Fruit: A Novel about a Boy and His Nipples

Peter Paddington is an overweight 13-year-old paperboy...with man-boobs. Any guys who have struggled with their weight as a teenager knows it's just downright embarrassing to be cursed with man-boobs. What's even worse is that Peter has imaginary conversations with his nipples. His nipples are telling him what to do even to the point of daring him. Peter is just a fat paperboy who is just not quite like the other guys. He isn't into sports, which is a disappointment for his dad. He rather be in Home Ec. class. He trades stickers with the girls. He has fantasies about the cute married man across the street. He "makes sperm" with the showerhead. Can you say gay? However, *Fruit* doesn't really dwell much on homosexuality but rather implies it. More like we all know he's gay but he doesn't know it himself. His goal is to be skinny and normal like the other guys by the time he hits 9th grade in the Fall. However, he keeps postponing the day that he'll really start the diet. He has to deal with his family. His mother is going through The Change. His father is just distant. His sisters are fighting more than usual. His embarrassing and talkative Uncle Ed keeps hanging around. *Fruit* is a simple read with some occasional humor. The talking nipples is just really odd as having man-boobs is already embarrassing enough.

After a slow start this book became one of the best I've ever read. A novel about an 8th grade, overweight boy in self-discovery with his special friends - the talking nipples. This true comic find will touch your heart and for me - made reliving my teen years something I could laugh at finally! I just love a book where the characters become so endearing you don't want it to end. This book is one of them. Would love to see what becomes of Peter after a few more years of living. A ++

This book had me hunched over with laughter. It was as if David Sedaris wrote a fiction book about himself living in Canada as a fat teenager. So good!

Wonderful and strange novel about an overweight teenaged boy whose nipples talk to him. Sounds weird, right? And it is, but it's also gut-wrenchingly honest and open, and any kid who's ever struggled with a weight problem (or with a sexual identity crisis, for that matter), will completely relate to thirteen year-old Peter Paddington. Horrified by his huge nipples (or, as they'd call them on Seinfeld, "man boobs"), which he's sure all the kids can see through his tee-shirt, Peter starts by wrapping his chest in loops of masking tape. But as his nipples start to become raw and sore, he begins imagining that they are making fun of him for being so ashamed of himself, and yearning to be set free. Just about this same time, Peter starts to realize he's not like the other boys -- that he's just not attracted to girls. But he doesn't have any concept of what that means. Does that mean he's a freak? He sure feels like a freak. A fat, stupid freak. As time passes and his nipples keep voicing the thoughts that are deep down in his head, Peter slowly begins to come to terms with himself, and to learn how to overcome the things he can beat (like his weight problem) and embrace the things that just make him HIM. This novel is totally sweet and funny and gentle. I loved every word and can't wait for more from this new Canadian author.

This book was enjoyable. The characters were very real to life. Funny !!