Fat Kid Rules The World

" I'm a sweating fat kid standing on the edge of the subway platform staring at the tracks. It's Sunday afternoon and I'm standing just over the yellow line trying to decide whether people would laugh if I jumped. Like it or not, apparently there's something funny about fat people. I don't get angry. I just think, What was funny about that? Did my butt jiggle? Did I make the bench creak so that it sounded like a fart? Did I leave an indentation? There's got to be something, right? Right?"

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These are the first thoughts that enter Troy Billings' mind as he's about to commit suicide by throwing himself in front of an oncoming train. He is seventeen, 296 pounds, and utterly miserable. Constant teasing, disgust, and humiliation from the world sends him spiraling into a dark depression. He finally decides to end it all through suicide. As he stands in front of the tracks, waiting for the F train to arrive, he thinks about his miserable life so far and how even his own brother Dayle said that he wouldn't care if he died or not. He closes his eyes and imaigines the whole scene as it might play out. He pictures the train coming and him plumetting straight down into it's path. He would be splattered except for his left leg, which would be left lying on the platform untouched- a fat, bleeding hunk of raw meat. At that moment, he starts to laugh. Suddenly there's something funny about it. There really is.

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"You laughing at me?" A voice comes out of nowhere, clearly addressing him. He turns around to find a boy that reminds him of a blond ferret. Stringy unwashed hair and huge eyes, faded jeans, ratty old sweater, shoes that are about to fall apart. As Troy stands confused, the blond ferret stands up and extends a grimy hand. "Curt MacCrae," he says. It is at that moment that Troy decides to pee his pants. Curt MacCrae is a legend in among teenagers and musicians in the city he lives in. He's the only truly homeless, sometimes student, sometimes dropout, punk rock, artist god among them. He's the only one to get into five fights in one day, get the crap beat out of him in all five, and still have everyone's respect. That was not the reason Troy was so starstruck. He was more surprised at the fact that Curt was alive than anything else because he hadn't been seen in more than a year. As Troy is engulfed in his thoughts, a starving Curt interrupts and says, "You owe me lunch." What? "I just saved your life. It's the least you could do." Troy turns to find the train pulling into the station. Not knowing what to do, he takes him to a local diner and buys him lunch. After learning that Troy played drums in junior high school, Curt decides to recruit him as his new drummer- depite the fact that Troy can't play drums. They soon form a band called Rage/Tectonic and together, they will change the world of punk, as well as Troy's own life, forever.

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Fat Kid Rules The World by K.L. Going is an amazing book on how an unlikely friendship between an extremely obese teenager and a homeless rock god result in the saving of not one, but ultimately two lives. It also gives many of the characters in the book a new perspective on life. This story has its classic ups and downs but the intensity escalates until the very end, when everyone is caught by surprise.

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If you are interested in 300 pound drummers, homeless/high school dropout guitar legends, or punk rock, then this book is perfect for you. If not, you should still read this book anyway because you will be hooked on the journey of a depressed teenager's journey from a pathetic, suicidal being to a confident drumming machine. I finished this book the first day I got it and knowing me, that's quite an accomplishment. If this book hooked me, than it will definitely hook you too. Troy Billings himself said it best when he declared,

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" I am the Rocky Balboa of obese drummers."

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p.s. Please comment on this. Good ones will work best.