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lydsyko 's review for:
The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend
by Kody Keplinger
I have to admit that I was honestly disappointed with this book after watching the film. The book and the film have completely different storylines and they even go so far as to eliminate and add characters to the movie, which isn't necessarily a problem that they're so different if I had enjoyed the book more.
I found Bianca a hard character to relate to, even though, like Bianca, I had my parents split up when I was in high school and my Dad was an alcoholic, though not admittedly so, and while I am happy with who I am today, I think that every teenager struggles to find themselves so I thought I'd relate more to the whole "DUFF" concept. However, the way Bianca handles the situations with her parents, especially her father's drinking problem (which causes him to become abusive) was completely irrational. She knew all her life that her father was a recovering alcoholic and yet when she found out her father had started drinking she acts completely ignorant about the whole thing, as if it's no big deal and it was just a one time thing that he'll get over instead of a disease that needs to be treated. Next, the "DUFF" issue. Bianca is constantly going on about how she doesn't really give a shit about how people see her, when honestly, I'd say that 98% of her inner dialogue is about just that: stressing about other's opinions of her being a DUFF. She obsessed over it throughout the whole book, which I guess I should have expected since that's the title and all, but it got cumbersome to read after a while.
Bianca's friends are totally unrealistic and completely obsessed with her. Jessica is completely ditzy all the time, nice and innocent as she's made out to be, it doesn't excuse the fact that she pretty much acts like a child who doesn't really know anything until maybe the last four chapters of the book, if even then. And Casey, oh my god, has to be oblivious if she hasn't figured shit out over halfway through the book, especially since she knows exactly when Bianca is lying (which is apparently every time she says "I'm fine") and Bianca admits several times that she is HORRIBLE at lying and she knows Casey can see through her, blah, blah, blah. Whatever. And then when she finally finds out the truth about Wesley she acts like a jealous ex or something and even though Bianca is clearly unhappy with Toby Tucker, so much so that ditzy, oblivious, gullible Jessica noticed, Casey continues to advocate for the couple to stay together. For a person who is supposedly always coming to the rescue of people, it's awfully selfish of her to keep pushing her best friend onto a guy that's she's completely played out with just because she's jealous that if she was with someone she really liked that she wouldn't hang out with her again. She should want her to be happy, shouldn't she?
Then there's Bianca, who is honestly not that likable of a character. I got so sick of her pessimistic, selfish, bitchy personality and her obsessing over Wesley and the DUFF that I kinda wanted to throw the book across the room. I kept reading in the hopes that it would get better but it didn't really improve much and her character only REALLY changed in the final two chapters.
All in all it wasn't a terrible read, but I'll never get my day back, and now I understand why they changed the storyline so much for the film, including Bianca's personality which becomes witty, to counteract the bitchy and so forth.
I found Bianca a hard character to relate to, even though, like Bianca, I had my parents split up when I was in high school and my Dad was an alcoholic, though not admittedly so, and while I am happy with who I am today, I think that every teenager struggles to find themselves so I thought I'd relate more to the whole "DUFF" concept. However, the way Bianca handles the situations with her parents, especially her father's drinking problem (which causes him to become abusive) was completely irrational. She knew all her life that her father was a recovering alcoholic and yet when she found out her father had started drinking she acts completely ignorant about the whole thing, as if it's no big deal and it was just a one time thing that he'll get over instead of a disease that needs to be treated. Next, the "DUFF" issue. Bianca is constantly going on about how she doesn't really give a shit about how people see her, when honestly, I'd say that 98% of her inner dialogue is about just that: stressing about other's opinions of her being a DUFF. She obsessed over it throughout the whole book, which I guess I should have expected since that's the title and all, but it got cumbersome to read after a while.
Bianca's friends are totally unrealistic and completely obsessed with her. Jessica is completely ditzy all the time, nice and innocent as she's made out to be, it doesn't excuse the fact that she pretty much acts like a child who doesn't really know anything until maybe the last four chapters of the book, if even then. And Casey, oh my god, has to be oblivious if she hasn't figured shit out over halfway through the book, especially since she knows exactly when Bianca is lying (which is apparently every time she says "I'm fine") and Bianca admits several times that she is HORRIBLE at lying and she knows Casey can see through her, blah, blah, blah. Whatever. And then when she finally finds out the truth about Wesley she acts like a jealous ex or something and even though Bianca is clearly unhappy with Toby Tucker, so much so that ditzy, oblivious, gullible Jessica noticed, Casey continues to advocate for the couple to stay together. For a person who is supposedly always coming to the rescue of people, it's awfully selfish of her to keep pushing her best friend onto a guy that's she's completely played out with just because she's jealous that if she was with someone she really liked that she wouldn't hang out with her again. She should want her to be happy, shouldn't she?
Then there's Bianca, who is honestly not that likable of a character. I got so sick of her pessimistic, selfish, bitchy personality and her obsessing over Wesley and the DUFF that I kinda wanted to throw the book across the room. I kept reading in the hopes that it would get better but it didn't really improve much and her character only REALLY changed in the final two chapters.
All in all it wasn't a terrible read, but I'll never get my day back, and now I understand why they changed the storyline so much for the film, including Bianca's personality which becomes witty, to counteract the bitchy and so forth.