. Although the script is sort of set in the 50s around the time of the depression you can still relate to every thing including the fat man! Although some of the scenes were unclear to me, the story managed to be beautifully brought out. This book is suitable for people over the age of 13 because some of the concepts may be too mature for younger readers. I read out a paragraph to a few friends and got a very good response.
Sam, aged 15, Canberra, ACT
