Cherry Baby

Cherry's husband Tom has been writing his webcomic for longer than they've been together. She knows she's in it, but she tries not to think about it. The character Baby is comically round, double-chinned and heavy-chested. Cherry knows that she's both fat and pretty, but she doesn't like having her nose rubbed in it constantly. Now, the webcomic is suddenly a success, spawning not only a series of graphic novels, but also a movie. Tom is in LA to produce and promo it -- and things have happened. He's not coming back. Now Cherry is stuck in a house that still seems full of him, with a dog he wanted more than she did, in a job that she mostly enjoys, but that doesn't give her the artistic outlet she craves. Out at a concert, she meets an show more old crush from her college days, also divorced, and he seems pretty into her. Maybe it's time for something new...

I always feel seen when I read Rainbow Rowell, like she has been peeking into my brain before writing. I differ in a lot of ways from Cherry (I would love to have her fashion sense, for instance, but on the other hand, I love dogs much more than she does), but I definitely relate to a lot of her thoughts and feelings about her weight. There are two ways this book could have gone, and I was kind of rooting for the other one, but Rowell's writing sold me on the ending she gave it. It feels realistic, that there wasn't a clear-cut way that the plot was tending, and that there were various options open to the characters. All in all, it's not my favorite by Rowell (I don't think it's possible to top Fangirl), but I liked it better than Slow Dance. show less

Cherry's in the middle of a divorce when she goes out to see a local band play and runs into her college crush. They begin dating, but there are roadblocks, the first is that Cherry is not over her husband leaving and the other is that her husband wrote a cartoon, first on a seldom seen website, but is now a bestseller with a movie about to come out. The problem is that the cartoon is about his own life and that Cherry features in it, and he draws her as fat, which she is, but seeing it on paper is harsh and now that the movie's coming out, she's doing her best to avoid all publicity, but that's not easy when he's the local boy made good.

Rowell writes characters so well, and this book is no exception. Here, she adds layers by having show more the rest of Cherry's family be Evangelical and looking at how they work around the things they don't like about Cherry's life to love her anyway and how she tolerates quite a bit of snide comments in return. Weight is an addressed here in several different ways, and it's a nuanced discussion. I didn't love the romance part, but I do like a book set in a place underrepresented in novels and Rowell is good at making the point that so many people happily live their entire lives in places like Omaha, Nebraska, and that those lives are just as interesting as lives lived in New York. show less

Cherry, 36, had always been plus-sized, but also had always been confident. She grew up in a household of large women - her mother as well as her four sisters - who unapologetically embraced who they were and how they looked.

But Cherry — like every other full-figured person — found it nearly impossible to escape weight bias and stigma. While she hadn’t internalized the negative stereotypes associated with being overweight, she did see herself as “a fat lady” and knew others might judge her on that basis:

“She knew how she looked, how people saw her - she thought about it constantly. Whatever else Cherry was thinking and doing (which was a lot; if Cherry were a train car, she’d be the locomotive) she was also thinking about show more being fat.”

It hadn’t interfered much with her life so far. For years she had been happily married to Tom, who adored her. Tom was a graphic artist, and his online comic strip series called “Thursday” somehow morphed into “a cult webcomic turned blockbuster graphic novel turned major motion picture.” The strip followed the quotidian life of The Guy and Baby - neither of whom ever had a name. But “The Guy” was clearly Tom, and the overweight “Baby” was too much like Cherry for her comfort.

Their marriage fell apart a year ago and now they were separated, with Cherry still in Omaha and Tom in Los Angeles. The content of “Thursday” wasn't the reason their marriage ran into trouble however. Nor was it because Tom was becoming increasingly well-known and in demand. Rather, the situation was much more nuanced, mostly having to do with their problems communicating with each other.

As their separation extended, there were additional complications. Cherry started seeing Russ, an old college friend, and Tom, in his loneliness, had turned to someone else as well.

Then, a personal shift within Cherry’s tight-knit family profoundly impacted her. One of Cherry’s sisters, Hope, started taking Mounjaro, one of the new weight loss drugs. Hope lost over 100 pounds, and Cherry was hurt, seeing it as a betrayal and a judgment on her and the rest of the family.

When Tom finally came back, after a year, to get his things from the house, the troublesome complexities in all the relationships reached a crisis point.

