Jerry Stahl

A Novel

I, Fatty

Sarah Sammis

I majored in film studies and while I was doing my studies, the silent era was one of my favorite subjects. When, I, Fatty, a novelization of Roscoe Arbuckle's life was offered at a recent BookCrossing meeting I had to snatch up this book. I wasn't sure if I'd like the book, feeling that the teens and twenties might not be depicted in a believable fashion or that the story would be too bogged down with facts and dates to be interesting. The book doesn't suffer from either problem.

The facts are certainly simplified and there are some errors and omissions (like Arbuckle's nephew who was also an actor isn't mentioned). Another noticeable error is the mistyping of "Keystone Kops" as they were known then as "Keystone cops." The spelling with a K is a more recent thing. As this book is a work of fiction, I forgive it these errors as they in no way take away from the enjoyment of the story.

I, Fatty is a fictionalized "autobiography" of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, the silent film star best known now for being accused of the rape and murder of Virginia Rappe. This novel brings together the events of Arubckle's life and career as supposition to how he might have come to finding himself going overnight from being loved by fans to being seen as an over sexed and violent ogre. The events have been simplified and some completely fabricated so take this book is a grain of salt. There are enough facts to point interested readers in the right direction for finding some non-fiction accounts. For those just interested in a well written story, I, Fatty delivers.

I, Fatty A Novel

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