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erimybearimy 's review for:
The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend
by Kody Keplinger
This book has the trifecta of lower-level young adult novels: dumbed-down prose, big discrepancy between characters' description and behavior, and the ever-irritating John Green-esque habit of teenagers reading Bronte, enjoying English Lit, and speaking like Shakespeare. And this one also had the added bonus (sarcasm intended) of having a children's book style moral at the end. Hooray! The author also relied on swearing far too much. I have a pretty filthy mouth, but even my interior monologue isn't using the f word nearly as often as Bianca does.
The worst sin of all, however, is the awkward insertion of [attempted] feminism. "I'm a feminist," the main character declares, while in no way does any of her behavior ever have a feminist tint. In fact, her interior declarations that teenage love doesn't exist are a bad caricature of feminism; her subsequent about-face on these sentiments essentially says to young feminists, "Don't worry, you'll grow out of these silly feminist notions soon."
Politics also find a way in, as awkwardly as possible. "I like you because you're a Democrat," a love interest flirts, although this has never been established, nor is it part of the plot.
The pivotal moment, however, comes when the main character declares that she is taking back the word "Duff" for herself. "We're all the designated ugly fat friend," she declares happily, arguing in an oddly moralizing interior monologue that, at any given time, any one of a group of girlfriends may consider herself the ugliest/fattest of the posse. And that's great! It's what girlfriends do for each other, apparently; make each other feel better about being so "ugly" and "fat!" Isn't that, like, effing awesome?!?!
I think I hated this book so much because it masquerades as feminist but in reality is fluff, poorly written, and ultimately anti-feminist.
The worst sin of all, however, is the awkward insertion of [attempted] feminism. "I'm a feminist," the main character declares, while in no way does any of her behavior ever have a feminist tint. In fact, her interior declarations that teenage love doesn't exist are a bad caricature of feminism; her subsequent about-face on these sentiments essentially says to young feminists, "Don't worry, you'll grow out of these silly feminist notions soon."
Politics also find a way in, as awkwardly as possible. "I like you because you're a Democrat," a love interest flirts, although this has never been established, nor is it part of the plot.
The pivotal moment, however, comes when the main character declares that she is taking back the word "Duff" for herself. "We're all the designated ugly fat friend," she declares happily, arguing in an oddly moralizing interior monologue that, at any given time, any one of a group of girlfriends may consider herself the ugliest/fattest of the posse. And that's great! It's what girlfriends do for each other, apparently; make each other feel better about being so "ugly" and "fat!" Isn't that, like, effing awesome?!?!
I think I hated this book so much because it masquerades as feminist but in reality is fluff, poorly written, and ultimately anti-feminist.