nika_nix's review against another edition
2.0
Here’s the thing. I didn’t like this book. At all. Which is surprising since this is YA contemporary and I always enjoy YA contemporary, no matter what. This one, I didn’t enjoy.
This was supposed to be a book about body-positivity and overcoming stereotypes. Also, it was supposed to be a beauty pageant book. The whole beauty contest comes to play only in the second half of the book. Everything that happens prior to that is just dragging the plot (is there even one?) and I guess it was supposed to be a way for us to get to know all the characters but to me, it was just boring. The idea of the book is great and I was really looking forward to it but the execution is terrible.
Characters were the worst part. I literally couldn’t stand any of them. None. Not even the love interest and I always like at least the love interest (I’m trash, I know). Willowdean (Will from now on because I’m lazy), our main character, is an extremely annoying person. I wanted to yell at her throughout the entire book, I was so frustrated with her. I get it, she’s insecure because of her weight and doesn’t think she’s attractive which I get, I was a bit chubby as well. However, she kept mentioning how she feels good in her own skin and doesn’t care what other people thinks but when a boy comes into the picture (two boys actually) and they both want to be with her, she chickens out and suddenly feels like she doesn’t deserve it. Girl, two boys are swooning over you, you don’t tell them to back of because you are all of a sudden ashamed of your body! I don’t get it, sorry. Instead of going from hating her body to accepting it she does the other way – from accepting it to hating it – and that is NOT the message this book is supposed to send.
The romance part of Dumplin’ wasn’t great either. First we have Bo, the guy Will has a crush on and his personality is just non-existant. The only thing I can tell you about his is that he’s hot and has a great butt. That’s literally it. His ans Will’s relationship was super unconvincing and random and I didn’t really understand why they were talking or not talking at a certain scene. Mitch, the other boy, reminded me of my ex-boyfriend way too much but for him I can at least say he was consistant. I understood him and thing he did, if nothing else. That doesn’t mean I liked him, though. But for personal reasons mostly.
Another thing that really bothered me “ugly girls club”. I called them that, it’s not really in the book. But Will made friends with other three girls who aren’t really considered pretty for different reasons and all of them decided to take part in the beauty pageant. Again, it’s not a bad concept but couldn’t there have been at least one of them who is average-looking girl, nothing explicitly “ugly” about her? Just to give it a little balance. This way the author is telling us that fat and not-in-a-usual-way pretty girls can hang out only with each other. It’s not true.
The only good thing about Dumplin’ is the diverse representation. As you already know, there are fat girls, but there is also a lesbian Dominican character as well as two trans gay characters. It was nice to get a bit diversity since it’s the only good thing about this book.
The ending was the biggest disappointment. I was hoping this book would redeem itself with some great ending but nope. When I read the last page, I couldn’t believe that’s it. This is how it ends? That bullshit. We didn’t get any answers and nothing was wrapped up. I feel like one chapter was missing – just one chapter where we find out how everything ends. If you haven’t read Dumplin’ and you plan to, skip to the next paragraph because there are going to be spoilers. I was so pissed that we didn’t find out if Will ended up with Bo or not but I was even more pissed that we don’t know who won the pageant. You can’t revolve the entire book around a beauty pageant and then not tell your readers who wins! I do appreciate it that Will didn’t win, that would be way to predictable and cliched.
To sum it all up, the concept of Dumplin’ is great and I was really looking forward to reading this book but it wasn’t written very well and I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I hoped to. The author does explore some important topics and I can see all her good intentions but it just isn’t done well. I wouldn’t recommend it but who know, maybe you’ll like it. I didn’t.
This was supposed to be a book about body-positivity and overcoming stereotypes. Also, it was supposed to be a beauty pageant book. The whole beauty contest comes to play only in the second half of the book. Everything that happens prior to that is just dragging the plot (is there even one?) and I guess it was supposed to be a way for us to get to know all the characters but to me, it was just boring. The idea of the book is great and I was really looking forward to it but the execution is terrible.
Characters were the worst part. I literally couldn’t stand any of them. None. Not even the love interest and I always like at least the love interest (I’m trash, I know). Willowdean (Will from now on because I’m lazy), our main character, is an extremely annoying person. I wanted to yell at her throughout the entire book, I was so frustrated with her. I get it, she’s insecure because of her weight and doesn’t think she’s attractive which I get, I was a bit chubby as well. However, she kept mentioning how she feels good in her own skin and doesn’t care what other people thinks but when a boy comes into the picture (two boys actually) and they both want to be with her, she chickens out and suddenly feels like she doesn’t deserve it. Girl, two boys are swooning over you, you don’t tell them to back of because you are all of a sudden ashamed of your body! I don’t get it, sorry. Instead of going from hating her body to accepting it she does the other way – from accepting it to hating it – and that is NOT the message this book is supposed to send.
The romance part of Dumplin’ wasn’t great either. First we have Bo, the guy Will has a crush on and his personality is just non-existant. The only thing I can tell you about his is that he’s hot and has a great butt. That’s literally it. His ans Will’s relationship was super unconvincing and random and I didn’t really understand why they were talking or not talking at a certain scene. Mitch, the other boy, reminded me of my ex-boyfriend way too much but for him I can at least say he was consistant. I understood him and thing he did, if nothing else. That doesn’t mean I liked him, though. But for personal reasons mostly.
