Finally! My second Friday Reads post is up!
This one is all about The Reader's Lounge Book Club's book for March! I love how I'm discovering some wonderful books through our monthly picks! Not that I wouldn't have read them otherwise but they've been moved to the front of the TBR pile and read, so that's great!
The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The DUFF was chosen as March's book for my book club: The Reader's Lounge and since I already had a copy gifted by my friend Becca from Pivot Point Reviews, I was all set and ready!
I didn't start the book till this week and surprisingly enough (or maybe not...) I was completely hooked and ended up reading it in one night! I do suck at reading a book in installments it seems!
Bianca is your cynical, too jaded for her age but somewhat sensible teen, and boy did I identify with her... I was pretty much like that when I was 17 or 18 and I was the voice of reason for one of my excessively romantic friends. She's got two best friends that are quite different from her, a crush on the perfect boy and a rather complicated family dynamic.
It all start with Bianca being with her friends at a club, with them dancing and she fighting a headache (I liked dancing loads, so that was not something we have in common) and being approached by the biggest manwhore of the whole school that calls her a DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) which causes her to throw a drink on his face (I cheered!).
Bianca always felt like a very real and complicated teen (we are all bloody complicated as teens) and even though I obviously I didn't agree with all her actions, I could understand most of her motivations, even if I saw quite clearly what she didn't seem to manage to see, which means hindsight and some perspective works wonders.
I loved her friendship with Cassey and Jessica, and how they were all different and leveled each other up. I hated how Bianca kept herself so closed up with her friends and pretended she was alright all the time, but I surely can relate to that to an extent too. And despite their disagreements and whatever problems they had, they ended up talking things through and not resorting to simple name calling and catfight drama, which is a very positive example to show.
Every interaction between Bianca and Wesley had the potential to be hilarious, irritating and swoony all at the same time, and I really felt like like smacking Wesley for his continued use of the "Duffy" nickname even if it was quite clear that he wasn't trying to belittle Bianca at all by the use of it after a while. He seemed quite genuine and proved to be a good friend to her more than once, and I actually cheered when he defended Bianca from the "whore" accusations with a good punch.
It seemed rather funny that the guy that was the first to label her ended up being the other that also gave her the best kind of advice about labels of all sorts and the one that made Bianca realize that she is so much more than a DUFF, and that we are all labelled at some point and we all end up labelling others and almost always is because we want to feel better about ourselves by putting others down.
The family dynamics are very important in this one because Bianca's family life is not easy with her parents' issues and how they affect her. I loved that parents aren't perfect here in this book but aren't bad people just because it suits the story. They are not made the enemy, and are also made flawed people with redeeming qualities that are trying to do what they can and will not win a "parents of the year" award while they sort their issues but that do try to do the best they can once they're out of their own cave.
All in all, this was a deeper read that I was expecting at first, and although there were a few disturbing things for me, the main one having a 14 year old in a relationship that included sex with an 18 year old which I felt wasn't addressed as wrong well enough, it was full of positive messages for both teens and adults, because we all need the reminders about facing our problems, not lying to ourselves and accepting help from others, not labelling people and standing against those labels.
Very much well deserved 4 stars for this one!
View all my reviews
This one is all about The Reader's Lounge Book Club's book for March! I love how I'm discovering some wonderful books through our monthly picks! Not that I wouldn't have read them otherwise but they've been moved to the front of the TBR pile and read, so that's great!
The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody KeplingerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The DUFF was chosen as March's book for my book club: The Reader's Lounge and since I already had a copy gifted by my friend Becca from Pivot Point Reviews, I was all set and ready!
I didn't start the book till this week and surprisingly enough (or maybe not...) I was completely hooked and ended up reading it in one night! I do suck at reading a book in installments it seems!
Bianca is your cynical, too jaded for her age but somewhat sensible teen, and boy did I identify with her... I was pretty much like that when I was 17 or 18 and I was the voice of reason for one of my excessively romantic friends. She's got two best friends that are quite different from her, a crush on the perfect boy and a rather complicated family dynamic.
