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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
I have the manners of a cat in a box of bubble wrap. Like, it's a problem.
A real surprise. Wil is still reeling from the death of her beloved aunt, who was a Dolly Parton superfan, drag queen groupie, and also happened to weigh upward of 400 lbs. Wil's mom is...something of a power-of-positive-thinking, diet guru....many white girls can probably relate to this. Wil's mom is also an ex beauty queen and she's never really measured up, literally or figuratively.
Wil feels like a real person. I don't generally like reading about things that hit as close to home as dead-end Texas towns and body issues, but I had to make an exception for this book. Maybe Willowdean IS Julie Murphy. Either way, she's an interesting character.
However, I spend a lot of the book being frustrated that she doesn't spend at least a minimal amount of time worrying about this pageant thing that she's gotten everyone into. It's kind of like watching someone make Grand plans and scrambled to make them not even happen. It made Wil seem like a background character.
Man, the Callie portrayed in this book is a very different person than the chilly mega-Slytherin portrayed in Puddin'.
The love interest guy is almost impossibly lame. So boring. What's his name? Bo? That's a dog name.
Her motley group of friends are crucial ingredients to this YA novel.
There's Hannah, the surly, gothic (self-labeled) "half-Dominican lesbian with buck teeth." (...although, Send in the Clowns? WTAF NO.)
Millie, another plus-sized girl who "wears shirts with puppies and kittens and not in an ironic way" and whose confidence and can-do attitude are radiant.
There's Amanda, a soccer enthusiast with a slight leg misalignment without corrective footwear.
What I appreciated about this book was the lack of makeover scenes. Thank you, Julie Murphy, for getting it. What I didn't like: (shocker) the love triangle. Cut it out, YA authors. Also, Ellen. I don't know how to feel about Ellen in general. She seems like she's wanting to get away from Wil the whole book, and Wil gains a new circle of friends plus the old ones she clearly has at work and around town. She might benefit from letting go of this person who cares too much about how other people see her. Someone who actually cares about her feelings.
A real surprise. Wil is still reeling from the death of her beloved aunt, who was a Dolly Parton superfan, drag queen groupie, and also happened to weigh upward of 400 lbs. Wil's mom is...something of a power-of-positive-thinking, diet guru....many white girls can probably relate to this. Wil's mom is also an ex beauty queen and she's never really measured up, literally or figuratively.
Wil feels like a real person. I don't generally like reading about things that hit as close to home as dead-end Texas towns and body issues, but I had to make an exception for this book. Maybe Willowdean IS Julie Murphy. Either way, she's an interesting character.
However, I spend a lot of the book being frustrated that she doesn't spend at least a minimal amount of time worrying about this pageant thing that she's gotten everyone into. It's kind of like watching someone make Grand plans and scrambled to make them not even happen. It made Wil seem like a background character.
Man, the Callie portrayed in this book is a very different person than the chilly mega-Slytherin portrayed in Puddin'.
The love interest guy is almost impossibly lame. So boring. What's his name? Bo? That's a dog name.
Her motley group of friends are crucial ingredients to this YA novel.
There's Hannah, the surly, gothic (self-labeled) "half-Dominican lesbian with buck teeth." (...although, Send in the Clowns? WTAF NO.)
Millie, another plus-sized girl who "wears shirts with puppies and kittens and not in an ironic way" and whose confidence and can-do attitude are radiant.
There's Amanda, a soccer enthusiast with a slight leg misalignment without corrective footwear.
What I appreciated about this book was the lack of makeover scenes. Thank you, Julie Murphy, for getting it. What I didn't like: (shocker) the love triangle. Cut it out, YA authors. Also, Ellen. I don't know how to feel about Ellen in general. She seems like she's wanting to get away from Wil the whole book, and Wil gains a new circle of friends plus the old ones she clearly has at work and around town. She might benefit from letting go of this person who cares too much about how other people see her. Someone who actually cares about her feelings.
What a perfect beach read!
These characters are lovable and I loved the journey that Willowdean went on to process grief and increase her self-confidence. The relationships and friendships were written in such a relatable way and I found myself so satisfied by how it all ended.
I've already begun recommending this one to family, and know I'll be recommending it often at the library too!
These characters are lovable and I loved the journey that Willowdean went on to process grief and increase her self-confidence. The relationships and friendships were written in such a relatable way and I found myself so satisfied by how it all ended.
I've already begun recommending this one to family, and know I'll be recommending it often at the library too!
This book had a lot of great elements that, ultimately, didn't hang together the way they deserved to. I'm not surprised this was made into a movie (which I haven't seen yet but plan to) because it has the potential to be great if tightened up into a more cohesive plot and given actual on-screen chemistry between the characters. Murphy tried to do a LOT here, and the end result was that no single element grounded the book the way it needed.
Let's start with Willowdean's friendship with Ellen.They have a falling out because Willowdean wants to enter the pageant without El entering it. It was hard to feel the pain of this split because we don't really see the strength of their bond beforehand. We hear about it, yes, but most of what we see is El being completely self-absorbed, talking about her boyfriend at length and letting her coworker be a dick to Willowdean because she doesn't want to jeopardize her social status at work. Why didn't she tell Willowdean she was entering the pageant too, until they were literally handing in their registration forms? Maybe if Willowdean had more clearly articulated why she was entering the pageant, then it would have been clearer why she was upset about El entering also.
