Review #5: The Duff by Kody Keplinger

Title: The Duff(Designated Ugly Fat Friend)
Author: Kody Keplinger
Published: 2010 Little Brown/Poppy
My Rating: 4/5 stars


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.

******

I was very interested in The Duff earlier in the year after it was mentioned by A.J., but after seeing some of my influential bloggers that didn't have a lot of promising reviews, I was a little scared and disappointed. I'm happy I read this novel anyway.

Keplinger communicated a lot in here and I felt everything she was trying to say and more. Bianca was a realistic character and her choices were as well. I don't want to give the story away completely but I want to touch on some of the things that I found profound.

First of all you could see the minor self-hatred Bianca and Wesley both held for themselves as the story progressed and they way the both tried with these issues by running away and engaging in sexual situations. Keplinger also included the token homosexual friend although he wasn't a main character and barely a supporting character, but she gets points for not ignoring that homosexuality exist in life and especially in high school. I had a love hate relationship with Bianca's friends Casey and Jessica(and family). They didnt seem to care so much in the beginning of the story, but thats a serious and real part of everyday friendships; and they only really started to pay enough attention to her after she started distancing herself from them in my opinion.

Over all the story was amazing and ended up emotional invested in the novel and Bianca. I'll be sure to pick up Kody Keplinger's future works.