.jpg)
The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger
Genre: Young Adult/Contemporary/Romance
Goodreads Summary:
Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face.
But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction.
**Spoiler Free Review**
I was sent a copy of this book from Gallery Books/Hatchette Children's Books, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
This book has a lot of hype in the Blogging and Booktube communities and I was a bit wary when I went into reading it. However, I ended up really really enjoying it. It's one of those books I wish I'd read as a teenager but it was still incredibly enjoyable. Keplinger writes incredibly believable and complex characters. I love the strong female protagonist, Bianca, and her friends. They portray an interesting dynamic which I've never read in American high school fiction before. I felt myself really becoming invested in the characters very quickly. Keplinger has such a talent for character-driven plot.
I also really loved that this book wasn't all about romance or love triangles; Bianca's realistic family situation was such an important portrayal of the difficulties teenagers can go through: not just school and romance, but also family members having serious problems, whilst the teenager is left to pick up the pieces and act like an adult before they're ready. I really loved Bianca's father, I felt he was such a quiet character that still had a huge impact in the book. He was likeable, funny and his story was every bit as complex and interestingly explored as Bianca's.
My only issue with this book was that the main character seemed very strong and independent to begin with but she ended up falling rather flat in some ways. To be honest, I'm a bit fed up of books where the main female character falls for the 'bad boy' that just needs to learn how to change. Life isn't like that and guys who are willing to call you ugly and fat every day are not worth anyone's time; it just really bothered me that Bianca still falls for someone who verbally and mentally abuses her when she's already gone through so much. Even I started wanting them to be together, which bothered me. To be fair to the book though, circumstances do change and the characters are very complex and different. This is just something that bothered me a bit as it seems to happen in a lot of Young Adult books, which can teach teenagers how they think they deserve to be treated in a relationship. Because of this issue I had with the relationship of some characters, it is easy to see that this was written by a teenager (but an incredibly talented teenager at that!)
Really though, I didn't have many problems with this book and I flew through it because it was so, so enjoyable. It was funny, realistic and an incredibly well-written contemporary Young Adult novel. It deserves the attention it is getting and I'm looking forward to the film coming out on the 6th April 2015! (UK). So even if you don't feel like picking this book up yet, I'd recommend seeing the film to see what you think! I think this is a great book for teenagers and it deals with so many important issues. I'd highly recommend it to any young adult/contemporary reader; it's witty, funny, intelligently written and very relatable.
Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face.
But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction.
**Spoiler Free Review**
I was sent a copy of this book from Gallery Books/Hatchette Children's Books, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
This book has a lot of hype in the Blogging and Booktube communities and I was a bit wary when I went into reading it. However, I ended up really really enjoying it. It's one of those books I wish I'd read as a teenager but it was still incredibly enjoyable. Keplinger writes incredibly believable and complex characters. I love the strong female protagonist, Bianca, and her friends. They portray an interesting dynamic which I've never read in American high school fiction before. I felt myself really becoming invested in the characters very quickly. Keplinger has such a talent for character-driven plot.
I also really loved that this book wasn't all about romance or love triangles; Bianca's realistic family situation was such an important portrayal of the difficulties teenagers can go through: not just school and romance, but also family members having serious problems, whilst the teenager is left to pick up the pieces and act like an adult before they're ready. I really loved Bianca's father, I felt he was such a quiet character that still had a huge impact in the book. He was likeable, funny and his story was every bit as complex and interestingly explored as Bianca's.
My only issue with this book was that the main character seemed very strong and independent to begin with but she ended up falling rather flat in some ways. To be honest, I'm a bit fed up of books where the main female character falls for the 'bad boy' that just needs to learn how to change. Life isn't like that and guys who are willing to call you ugly and fat every day are not worth anyone's time; it just really bothered me that Bianca still falls for someone who verbally and mentally abuses her when she's already gone through so much. Even I started wanting them to be together, which bothered me. To be fair to the book though, circumstances do change and the characters are very complex and different. This is just something that bothered me a bit as it seems to happen in a lot of Young Adult books, which can teach teenagers how they think they deserve to be treated in a relationship. Because of this issue I had with the relationship of some characters, it is easy to see that this was written by a teenager (but an incredibly talented teenager at that!)
Really though, I didn't have many problems with this book and I flew through it because it was so, so enjoyable. It was funny, realistic and an incredibly well-written contemporary Young Adult novel. It deserves the attention it is getting and I'm looking forward to the film coming out on the 6th April 2015! (UK). So even if you don't feel like picking this book up yet, I'd recommend seeing the film to see what you think! I think this is a great book for teenagers and it deals with so many important issues. I'd highly recommend it to any young adult/contemporary reader; it's witty, funny, intelligently written and very relatable.
No comments:
Post a Comment