This is not an unhappy story though. Cherry has a full life (including a lot of sex), a great job with plenty of affirmation from her co-workers, and is admired for her talents in arts and crafts. Although she is quick to push someone away in relationships (always assuming her weight is a problem), otherwise she is quite confident in herself and in her abilities.

The dialogue, the struggles of Cherry and Tom to divide their possessions, and even the sex scenes are endearingly messy, and utterly realistic.

As usual, Rowell shows extraordinary insight into all kinds of relationships, revealing everyone’s flaws without negativity or prejudice. Her affection for her characters and for “real life” is catching, resulting in a lovely story that is by turns poignant, humorous, and ultimately gratifying. show less

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader. If you like this post, you might like others on that site. Consider checking it out!
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The tears on Cherry’s cheeks were fat.

In the months after Tom left—and the months after it became clear that he wasn’t coming home—Cherry’s tears had changed.

There were days when her eyes felt so full, the tears ran in rivulets. She’d swear that crying had never felt that way before—that before, she’d cried drops, and now, she cried streams. There must be some science to it, one sort of crying for transient pains and another sort for crippling grief.

WHAT'S CHERRY BABY ABOUT?
Cherry is a pretty successful marketer in Omaha; her husband was in advertising and did a little webcomic show more in his spare time. It was semi-autobiographical and had almost no followers. At some point, around the time that they started to see each other, a new character, "Baby" enters the cast (unbeknownst to her). Sometime after that, Tom's comic caught fire. It was published in book form—and optioned as a film.

Now Tom is in L.A. working on the movie, and Cherry—along with his dog—are still in Omaha. Cherry and Tom are getting a divorce. And Cherry isn't taking it well.

She's in full-grieving mode. A few months in, she treats herself. Tom hated concerts, she's always loved them, and one of her all-time favorite bands will be doing a show in town. So she goes, anticipating a pick-me-up. While there, Cherry runs into Russ—a friend from college. Russ isn't "the one who got away." But he is the big "what if" question in her life.

Apparently, the feeling was mutual. Even better, Russ hasn't read Tom's comic and knows nothing about it. He's probably the only person in Omaha who doesn't connect Cherry and Baby (even her family equates them, which Cherry hates). What could be better?

A solid meet-again-cute. A woman in need of a fresh start. A guy who is almost perfect. What could be better?

FAT GIRL LIFE

A fat girl can’t wait for boys to pluck her like a flower or find her on the beach like a seashell.

Cherry had never been Cinderella. She’d always been the prince chasing down what she wanted. (She’d been a witch, enchanting apples.) She’d had to reach for things. For love. For attention.

Cherry has had nothing but Fat Girl Summers her whole life. And the other three seasons, too. She's fat—she tells us this from the outset. Her mother and her sisters are, too. It's not due to laziness, overeating (not that any of them are shy about eating, however), lack of exercise, sedentary lifestyles, or whatever. It's a genetic thing; their family is just fat. And they're all okay with it.

Well, they're more than okay with it. Not quite proud of it, but unashamed is the better word.

And the fastest way to get on Cherry's bad side is to imply there's something wrong with it. She's pretty (possibly more than pretty, it's hard to judge from the way it's presented), charming, fun, caring, and fat. In her eyes, she's the whole package.

And it's really hard to argue with her (if you wanted to).

This, obviously, has shaped her life—it's not easy for Fat Girls/Women/Boys/Men in the U.S. She accepts it, realizes how it molded her personality and expectations—but thanks to her mothers and sisters, she's been able to gain the level of confidence that she can get through it. Not unscathed, but whole.

THE PROVERBIAL DOOR IS AJAR
Granted, it's been a while since I read Rowell—but this is a bit, ahem, spicier than I appreciate. Definitely more than I'm used to with her. The door does close—eventually—on the sex scenes, but it stays open a lot longer than I think it needed to (or opens earlier than it needs to).

But that's a matter of taste, I realize. And I'm not trying to put down Rowell here, I think I get why she made the decisions she did in this regard. But I'm not suggesting this book to my mother, sister, or daughter (but I wouldn't discourage their reading it, either).

WHY DID I PICK THIS UP? WHY DID I KEEP READING?
I picked this up because I really enjoy Rowell's writing (well, I couldn't make myself pay attention to the fan fiction bits of Fangirl, so I didn't read the spin-offs, but otherwise...), and I was glad to get a chance to read her again.

I stuck with it because I really liked Cherry and got invested in her life. Also, Rowell's voice and tone is just so comfortable, there's no reason to think about stopping.