It all start with Bianca being with her friends at a club, with them dancing and she fighting a headache (I liked dancing loads, so that was not something we have in common) and being approached by the biggest manwhore of the whole school that calls her a DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) which causes her to throw a drink on his face (I cheered!).
Bianca always felt like a very real and complicated teen (we are all bloody complicated as teens) and even though I obviously I didn't agree with all her actions, I could understand most of her motivations, even if I saw quite clearly what she didn't seem to manage to see, which means hindsight and some perspective works wonders.
I loved her friendship with Cassey and Jessica, and how they were all different and leveled each other up. I hated how Bianca kept herself so closed up with her friends and pretended she was alright all the time, but I surely can relate to that to an extent too. And despite their disagreements and whatever problems they had, they ended up talking things through and not resorting to simple name calling and catfight drama, which is a very positive example to show.
Every interaction between Bianca and Wesley had the potential to be hilarious, irritating and swoony all at the same time, and I really felt like like smacking Wesley for his continued use of the "Duffy" nickname even if it was quite clear that he wasn't trying to belittle Bianca at all by the use of it after a while. He seemed quite genuine and proved to be a good friend to her more than once, and I actually cheered when he defended Bianca from the "whore" accusations with a good punch.
It seemed rather funny that the guy that was the first to label her ended up being the other that also gave her the best kind of advice about labels of all sorts and the one that made Bianca realize that she is so much more than a DUFF, and that we are all labelled at some point and we all end up labelling others and almost always is because we want to feel better about ourselves by putting others down.
The family dynamics are very important in this one because Bianca's family life is not easy with her parents' issues and how they affect her. I loved that parents aren't perfect here in this book but aren't bad people just because it suits the story. They are not made the enemy, and are also made flawed people with redeeming qualities that are trying to do what they can and will not win a "parents of the year" award while they sort their issues but that do try to do the best they can once they're out of their own cave.
All in all, this was a deeper read that I was expecting at first, and although there were a few disturbing things for me, the main one having a 14 year old in a relationship that included sex with an 18 year old which I felt wasn't addressed as wrong well enough, it was full of positive messages for both teens and adults, because we all need the reminders about facing our problems, not lying to ourselves and accepting help from others, not labelling people and standing against those labels.
Very much well deserved 4 stars for this one!
View all my reviews
Theoretically, I want to read this novel, but maybe a few years from now, when all the hubbub from the movie has died down. I'm a weird reader like that ;D So glad you enjoyed this book, Pili!
ReplyDeleteAlyssa @ The Eater of Books!
I got it as a Xmas present from Becca and I'm glad that it was chosen as the book club's book for March or I don't know when I would have got to it!
DeleteGorgeous review Pili. <3 I'm curious about this book. But I also think that I won't like it, so I'm staying away from it :p though I saw the movie trailer, which seems kind of cute, so I'm thinking about watching it :D Anyway! So glad that you enjoyed this book so much sweetie :D You make it sound pretty awesome. <3
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if you'll like the book because of Bianca's actions with the two boys... but it is a quite awesome book!
DeleteThank you sweetie!! =D
I tried this one a couple months ago and made it about half way and just wasn't loving it :-( me and contemporary...we just can't get along. It might be that I had really high expectations. I felt sure I'd love it. Oh well. I'm so glad you did! I did enjoy the start of it and thought that the writing was strong.
ReplyDeleteAt least you gave it a try! Sometimes we really aren't in the mood for contemporary...
DeleteI honestly don't know how you manage to read so many books all the time! I am so impressed and wish I had your reading speed/time to read/however you manage this! I know I want to read this one before it becomes a movie as well because it looks like it is going to be great. The idea of it being realistic as well, intrigues me, along with the great, typical characters!
ReplyDeleteI am a faster reader and I'm also behind on shows I watch on TV and I lose sleep for reading time, I guess it's a bit of everything!
Delete