Grand obese

By Cesar J. Rotondi

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312342497
• ISBN13: 9780312342494
• Release Date: January 1979
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 195 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Dark, grotesque, and very funny

This is the story of a stunningly fat family of three living on the near north side of Chicago. Mother Sylvie and her children Gregory and Deborah have one overriding interest in life: Eating. Their entire lives revolve around the acquisition and consumption of food... pizzas, Chinese food, fried chicken, gourmet... in a way that transcends gluttony and goes far into self-destructive territory. In this they are abetted by a trust set up by Sylvie's former husband, and by their live-in maid, Dorothy. Everyone else (neighbors, relatives and the like) treats them with pity or contempt, or both. Dorothy is perhaps the most sympathetic character, as her life was an increasingly sad journey from one crushing disappointment to another before finally landing in Sylvie's house. For awhile she finds it to be a refuge, as the expectations are so low... as long as she keeps the family well fed, they're unconcerned with her drinking and pot-smoking on the job and her indifferent house-cleaning. It is Dorothy, however, who finally becomes fed up, and her leaving is a dramatic turning point. After this, the story becomes even darker and more grotesque, and by the end it's a dilemma for the reader: Which is worse, Sylvie and her brood's narcissism, or the outside world's cruelty toward them? I tend to think it's the latter.

Rich and Filling

I just received this book for my birthday and am delighted to descend once again into the bizarre and troubling world of Sylvia and her family with their "glandular" disorder.

Grand Obese

This is an amazingly funny book! THE BEST in comedy! It'll keep you rolling and laughing hours AFTER you put it down! I bought it 12 years ago for a quarter and after reading it, went back to the bookstore and bought the last 2 they had! It is a book you MUST pass around to anyone and EVERYONE you know! It is THAT funny! I do believe that this novel would make a #1 movie!PLease read it!

Impossible to forget

I read Cesar J. Rotondi's "Grand Obese" over ten years ago, and like Toole's "Confederacy of Dunces," Fante's "The Road to Los Angeles," Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye," and various Thomas Berger novels, I cannot shake the book from my head. It had deep impact in my conciousness. It is highly reccomended.

A delicious black comedy about a family of compulsive eaters

Cesar Rotondi has written the best book ever about compulsive eating. All of the excuses people give for eating "just one more" are included, as Sylvie and her enormous children expand beyond the confines of their Chicago townhouse. The ending is macabre, but entirely consistent with the rest of the story. Buy this book and pass it around. It should never have been allowed to go out of print.