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A review by bhnmt61
Dumplin' by Julie Murphy
4.0
I think that there's a great temptation when writing about someone with body issues to make them into a perfect person, so that all the mean, cruel things that other people say and do are completely undeserved. Willowdean is not that person. She is stubborn and opinionated and for every time she says and does the right thing, there's a time when she is selfish and mean. That takes a lot of guts on the part of the author, and it makes this book ring true in a way it wouldn't if Willowdean was always warm-hearted, loving, and funny. There were several moments in this book when I did not like her at all.
But she is a well-drawn, relatable human being. She works as a character in a way that doesn't often happen for me in young adult chick-lit books, even when I enjoy them. She is a mess, just like every adolescent is a mess. She is a believable mix of boldly confident and bone-deep insecure--kind of like I was when I was that age. My issues might have been different, but that mix of confidence and insecurity felt the same.
In fact, I would have given this book five stars except that aside from Dominican Hannah, there are no visible people of color at this high school--no blacks, no Mexican Americans, no Asian Americans. I went to third grade through high school graduation at public schools in Texas, and even back then (in the dark ages) there were plenty of people of color around. Ten years ago, maybe even five years ago, I wouldn't have noticed how often we whitewash the world around us, but I do now, and while I still thought this was a great book-- I even thought the ambiguous ending was perfect-- I think Ms. Murphy could have done better at representing a real public high school.
But she is a well-drawn, relatable human being. She works as a character in a way that doesn't often happen for me in young adult chick-lit books, even when I enjoy them. She is a mess, just like every adolescent is a mess. She is a believable mix of boldly confident and bone-deep insecure--kind of like I was when I was that age. My issues might have been different, but that mix of confidence and insecurity felt the same.
In fact, I would have given this book five stars except that aside from Dominican Hannah, there are no visible people of color at this high school--no blacks, no Mexican Americans, no Asian Americans. I went to third grade through high school graduation at public schools in Texas, and even back then (in the dark ages) there were plenty of people of color around. Ten years ago, maybe even five years ago, I wouldn't have noticed how often we whitewash the world around us, but I do now, and while I still thought this was a great book-- I even thought the ambiguous ending was perfect-- I think Ms. Murphy could have done better at representing a real public high school.