Another thing that really bothered me “ugly girls club”. I called them that, it’s not really in the book. But Will made friends with other three girls who aren’t really considered pretty for different reasons and all of them decided to take part in the beauty pageant. Again, it’s not a bad concept but couldn’t there have been at least one of them who is average-looking girl, nothing explicitly “ugly” about her? Just to give it a little balance. This way the author is telling us that fat and not-in-a-usual-way pretty girls can hang out only with each other. It’s not true.
The only good thing about Dumplin’ is the diverse representation. As you already know, there are fat girls, but there is also a lesbian Dominican character as well as two trans gay characters. It was nice to get a bit diversity since it’s the only good thing about this book.
The ending was the biggest disappointment. I was hoping this book would redeem itself with some great ending but nope. When I read the last page, I couldn’t believe that’s it. This is how it ends? That bullshit. We didn’t get any answers and nothing was wrapped up. I feel like one chapter was missing – just one chapter where we find out how everything ends. If you haven’t read Dumplin’ and you plan to, skip to the next paragraph because there are going to be spoilers. I was so pissed that we didn’t find out if Will ended up with Bo or not but I was even more pissed that we don’t know who won the pageant. You can’t revolve the entire book around a beauty pageant and then not tell your readers who wins! I do appreciate it that Will didn’t win, that would be way to predictable and cliched.
To sum it all up, the concept of Dumplin’ is great and I was really looking forward to reading this book but it wasn’t written very well and I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I hoped to. The author does explore some important topics and I can see all her good intentions but it just isn’t done well. I wouldn’t recommend it but who know, maybe you’ll like it. I didn’t.
ravenclawomanistcyborgwitch's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 Stars
It was a cute, endearing story.
It was a cute, endearing story.
artsyscientist1075's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
5.0
laceydbell's review against another edition
3.0
I don’t really have any issues with this book, it was just a bit lackluster and anticlimactic in some ways. I enjoyed it for the most part. The audiobook was really well done and easy to listen to. I think this will make for a great Netflix movie, and I look forward to its release!
jessi_mares's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
kappareads's review against another edition
DNF 48%
I just really can't deal with how Willowdean handles the two boys in her life. Like she's dramatic and selfish which makes her an interesting character when it comes to the pageant (which took half the book for her to sign up for) and I can kind of stand it for when she falls out with a friend. Plus I'm just super not in a contemporary mood and this needs to be returned to the library soon, so maybe one day I'll get back to this.
I just really can't deal with how Willowdean handles the two boys in her life. Like she's dramatic and selfish which makes her an interesting character when it comes to the pageant (which took half the book for her to sign up for) and I can kind of stand it for when she falls out with a friend. Plus I'm just super not in a contemporary mood and this needs to be returned to the library soon, so maybe one day I'll get back to this.
kpeerman1's review against another edition
4.0
I think the book was wonderful!
The characters and dialogue were real. The author captured the precarious high school psyche perfectly and not just for the main character but for all of them. I know there are a lot of people who are upset that this book wasn't as "body positive" as they were expecting but it was reality. I'm not saying it's good that people feel the need to navigate through life with a stigma about their body... but it is unrealistic (in today's world) to expect a fat girl in high school to not have body issues.
I think if Willowdean would have been totally comfortable with her body throughout the whole book, her character wouldn't have been as easy to relate with. We all, no matter what our body-type is, have suffered through periods of time when there is something about our body we aren't happy with. We all have made snide comments to ourselves (or sometimes out loud) about another person's flaws because it made us feel better about our situation.
The body-issues Willowdean had were the real struggle in this book. Feeling like she should settle with a person she had no connection with because he "matched" her better was the struggle. Feeling repulsed by Bo touching her back and her waist was the struggle. This book was body-negative... but it allowed the reader to appreciate the body-positive ending to the story.
I guess the author could have created a "sprinkles and cupcakes" story where everyone was treated with respect and thought their body was awesome. Then she could have added in some wizards and unicorns and called it a great fantasy novel. I like the direction the author took.
The characters and dialogue were real. The author captured the precarious high school psyche perfectly and not just for the main character but for all of them. I know there are a lot of people who are upset that this book wasn't as "body positive" as they were expecting but it was reality. I'm not saying it's good that people feel the need to navigate through life with a stigma about their body... but it is unrealistic (in today's world) to expect a fat girl in high school to not have body issues.
I think if Willowdean would have been totally comfortable with her body throughout the whole book, her character wouldn't have been as easy to relate with. We all, no matter what our body-type is, have suffered through periods of time when there is something about our body we aren't happy with. We all have made snide comments to ourselves (or sometimes out loud) about another person's flaws because it made us feel better about our situation.
The body-issues Willowdean had were the real struggle in this book. Feeling like she should settle with a person she had no connection with because he "matched" her better was the struggle. Feeling repulsed by Bo touching her back and her waist was the struggle. This book was body-negative... but it allowed the reader to appreciate the body-positive ending to the story.
I guess the author could have created a "sprinkles and cupcakes" story where everyone was treated with respect and thought their body was awesome. Then she could have added in some wizards and unicorns and called it a great fantasy novel. I like the direction the author took.