Massive

Carmen’s mother is obsessed with her weight: thinness equates with beauty, success and happiness – except the last seems to elude her. She has rejected her family, husband and friends as unsuitable for her social aspirations and is determined to make a new start back home, in Birmingham, with Carmen. The reader’s sympathies are divided between Carmen and her mother – both isolated, unhappy with their self-image and frustrated at the narrow boundaries of their lives.  Carmen’s salvation comes when her mother is admitted to hospital for treatment for her anorexia and her aunt takes her in, treating her with a close warmth she has not experienced before. When Carmen and her friend Paisley burn Paisley’s collection of Barbie dolls at the end of the novel, the symbolism is telling – her rejection of a perfect figure is an affirmation of her life, imperfections and all.