There is no way for a fat kid to die without someone finding something funny about it. At 6’1″ and 296 pounds, Troy has contemplated the many different ways he could end his life and all of them would be humorous when they were posted the morning paper. His liberator comes in the form of drug user and school rocker, Curt MacCrae, who tells Troy they are going to start a punk band. The only problem is Troy doesn’t play an instrument! As Troy learns to play drums, while watching Curt battle addiction, he learns that music is more than technique, it is attitude. And inside every skinny punk banging their head, every model watching their weight, indeed, behind every person trying to live life to the norms of society is a fat kid screaming to get out…
So why not let the fat kid loose?
K.L. Going, Author of “Fat Kid Rules the World,” chose a very interesting way to show readers about the insights of the punk genre. Rather than show the music as a sort of anarchistic rebellion to the decency of society, she choses to show us society’s own fear of being punk. People are continuously worried about self-images and proper dress to the point that they will starve themselves to be skinny or spend hundreds on a shirt in order to avoid the fears of critique from a complete stranger on the streets (in the hopes of appearing normal). With this type of tightness placed on everday living, Goings explains that punk is not just about rebelling, it is about liberating yourself from the norms and being proud to be different.