That brings me to the pageant. Without Willowdean having a clear reason for entering outside of "My aunt thought about doing it but stopped herself so I'm not going to stop myself," her relationship to the pageant never fully crystalizes. Her mom accuses her of not taking it seriously, and she gets upset about that, but also her mom is kind of right? Her efforts to prepare are sporadic and halfhearted. She wants to be in the pageant to make some kind of statement about gatekeeping and prejudice, but can you really exude "I deserve to be here as much as anyone" if you're not actually trying to participate? Like, do you actually deserve space in an event that everyone except you is working hard at? If her point is that the pageant is stupid — and if that's why she doesn't want El, who in her mind has a shot at actually winning, to enter and thus potentially win and validate the pageant's existence — then is she not in fact doing what her mom accuses her of and trying to sabotage the thing most important in the world to her mom?
The relationship with her mom had so much potential and honestly might have been the strongest part of the book; it could have been the heart of it if Murphy hadn't spent so much time chasing other plot points. We see how both of them are dealing with the loss of Lucy differently, which creates a realistic tension in how they deal with Lucy's room. Her mom's feelings about Willowdean's weight and how she deals with them are one of the many aspects of this book that tell you it was written by an actual fat person who has undoubtedly lived through many of the same kinds of conversations. I thought her mom's love for her came through as strongly as her exasperation as she tried to figure out how to parent this daughter so different from herself.
The "romance" fell flat for me, and the love triangle was unnecessary and honestly just made Willowdean look heartless, when she could have been more direct and gotten a good friend out of it. I understand everything Murphy was trying to do with the romantic story line; Willowdean doesn't want to fall into the trap of self-hatred that so many women deal with, and yet she finds herself reflexively uncomfortable with her body being seen and touched a particular way. She wants love and believes on some level that she deserves it, but she also doesn't want to deal with the cruel reality of the world and how it will respond to her being with someone the world might not think she deserves. I just wish we'd had more runway, becausethere wasn't any real substance to their relationship before they started making out all the time , and I hate when we're basically just told that there's chemistry between two characters without actually getting to see it. Also, can we please stop normalizing guys having zero people they are able to talk to except for the woman they're romantically interested in? Get some real friends. Or a therapist! "You're the only person I've ever been able to really talk to" isn't romantic, it's concerning.
There were some aspects of the book I really liked, from the Hideaway to Willowdean standing up to Patrick Thomas to the three other "misfits" who join the pageant along with her. I can see all of those working well in a film. I thought Murphy did a nice job of tying up loose ends, exceptwasn't Bo supposed to be Bekah's escort for the pageant? I know he said he was going to make it clear to her where things stood with them, but if that also meant bowing out of being her escort, why wasn't he there to be Willowdean's instead? Why was he working at Harpy's during it? I enjoyed the world and the characters Murphy created for this book and wish the end result had been a bit more polished.
Let's start with Willowdean's friendship with Ellen.
That brings me to the pageant. Without Willowdean having a clear reason for entering outside of "My aunt thought about doing it but stopped herself so I'm not going to stop myself," her relationship to the pageant never fully crystalizes. Her mom accuses her of not taking it seriously, and she gets upset about that, but also her mom is kind of right? Her efforts to prepare are sporadic and halfhearted. She wants to be in the pageant to make some kind of statement about gatekeeping and prejudice, but can you really exude "I deserve to be here as much as anyone" if you're not actually trying to participate? Like, do you actually deserve space in an event that everyone except you is working hard at? If her point is that the pageant is stupid — and if that's why she doesn't want El, who in her mind has a shot at actually winning, to enter and thus potentially win and validate the pageant's existence — then is she not in fact doing what her mom accuses her of and trying to sabotage the thing most important in the world to her mom?
The relationship with her mom had so much potential and honestly might have been the strongest part of the book; it could have been the heart of it if Murphy hadn't spent so much time chasing other plot points. We see how both of them are dealing with the loss of Lucy differently, which creates a realistic tension in how they deal with Lucy's room. Her mom's feelings about Willowdean's weight and how she deals with them are one of the many aspects of this book that tell you it was written by an actual fat person who has undoubtedly lived through many of the same kinds of conversations. I thought her mom's love for her came through as strongly as her exasperation as she tried to figure out how to parent this daughter so different from herself.
The "romance" fell flat for me, and the love triangle was unnecessary and honestly just made Willowdean look heartless, when she could have been more direct and gotten a good friend out of it. I understand everything Murphy was trying to do with the romantic story line; Willowdean doesn't want to fall into the trap of self-hatred that so many women deal with, and yet she finds herself reflexively uncomfortable with her body being seen and touched a particular way. She wants love and believes on some level that she deserves it, but she also doesn't want to deal with the cruel reality of the world and how it will respond to her being with someone the world might not think she deserves. I just wish we'd had more runway, because
There were some aspects of the book I really liked, from the Hideaway to Willowdean standing up to Patrick Thomas to the three other "misfits" who join the pageant along with her. I can see all of those working well in a film. I thought Murphy did a nice job of tying up loose ends, except
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a cute, body-positive, empowering story about loving yourself. There are also hijinks involving pageants, drag queens, and Dolly Parton references.
