# One Fat Summer

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***One Fat Summer*** is a [teen drama](/source/Teen_drama) novel written by American author [Robert Lipsyte](/source/Robert_Lipsyte), published in 1977. In 2018, the novel was adapted into a motion picture titled *[Measure of a Man](/source/Measure_of_a_Man_(film))*, starring [Blake Cooper](/source/Blake_Cooper), [Donald Sutherland](/source/Donald_Sutherland), [Luke Wilson](/source/Luke_Wilson), and [Judy Greer](/source/Judy_Greer) and was distributed by Great Point Media.

## Synopsis

Bobby Marks, an overweight 14-year-old boy, experiences a [coming of age](/source/Coming_of_age) summer, in which he learns to stand up for himself.

## Characters

- Bobby Marks: the protagonist of the story, an overweight 14-year-old boy
- Dr. Kahn: an estate owner who hires Bobby to manage his lawn
- Lenore Marks: Bobby's mother
- Marty Marks: Bobby's father
- Michelle Marks: Bobby's older sister
- Pete Marino: Michelle's boyfriend
- Joanie Williams: Bobby's friend
- Willie Rumson: the antagonist of the story, Bobby's [nemesis](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nemesis)

## Inspiration

The protagonist of *One Fat Summer*, Bobby Marks, is similar to author Robert Lipsyte: Bobby is an adolescent in the 1950s, suffering from a weight problem, who does something about it. He takes a summer job mowing lawns and, as a result, loses weight and gains self-confidence. In 1952, Lipsyte took a summer job as a lawn boy and lost forty pounds, ridding himself of the youthful stigma of excess weight.

## Film adaptation

Main article: [Measure of a Man (film)](/source/Measure_of_a_Man_(film))

In June 2015, director [Jim Loach](/source/Jim_Loach) started pre-production for the film with screenwriter [David Scearce](/source/David_Scearce), who wrote the screenplay, based on [Robert Lipsyte](/source/Robert_Lipsyte)'s novel. The film went into production several months later when [Donald Sutherland](/source/Donald_Sutherland) and *[The Maze Runner](/source/The_Maze_Runner_(film))* star [Blake Cooper](/source/Blake_Cooper) joined the cast on September 23, 2015.[1] Sutherland plays Dr. Kahn, and Blake Cooper plays character Bobby.[2] On October 5, 2015, [Judy Greer](/source/Judy_Greer) and [Luke Wilson](/source/Luke_Wilson) joined the film alongside Sutherland and Cooper,[3] to play Bobby's parents.[4] The film was released on May 11, 2018.

## See also

- [1977 in literature](/source/1977_in_literature)
- [List of teen dramas](/source/List_of_teen_dramas)

## References

1. ["Donald Sutherland to Star in Indie 'Measure of a Man'"](https://variety.com/2015/film/news/donald-sutherland-measure-of-a-man-1201600977/). September 23, 2016.

1. ["Donald Sutherland Takes 'Measure Of A Man'; Indie Shoots In Rhode Island"](https://deadline.com/2015/09/measure-of-a-man-donald-sutherland-blake-cooper-1201545972/). September 23, 2016.

1. ["Judy Greer And Luke Wilson Find Measure Of A Man"](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/judy-greer-luke-wilson-find-measure-man/). October 6, 2015.

1. ["Luke Wilson & Judy Greer Join 'Measure Of A Man'"](https://deadline.com/2015/10/luke-wilson-judy-greer-measure-of-a-man-movie-1201567389/). October 5, 2015.

## External links

- [Official website](http://www.robertlipsyte.com/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [One Fat Summer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Fat_Summer) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Fat_Summer?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.