St. Martin's Press and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Weight of Him. This is my honest opinion of the book.

400 pound Billy Brennan has always been able to count on food, for comfort, for sustenance, and for his overall well being. When his 17 year old son Michael takes his own life, Billy becomes determined to raise awareness for suicide prevention by undergoing a very public weight loss campaign. His wife, remaining children, and his parents are not thrilled about the public declaration and push back against it at every opportunity. As Billy undergoes his very public attempt to transform himself, will he be able to work through his issues and complete his mission?

Although the writing style is choppy and the dialogue forced at times, the author does a good job of bringing the serious issue of suicide to life. The social stigma and the shame involved often prevents the families from getting the help they need to move forward after the tragedy. Billy was my favorite character in the book, as his determination in the face of immense odds makes him very inspiring. This book is more depressing than hopeful, but the author does a good job of getting the point across. The ending was too abrupt, but the overall message of The Weight of Him makes this a good book.

“The Weight of Him” by Ethel Rohan
Published by St. Martin’s Press
Finished 2/12/17 - 3/5 stars

One night while the family was sleeping Billy’s oldest son, Michael, walked out of the house and hung himself in a tree. His suicide took the family by complete surprise and seeing as how he didn’t leave a note, no one really knows why he did it. One thing Billy does know is that he doesn’t want Michael’s death to be for nothing. He is determined to bring attention to suicide in the hopes of preventing others from taking their own lives. He decided to accept pledges/donations to a charity for him to loose half his weight (he is truly obese), to create a walk in the town to bring awareness, and create a documentary to share the story of Michael and others affected by suicide. If Michael’s death can stop someone else from dying, then it will all be worth it. But what about the rest of the family…..is it worth it to them?
The idea behind this story is a good one. There are too many suicides in the world, especially teens. I love the fact that Billy takes this on as his new life mission, which helps him to heal as well, but I feel like the story is missing a lot that could have made it a better book. I think Michael’s character needed more development and back story and truly, so did the rest of the family. For example, Billy has a daughter that you know almost nothing about and therefore, I’m not even sure why she’s a character in the book at all. I also found the storyline to be quite slow. It took me longer than it should have to read this book simply because there was nothing drawing me back to pick it up and read more. I did feel for Billy though – he had a very tough time with Michael’s death and had to work through surviving it without any true help from his own family.
Thank you to Net Galley and St Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

A beautifully written book. This book made me laugh and cry. It was also heartbreaking. Billy is trying to cope with the suicide of his eldest son Michael. Billy wants to raise awareness about suicide and make Michael's life be remembered. A simple wonderfully written book that really makes you think. This book will stay with me for a long time and I would definitely recommend it.

I am so glad I was approved for this book.

In The Weight of Him we meet Big Billy Brennan, a morbidly obese man, who is trying to gain some clarity after his firstborn child commits suicide. He sets off on a crusade to raise money for suicide awareness and prevention - he commits to losing half his body weight (200 lbs), embarrassing and alienating his family in the process.

I really loved this book. I really felt that I could relate to Billy and Tricia and their family. I could really feel how Billy's weight was both a comfort and a burden to him. I could also really feel how helpless and confused the family was by Michael's suicide.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's for approving me for this title!

Big Billy, at 400 pounds, is feeling the weight: the weight of himself and that of the loss of his oldest son to suicide. As he struggles with his weight(s), Billy decides he needs to do something. He decides to lose half himself in weight to demonstrate the half of his heart he lost when his son took his own life and use it to draw attention to suicide prevention by raising money for the cause. At least, that is what the book is about on the face of things. Really it is about Billy coping with the loss of his son, the division in his family as they all try to cope in their own ways, and his own scarred feelings from childhood. The story is weighty (pun intended), but like my pun it is presented in such a manner as to make the reader comfortable with the continuing uncomfortable situations. Ms. Rohan's writing is deft and characters well fleshed out (pun kinda intended) making for an engaging read.

Obesity, especially extreme overweight people who are called morbidly obese, is often a mysterious situation, without easy or effective solutions. In literature, the intake of food - either too much or too little - can be used as an effective device. Ethel Rohan makes good use of obesity with her protagonist Billy Brennan. Billy lives in a very small village outside of Dublin. He comes from a farming family but decided young in life that he didn't want to be a farmer so he works in a toy factory. Billy's weight at 400 pounds impedes his life and definitely serves as a metaphor for his pain. He has never been forgiven by his father for not taking on the family farm but tells himself it is okay because his son, Michael, works on the farm before school and will someday be there full time. Michael will inherit the farm and make it his life's work. He seems okay with that until we find out he wasn't okay with it at all.