I'm sure there's a better way to put it—but comfortable is better than cozy, which I keep using. There's a warmth, a humanity, and a little bit of humor—and so much heart. You just want to keep reading, no matter what's happening (or isn't happening.)

WHAT DOES THIS BOOK TELL US ABOUT HUMANITY?
I think this book has a lot to say about the need to love and the need to be loved—as you are and as the object of your love is. Not as you want them to be, not as they were, but as they are (although as they were does play a role)—and the same for you. Loved as you are, for who you are.

Not just romantic love, either. There's friend love and family love, too. The book focuses on romantic love, but family love comes in second.

The depictions aren't always pretty—in fact, in this book, many of them are messy and nasty, with a great sense of "it shouldn't be like that."

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT CHERRY BABY?

Cherry had trusted Tom. She’d taken him for granted—she’d thought that she was supposed to. She’d believed they were a settled question.

Cherry's family is a nice, vaguely Lutheran, group who want four things for Cherry: 1. to be happy; 2. to get back together with Tom; 3. failing that, to start dating this nice man from their church; and 4. to come back to church (there's a not-at-all-subtle link between 3 and 4). They're a loving, close family, but really don't get what makes Cherry tick. Still, their interactions—in person or in group chats is one of the many, many highlights of the book.

Stevie, Tom's dog, is another one. She's a Newfoundland-Great Pyrenees mix, and the cause of a huge increase in lint/hair rollers in Cherry's budget. She was more dog than Cherry was ready for when Tom got her. And then when he left, the two only had each other. And a great bond was made. Stevie's chaotic energy is wonderful. And one scene (spoiler: the dog lives) with the two of them toward the end of the book, just about broke me.

The rest of the book is just great. Once we meet Tom (in the book's present), you understand why Cherry loves him—and why it's so hard for her to be going through this period. When we see him at the beginning of their relationship, you have a hard time believing they'd go wrong. The romance with Russ could be just the thing to keep her afloat in this dark period in her life—and you can see it working.

But like that one guy said, the course of love never did run smooth. And some roads are bumpier than others. With sharp drop-offs to either side. And maybe some snow.

Still, Cherry's the kind of person you want to watch navigate that course—so you can root for her, cheer for her, and maybe weep with her. show less

I really liked this second-chance romance for grownups. Rainbow Rowell is the queen of the hilarious, tender, thrilling romance with plenty of depth and breadth, and with wry bits of humor, and with characters who live in your head so thoroughly that you think they might actually live in your living room. In *Cherry Baby* she brings us Cherry, a clever and driven career woman who works in marketing for a railroad in Omaha; her (ex?) husband Tom, who has become a little unmoored by the success of his webcomic, featuring a Tom-like guy with a Cherry-like wife; her 4 good, kind, religious, fat (Cherry is also fat and kind, but not religious) sisters and their group chats and their foundation-shaking drama surrounding the one sister who is show more taking a GLP-1 agonist and losing weight; her college crush Russ, who is upwardly mobile and interested in Cherry but (like so many men before him have been) not sure he can handle the social stigma of being with her publicly because of her size; and a dog the size of a sofa who looks like a panda.

When I said for grown-ups, I meant that these are issues that are adult not in a sexual way (though there's plenty of that in this book as well, probably more and more graphic than other Rowell books); they're adult in a what-happens-after-the-end-credits-of-the-romance-movie kind of way. This is real life, lumpy and worrisome, with alcoholic dads and bouts of depression and self-doubt, with dog hair and division of household goods -- but also with love of all kinds (romantic, sexual, comfortable, new. Sisterly, through ups and downs, even when hurt. Married, dating, old-married-to-a-drunk, young-married-to-an-artist. Nieces and nephews; even an enormous hairy dog who threatens to knock you over, physically and literally, with her love.

I feel like there could be a whole universe of books around this family, like Marian Keyes has done with the Walshes, and I am *here for it*, Rainbow. HERE. FOR. IT.

If you are not and have never been fat, this book may be an education for you. If hearing people described as fat makes you uncomfortable, you'll want to address that bias (the dialogue will help you) as you come to this story. I did like that the focus was not on a fat person who struggled and lost weight, or even on a fat person who learned to love herself as she was -- these fat people already *did* love themselves and didn't need a narrator's permission or an awakening to do so, and that's not what the story is about. I personally have fought against carrying extra weight with varying levels of fortitude and failure for my entire post-pubescent life and I found this to be a decent treatise on body acceptance, as well as being a strong story with a brilliant female lead, who has agency and drive and wit and fun.

