TITLE The Duff: Designated Ugly Fat FriendAUTHOR Kody Keplinger
PUBLICATION September 7, 2011 by Poppy
READ August 5 - 6, 2012
Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face.
But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.
Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.
The Duff is a very strange beast for me. I easily devoured it in two quick sittings and it was enjoyable as I was engrossed in the story and enjoyed the snarky tone of it. But that's about all the nice things I have to say about it. This is most definitely not a story I would ever want my teenage daughter to read, sure there is the moment of earth shattering realization in the end in which we get out moral of the story. But no. JUST NO.
Bianca is a straight A student in high school with some great, close friends. Casey and Jessica were great, supportive characters and I loved the friendship that the girls had. I felt that was very realistic in the way that they were so open and sarcastic with one another. It really reminded me of the types of friendships I had and still do have in my life. My problem with the three best friends was Bianca. She is supposed to be this intelligent girl, yet all she does throughout the novel is make blatantly terrible decisions. She sees that her father is taking the divorce hard and is relapsing after 18 years of sobriety, does she do anything about it? No, she cleans up his messes for him and helps him hide it. Then there is the issue that grated on me the most throughout the novel, her and Wesley's relationship. Come on Bianca, Wesley is the guy who created the term DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend.) He came up to you at the Nest one night and attempted to carry on a conversation with you under this pretense:
"The point is, scientists have proven that every group of friends has a weak link. a Duff. And girls respond well to guys who associate with their Duffs."-page 6
He didn't even try to hide the fact that he was a complete douche bag, he just came right out with it, laid it all on the table. He only wanted to talk to Bianca because she was the Duff in her group of hot friends, and if the hot friends saw him associating with their Duff they would be all over him. Yes, I completely stood behind Bianca's first knee-jerk reaction of throwing her cherry coke on him but I just can't grasp where the story went from there. They began to have a tryst of sorts, Bianca needed an escape from her life so they started sleeping together on the down-low. Now ok, maybe he was hot and really good in bed and he made her melt into putty in his hands, but I cannot deal with the fact that the whole time he called her Duffy, like it was some term of endearment. No. Just no. No intelligent girl would EVER be OK with that. NEVER.
So why I ask, could I not put this book down? I'll say that it is probably due to the fast pace and easy flow of the story. Everything felt like it was happening in quick succession and while I didn't really like everything that was going on, there is no denying that I was entertained by the series of events. In the end I hadn't really bought into Wesley being a sweet guy all that much and Toby Tucker (the guy Bianca had been crushing on for years) was annoyingly perfect and a very flat character. Like pancake flat. There was no substance there at all.
There is no denying that Kody Keplinger knows how to put together a great teen, coming of age story filled with witty, realistic dialogue. After reading A Midsummer's Nightmare and loving it I was quick to run out and grab this one, but it just didn't hit the mark for me. There was so much wrong with it in my eyes that I found myself being annoyed through the majority of it.
I also love Midsummer's Nightmare and I've been planning on reading this one too. I thought this will be as good as Midsummer's, I'm a bit disappointed. Thanks to your honest review!
ReplyDeleteI have been wanting to read Kody Keplinger's books, but I think I will skip this one and just read A Midsummer's Nightmare. Thanks for the wonderful and honest review chick!!
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad you didn't enjoy this one! I thought this one and A Midsummer's Nightmare looked great!
ReplyDeleteThanks for being honest. :)
Meh, that blows. I was really interested in this one, too, but I don't think I'll waste my time. I'm a bit sick of jerks - in life and in books. Great review, though, love! You always express your thoughts so well :-)
ReplyDeleteI think it's supposed to be a very loose retelling of Pride and Prejudice. I actually enjoyed it more than A Midsummer's Nightmare.
ReplyDeleteToo bad you didn't like it. I suppose it's not for everyone. If I were a mother, maybe I'd agree with you.
Wow, I thought this one would be a good book !! That's too bad :(
ReplyDeleteI read DUFF last year, and while I wouldn't agree with Bianca's choice, I could really relate to her struggle. I think this book is not meant to be liked by everyone, and I love that you express what you find annoying. Thank you, Jenni!
ReplyDeleteI had put this on my to read losers, but now I'm thinking I might skip it. The things that bothered you would def bother me too. Great review!
ReplyDeleteI read this one a few months ago and I didn't care too much for it. I was hoping it was going to be somewhat similar to Elizabeth Scott's Perfect You, which I really enjoyed. I didn't mind Wesley, I actually liked him a lot than Bianca.
ReplyDeleteAlright, I'm going to try to be as helpful as I can. First, though, I need to say that 1) I read this about two years ago and my memory is SERIOUSLY fuzzy, 2) my review didn't help me, because it's an old one and yeah, and 3) I hadn't read much contemporary at that point, though I don't know if that's a factor or not.
ReplyDeleteI liked The DUFF, though I really didn't expect to going into it, since I HAVE been the DUFF in the past. I would probably rate it a 3.5.
Yes, Wesley is a douche, especially at the beginning. There is no doubt. Bianca shouldn't sleep with him; it wasn't a great choice. However, it seemed to me like the kind of bad decision a teen might make, especially one with self-esteem issues. I liked that the book didn't shy away from what assholes teens can be.
I even remember liking the progression of their relationship, but I really can't remember much beyond that. What I enjoyed was that it wasn't instalove or any of the normal YA romance plot lines. They didn't like each other. They hooked up for physical pleasure, and that was it for a long time. I liked that Bianca wasn't in it with winning him as an endgame. I also, perhaps a bit vicariously, enjoyed that, if I remember correctly, he ended up falling for her first, rather than her pining away.
Mostly, I think I liked Keplinger's writing style and openness.
I am, however, not thrilled about the calling her Duffy thing. I do NOT remember that and it's not cool. Ugh. That would be like if she found out he had a tiny dick, she called pencil dick as a romantic nickname. Not so much.
Mostly, I think I need to reread this book, because I'm curious to see how I'll feel not that I have more YA under my metaphorical belt (since having it under my actual belt would be mighty strange).
Remembered another thing that I forgot to mention: I also REALLY appreciated that Bianca was able to have sex for fun and not get any slut-shaming for it. I always want to high five writers for that.
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