Billy suffers a great loss and decides to face that loss with a public campaign to halve his weight and fundraise money for a charity. The novel follows his path as he meets with support and resistance. Billy's family is suffering a loss as well and are not happy about Billy's campaign that brings more attention to them than they could possibly imagine. The situation drives a deeper wedge between Billy and his father. The narrative has all the makings of a total disaster that will only hurt Billy's life and health. <i>The Weight of Him</i> is a solid story depicting universal truths about life, love, and loss. I'm sure everyone who has suffered emotional pain will feel the resonance of ER's words.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martin's Press (February 14th 2017).

The Weight of Him was a nice surprise. The book's description makes it sound like somewhat of a humorous book, but it's actually quite meaty and emotionally charged -- in a good way. Billy lives in a small village in Ireland with his wife and children. He weighs 400 pounds and his family has recently suffered a terrible tragedy. With the odds stacked against him, Billy sets out to find a way to improve his life and eke something positive out of his family's recent tragedy.

THE WEIGHT OF HIM BY ETHEL ROHAN

This book has a lot of heart. I just loved Anna and Billy. Billy Brennan decides to lose half his body weight for a fundraiser to help in the prevention of suicide. Billy has lost his son Michael to suicide and everywhere Billy looks he sees his son Michael who he lost to suicide. You can feel the tension between Tricia and Billy.

Suicide is still hard to deal with especially one of your beloved children. People don't really feel comfortable talking about it. I suppose I would talk about my loved one all of the time. Every chance I got. Its heartbreaking and sad and I don't know if people just don't know what to say. Billy is lucky to have all the support he does at work towards his diet. Billy has such a big heart. I felt hungry just reading the descriptions of food.

Thank you to Net Galley , Ethel Rohan, ST Martins Publishing for reading and reviewing this book.

What a surprising book! I worried it would either be depressing or humorous in a dark way. It was lovely. Billy, the main character, is obese, unhappy, and trying to make things better. I found myself rooting for him, even when I understood the feelings of those around him. Excellent book, well written, and I recommend it heartily.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31211591-the-weight-of-him" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Weight of Him" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1469401407m/31211591.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31211591-the-weight-of-him">The Weight of Him</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3340306.Ethel_Rohan">Ethel Rohan</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1884713959">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Billy Brennan, severely obese, is on a mission after the suicide of his son Michael. He wants to to lose over 200lbs and begins a public weight loss campaign, to raise money for suicide prevention.<br /><br />We follow him through this crusade of his, and also how he and his family deal with the aftermath of his son's death.<br /><br />I really liked this story, and all these characters! Also, this story is set in Ireland, and the descriptions of the landscape renew my wish to go there.<br /><br />Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/12851291-karen">View all my reviews</a>

When one reads the summary of this book, they stumble onto a word they don't think about much until they pick up the book and see for themselves how crucial that word is in describing it. That keyword is picturesque.
Mrs. Rohan writes beautifully, interlacing the complex emotion of the characters throughout the text. From the first sentence I was met by the feeling of melancholy, and that continued throughout. The characters are well-developed, and the story itself is amazing, gripping and inspiring. The Weight of Him is an incredible read in its entirety, very engaging.
I recommend it. And I cannot wait to read something else from Mrs. Rohan in the near future.


P.S. What drew me to request this book was the fact that the book is set in Ireland. If you've been following me for a while, then you know that I have a budding obsession with Ireland, I even crated a shelf for my hibernophilia. The book has beautiful descriptions of the Irish countryside, which made me fall in love with the text even more.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC of this book.

When I was offered the opportunity to read this book I was hesitant because it didn't sound like a storyline I could get in to but I decided to read it anyway. Let me start by saying that did not color my review of this book and I really did try to enjoy the book. Overall, the book has some very, very heavy themes (suicide, obesity, marriage struggles) and that's exactly how the book felt: heavy. I found that the book had so much darkness in it that it got hard to read. Every next chapter I kept wishing for something good to happen or a happy moment but when that did happen it was over shadowed 2 pages later by something awful.

Rohan also had a lot of side storylines in the book that went no where. Every time I thought we were going to get a little background on someone or resolution on something the plot changed and the author never got back around to resolving that storyline. The abrupt ending was also very halting. Just as I wanted the book to pick up it was over and I was left with way more questions than answers.

