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alicemaloney 's review for:
The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend
by Kody Keplinger
I just want to say, first and foremost, that the movie does absolutely no justice to this book.
However, I am glad I saw the movie first because if I had read this book and then saw the movie, I would have felt infuriated and cheated. As it stands, I'm just disappointed. Disappointed that they took this clever, original, daring, and important book and reduced it to a few gags, cliches, and horrible high school stereotypes.
This book is one that I heartily recommend to anyone, whether you're in high school or haven't been in one for several years. Not only does it tackle the issues of slut-shaming, judging without knowing, family issues, and body image, it does so in a way that other women aren't put down, but understood and sympathized with. There really isn't a love triangle, just a young, confused girl who is caught between two guys who she has very different feelings towards. And unlike the movie, that isn't resolved because one of them is made to be a jerk by the plot, but is resolved because she, Bianca, makes a conscious decision to choose one over the other.
Speaking of the protag, Bianca Piper is fantastic. She comes off as an absolutely normal teenager, struggling with her place in life and is not solely concerned with her appearance but how her friends and peers perceive her, the issues brewing within her family that she struggles with alone (which I am so angry they completely ignored in the movie because her father's alcoholism was so integral to the story and cutting it out to be "family friendly" does the narrative, characters, and audience a huge disservice), and her personal problems confronting the people and issues in her life.
The fact that Bianca uses sex as a means of escape and avoidance is powerful, not only in its depiction but in how real it most likely is to countless girls out there. We have so many YA books that gloss over sex or ignore it completely, but this book tackles it in a way that comes off as honest and real. Thank god for this book because there needs to be more discussions on why teens want to have sex and not shame them for thinking/doing it.
Seriously, this needs to be the book that's on required reading in schools. I related to so much more of what was happening in this book than most teen-centered media (the movie included) and YA books combined. The story being told by the narrative and its characters is so powerful in a society where women are constantly degraded for their appearance, shamed for having sex, insulted through disgusting names, condemned for making their own decisions regardless of other (male) feelings, and undermined for expressing friendship and solidarity with other women. There needs to be more stories like this.
However, I am glad I saw the movie first because if I had read this book and then saw the movie, I would have felt infuriated and cheated. As it stands, I'm just disappointed. Disappointed that they took this clever, original, daring, and important book and reduced it to a few gags, cliches, and horrible high school stereotypes.
This book is one that I heartily recommend to anyone, whether you're in high school or haven't been in one for several years. Not only does it tackle the issues of slut-shaming, judging without knowing, family issues, and body image, it does so in a way that other women aren't put down, but understood and sympathized with. There really isn't a love triangle, just a young, confused girl who is caught between two guys who she has very different feelings towards. And unlike the movie, that isn't resolved because one of them is made to be a jerk by the plot, but is resolved because she, Bianca, makes a conscious decision to choose one over the other.
Speaking of the protag, Bianca Piper is fantastic. She comes off as an absolutely normal teenager, struggling with her place in life and is not solely concerned with her appearance but how her friends and peers perceive her, the issues brewing within her family that she struggles with alone (which I am so angry they completely ignored in the movie because her father's alcoholism was so integral to the story and cutting it out to be "family friendly" does the narrative, characters, and audience a huge disservice), and her personal problems confronting the people and issues in her life.
The fact that Bianca uses sex as a means of escape and avoidance is powerful, not only in its depiction but in how real it most likely is to countless girls out there. We have so many YA books that gloss over sex or ignore it completely, but this book tackles it in a way that comes off as honest and real. Thank god for this book because there needs to be more discussions on why teens want to have sex and not shame them for thinking/doing it.
Seriously, this needs to be the book that's on required reading in schools. I related to so much more of what was happening in this book than most teen-centered media (the movie included) and YA books combined. The story being told by the narrative and its characters is so powerful in a society where women are constantly degraded for their appearance, shamed for having sex, insulted through disgusting names, condemned for making their own decisions regardless of other (male) feelings, and undermined for expressing friendship and solidarity with other women. There needs to be more stories like this.