Tuesday, February 5, 2013

BOOK REVIEW: THE DUFF: The Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger

I've been meaning to read THE DUFF for quite some time now since my friend and fellow blogger kept on insisting that I should. And because I am such an awesome friend I finally gave in. This isn't exactly my first Kody Keplinger novel since I've read A Midsummer's Nightmare late last year. Let's just say that I wasn't that impressed by it. But according to my friend, this is her best work yet so I decided to give it a shot when I finally had some time to squeeze this in. I'm glad I did though. I wasn't disappointed at all.


The DUFF in this novel is called Bianca Piper. She's a cynic and can come of as pessimistic every now and then and she's almost always in a foul mood according to her friends. Only a couple of people know who the real Bianca Piper is so she's usually being left alone. Not that she's a loner or anything. Anyway, being the DUFF does not mean that Bianca is ugly and fat. Though to be honest that was my first impression. I think Bianca is a very unique character. I actually liked her even if she did come off as stand-offish from time to time. She did whine a lot but she still managed to make me laugh the entire time I was reading. I find her interactions with Wesley Rush a.k.a. the man-whore hilarious. Anyway, I was a bit annoyed with her since she had a weird way of coping with stress. But hey! It is what it is, right?

Moving on to Wesley Rush, the man-whore/man-slut who Bianca hates a lot. The very first interaction between these two is the most priceless scene in the book. Seriously. Bianca is just hilarious. Imagine having a hot guy hit on you even if he is a bit of a jerk -almost forgot to mention the he coined the term DUFF for Bianca- then pouring a glass of cherry Coke all over him? Anyway, that seriously made me laugh. It got better and better from there. Anyway, both of them are f*cked up since their home lives are pretty complex but Hey! They found each other and that's just awesome. I really loved Wesley even if he defines the term man-slut on so many levels. I think he had a side to him that only a few people are allowed to see and that's what makes him all the more lovely as a guy. He made me swoon and laugh at the same time which is probably weird but still he made me see man-sluts in a different light. Haha.

Overall, I definitely agree with my friend that this is one of Kody Keplinger's best work yet. I loved all the characters in this novel. Bianca, Wesley, Toby, her pretty friends, Casey and Jessica. Seriously, they were all awesome. I love the fact that her friends didn't treat her any differently despite their differences. Their loyalty to each other is admirable. I just realized that being the DUFF does not necessarily mean that you're lacking physically. It is the way you perceive yourself as such. If you feel like you're a DUFF then you are one. Anyway, I really enjoyed reading this, definitely more than A Midsummer's Nightmare.There are a couple of lines there-mostly said by Wesley-that made me feel weak in the knees. That guy has a way with words. I wouldn't recommend this book to adolescents though since this had a lot of sex in it. Probably not ideal for hormonal teens since they might just end up getting pregnant or getting someone pregnant. Yes, it is set in a high school and we should all just face it. Highschool nowadays is just like that. Nothing is ideal but that doesn't mean that we should practice everything in this books right? Anyway, I'd give this an easy 5/5 stars.

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