A positive of the book is that Rohan is an absolutely wonderful writer. The dialogue was excellent and she does a wonderful job of imagining the world the characters are in so you actually feel like you're in their tiny kitchen or sitting at Kennedy's Pub.

Overall, I would read another book by Rohan but I probably wouldn't reread this one or even recommend.

This is a difficult book for me to review since it deals with two very sensitive topics and, though it does it well, I am not certain everyone will want to deal with this level of intensity. Rohan combines the topics of suicide and morbid obesity, both within the family of Billy Brennan. His life is disintegrating as his weight piles on. The family is in mourning for his son Michael, a suicide.

Billy decides to lose weight and merge it with a campaign for suicide prevention. Yes, his journey is inspirational, but one which is painful to share. It is certainly not a book that will make you smile, but perhaps it will give you an uplifting spiritual experience. You will love Billy and root for his family and you will be amazed by his success.

The Weight of Him is so aptly titled. While Billy struggles with his morbid obesity, he also struggles to come to terms with the weighty burden of his son's suicide. The unraveling of his coping with both of these tragedies leads to a story that is relatable and absorbing. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

In The Weight of Him, we meet Billy and his family who is grappling with the loss of a son by suicide. We're brought into the world of an obese man who decides to make positive life changes after his son's death. His struggle is real and I enjoyed watching him overcome temptation. However, the author left many unanswered questions and perseverated on his bleak thoughts so much that I felt weighed down. It was well-written and Billy was a complex character but I think there was more that could've been delved into that would have taken this into a 5-star read. At the end, when I began to smile, see a turning point, I flipped the screen and it was over. However, I find this author intriguing and would read more works by her.

Big Billy Brennan and his wife Tricia are devastated by the loss of their 17 year old son Michael who one night with no warning, cut down their clothesline and used it to end his life. They have spoken to his friends, heard the crazy rumors, but never found a reason that may have led Michael to suicide.
As Billy tries to come to terms with what has happened, to find a way to make Michael's life and death count for something, his family becomes more angry and embarrassed by it all, and by Billy himself and his crusade to lose weight to raise money for suicide awareness and prevention. This was an emotional read. Though at times the pace was a bit slow, I could not help but admire Billy, and his courage and determination to never give up even when his own family did not support his efforts.

This was a heartbreakingly beautiful book about loss, grief, and ultimately, hope. When Billy's 17-year old son, Michael commits suicide, the family is thrown into turmoil when they realize they had absolutely no clue that he was even the slightest bit unhappy. Attempting to look for answers, 400-pound Billy sets out to lose 200 pounds to raise money for suicide awareness in his village. What follows reveals a family in crisis, trying desperately to understand each other, heal themselves, and get to the root of how to deal with crushing grief. At times it was difficult to read; I continually felt "the weight" of Billy's sorrow and Rohan definitely draws you in with lovely prose.

A family dealing with a loss. Parents living through a horrific time.
Father who is 400 pounds decides to run a weight loss fundraiser to raise money in son's memory and to
call attention to suicide and to provide prevention. He returns to the site of his son's death-
asking questions that he will never have answers to.

The Weight of Him was a nice surprise. The book's description makes it sound like somewhat of a humorous book, but it's actually quite meaty and emotionally charged -- in a good way. Billy lives in a small village in Ireland with his wife and children. He weighs 400 pounds and his family has recently suffered a terrible tragedy. With the odds stacked against him, Billy sets out to find a way to improve his life and eke something positive out of his family's recent tragedy. His family is less than enthusiastic and his plans do seem a tad grandiose. What I liked about the book was the nuance in Billy's and his family's emotions. This book takes on two big and seemingly disparate themes -- grief and the stigma of obesity -- and weaves them together really well. I felt the social stigma associated with Billy's weight, but at the same time he is not portrayed as a misunderstood hero. His family's polarized reactions to Billy's actions feel real and just as legitimate as his feelings -- thereby emphasizing that grief and life generally can be messy. To some extent, Billy reminded me of Harold in The unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry -- a stigmatized idiosyncratic character who strives to turn his own and other people's expectations upside down -- the issue of who may or may not be misguided remains open for a long time. While the writing style is light, this didn't feel like a light book. I found myself engaged, and even teary at times. I suspect some may find this a bit sentimental and predictable, but it worked well for me. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.