I was NOT sold on the Bo storyline or his like of Will. That part seemed clunky.
Also: how old is Rosie???? Will mentions her getting "the Flashes" and that Lucy was older. But Lucy died at 36. And that means I am *literally* older than Rosie, and NOT pari-menopausal. THANK YOU.
I was NOT sold on the Bo storyline or his like of Will. That part seemed clunky.
Also: how old is Rosie???? Will mentions her getting "the Flashes" and that Lucy was older. But Lucy died at 36. And that means I am *literally* older than Rosie, and NOT pari-menopausal. THANK YOU.
I love this book, for multiple reasons. I love how Willowdean is so brave and confident with her body in the beginning. But then as the story went on, she started caring about what other people thought of her. Her mother never admitted it but was ashamed of her too, since she was Miss Beauty Pageant Queen. I thought it was creative for the author to make her confident in the beginning, but then lost that along the way. The reason for this is because Willowdean needed to step down for a while in order to build back up. And then Willowdean's love life made it harder for her to gain her confidence back. I felt bad for Milak when Willowdean told him she loved Bo, but they never made it official or hung out together like a boyfriend, girlfriend should. They were more close friends. When Bo entered the story at first, it was kinda weird that he went straight to kissing her and not have a relationship at first. But then at the end of the book when he realized that her did wrong, I was glad he wanted to fix it. That boosted Willowdean's confidence, and helped her get through the pageant. I was also glad that Willowdean and Ellen got back together because that was another fault she needed to fix before got back to the top. I was glad when Willowdean made friends with the other girls because they also helped her get through that pageant. Especially Hannah. When Willowdean wanted to quit, she said NO and that was basically the first time she really ever spoke to Will (except for that time at the sleepover). At the pageant, I was mad that Will got DQ, but then she did break the rules. But it was nice that she had fun with it and was Ellen's escort. I was also glad that she walked away since she realized, I am at the top and I am free.
I wouldn't have found this book if it wasn't for Netflix, but I will always be thankful for that.
I love the characters, the plot, the focus on nontypical bodies. I would have loved a heroin like Dumplin when I was younger.
I love the characters, the plot, the focus on nontypical bodies. I would have loved a heroin like Dumplin when I was younger.
Dumplin' is such a cringe worthy novel, but in the best possible way. Julie Murphy captures the struggle of the teenage experience beautifully, and her writing shines.
One thing that readers must know about this novel, is it is not about a "brave" fat girl who enters a beauty pageant; instead, it is about a girl who doesn't see herself as worthless because of how she looks and how she tries to prove others wrong. The book beautifully highlights how Willowdean does feel like the sidekick friend in her life, and how she wants to break away and be her own person. It is also about how she has never felt self conscious about herself until she becomes involved with a boy. It is during this time that she begins to see herself how others see her, and she doesn't like what she sees.
Growing up, I was a "fat girl", so reading this book was extremely difficult for me. It captured the mind of a girl who begins to see herself how others see her, and it is heartbreaking. However, I enjoyed how Willowdean, and the side characters, evolved throughout the novel. Murphy sent a message through her writing that showed the reader how everyone is self conscious about something in their life, and how we should just try to love ourselves and understand that others are going through exactly what we are feeling. This book is essential for middle school - high school students to read, and I know that it would have helped me had it been released when I was still in school. Murphy made all of her characters likable and unlikable throughout the novel, and through those flaws and reality her book won my heart. She didn't force you to like Willowdean simply because she was the underdog, and forced you to get to know her before making any assumptions on her character.
One thing that readers must know about this novel, is it is not about a "brave" fat girl who enters a beauty pageant; instead, it is about a girl who doesn't see herself as worthless because of how she looks and how she tries to prove others wrong. The book beautifully highlights how Willowdean does feel like the sidekick friend in her life, and how she wants to break away and be her own person. It is also about how she has never felt self conscious about herself until she becomes involved with a boy. It is during this time that she begins to see herself how others see her, and she doesn't like what she sees.
Growing up, I was a "fat girl", so reading this book was extremely difficult for me. It captured the mind of a girl who begins to see herself how others see her, and it is heartbreaking. However, I enjoyed how Willowdean, and the side characters, evolved throughout the novel. Murphy sent a message through her writing that showed the reader how everyone is self conscious about something in their life, and how we should just try to love ourselves and understand that others are going through exactly what we are feeling. This book is essential for middle school - high school students to read, and I know that it would have helped me had it been released when I was still in school. Murphy made all of her characters likable and unlikable throughout the novel, and through those flaws and reality her book won my heart. She didn't force you to like Willowdean simply because she was the underdog, and forced you to get to know her before making any assumptions on her character.
I'm so glad that I finally read this book. I connected to Willowdean's character so much, and I really enjoyed her. I can't wait to watch the Netflix adaptation when it comes out!