(I still am not going to learn to do makeup and dress cute, though. Anyone know any romances about successful and happy and beloved women who are neither thin *nor* pretty?) show less

I loved Slow Dance so I’ve been eagerly awaiting Rainbow Rowell’s latest novel, Cherry Baby.

Newly separated from her husband, Tom, of ten years, Cherry isn’t sure how to move on. It doesn’t help that she’s surrounded by reminders of their relationship, not only at home with his dog, Stevie Nicks, but also when she steps out the door thanks to the cult webcomic turned block buster graphic novel turned imminent major motion picture, with its supporting character, ‘Baby’ modelled loosely on her.

Cherry has always been uncomfortable with the comparison between ‘Baby’, with her exaggerated bust and hips, and her own ‘overfull’ figure. She’s resigned to being fat and believes that for the most part she has made peace show more with it, but she is sensitive to how others see her, and the attention she gets as ‘Baby’ magnifies her insecurities.

On the night the movie trailer for ‘Thursday’ drops Cherry takes a deep breath and heads to a local club to listen to a band alone only to run into her college crush. Russ, divorced, successful and handsome, is sweet and attentive and by the end of the night in Cherry’s bed. Russ doesn’t know ‘Baby’ but the moment they are introduced a wedge forms in their blossoming relationship.

Cherry Baby is a second chance romance, but that is not all it is. I was invested in the story as I was reading it, but since finishing it, my feelings about it have become more ambivalent which is why I’ve struggled with writing this review.

The main issue I had is that I didn’t really care for Tom much. It seems like Cherry makes a lot of excuses for his various behaviours, he comes across as almost painfully passive and introverted, and he cheated on her. To be fair, Cherry also bears some responsibility for the breakdown of their relationship, but I never fully understood what made their marriage so special in the first place.

Russ is no prince either, he is uncomfortable with being attracted to Cherry, and makes some missteps I too would find hard to forgive.

Though I dislike the term ‘fat representation’, as someone who has always been considered fat, I did find Cherry’s experiences to be relatable. I’ve read several reviews that complain that Cherry thinks too much about being fat, and I don’t disagree, but I also feel it’s pretty accurate. When diet after diet fails we generally learn to live with it, some more comfortably than others, but it’s never something we forget (not least because no one will let us).

Interestingly Rowell touches briefly on the use of semiglutides, the first book I’ve read that does so. Given they are currently centre stage in any discussion about weight management it would have been remiss for her to ignore the topic, but it’s largely a peripheral plot point.

Though there is much to appreciate in Rowell’s writing, and the story itself, Cherry Baby just didn’t resonate with me in the way I hoped it would. show less

Omaha native Cherry's husband Tom created a webcomic called Thursday, which became wildly popular, earning him the chance to make graphic novels, then a movie - and Cherry encouraged all of it. But when Tom went to California, he didn't come back, and now Cherry thinks their marriage is over (and she's stuck with the giant dog Tom wanted, Stevie). As she's coming to terms with their divorce, she runs into Russ at a concert: Russ, her college crush and her best friend's boyfriend for years. But Stacia is married to someone else now, and Russ is divorced too - could this be their second chance? But then Tom returns, ostensibly to box up his stuff from their house, a long and painful process. Is there something worth saving?

The story is show more told out of order, so readers see Cherry's romance with Russ and her romance with Tom jumbled together. I'm not certain this makes for a stronger story, but Cherry is a well-rounded character (no pun intended; her weight, and her sisters', is a significant aspect of the story. Her eldest sister Hope goes on a GLP weight-loss drug, and the others begin treating her differently).

Quotes

Sometimes it felt like someone had accidentally sent five eldest daughters to the same family. (57)

"I do things because I think I'm supposed to, and I'm not proud of it. It hasn't made me happy. I don't want to be that person anymore..." (Russ, 156)

"I swear people don't see themselves in the comic because they can't actually see themselves..." (Tom, 166)

She thought about texting someone, but there came a point when you'd been so sad for so long, and so repeatedly, that you couldn't actually bear telling people anymore. When it felt like you were retelling the same story. (Cherry, 234)

"I don't want my life to be easy. I want it to be good." (Cherry, 270)

Cherry's mom ignored everything that she possibly could, and forgave everything that she couldn't. (355) show less