Dumplin'

Willowdean Dickson has never really been ashamed of her body. She’ll be the first to make a comment about her weight, she’s nicknamed “Dumplin'” by her mother, her definition of having a bikini body is simply to put a bikini on your body. When she takes a job at Harpy’s, a fast food joint, she meets Bo. She’s definitely attracted to him but she’s surprised to find he might just return her feelings. Her new relationship causes Will to start to doubt herself so in order to take back her confidence, she does something she never thought she’s do: Enter the Miss Clover City beauty pageant and she brings several other unlikely entries with her. She’ll show everyone that she belongs up on that stage just as much as any skinny girl.

This was such a fun and touching book to read. I found Will easy to relate to, it had great dynamics between characters, it was funny, poignant, and wasn’t afraid to tackle some tough issues.

I loved Will’s confidence at the start of the book. She was a bigger girl, she knew it, and she wasn’t ashamed of it. That was her, take it or leave it. She had a great personality and she was a character I could definitely see myself becoming friends with if she were real. She had to deal with a lot besides body issues as well. There was the romance with Bo, her awkward relationship with her mother, grief over her aunt’s death, and drifting away from her best friend.

The minor characters were all great. Everyone had a role to play in how they affected Will as a character on her growth arc but they also had their own issues happening that they had to deal with. Whether it was guilt, gaining confidence, standing up to parents, grief, self-discovery, each character went through something and as they dealt with their issues, we saw how it affected and sometimes helped Will.

There were so many great friendship moments. First Will and Ellen, best friends, sharing a love of Dolly Parton and being so supportive of each other. The other girls who join the pageant because of Will end up being really good friends as well and there were so many moments that had me laughing as they all had fun together. The romance ended up being pretty light, though it had a lot of affect on Will’s insecurities and decisions. She and Bo made a cute couple and I was definitely rooting for them. The relationship between Will and her mom was complicated and felt realistic. They both cared but rarely talked, or at least said what they truly meant and her mother had a hard time hearing what Will was trying to say. I was definitely hoping for them to finally sit down and just talk to each other because they needed to stick together.

Any worries I had about the way body issues would be portrayed in this book were gone by the time I was halfway through. Will’s voice was just perfect; confident in herself but with moments of insecurity, a fully formed character that had so much personality and who refused to see herself as just ‘the fat girl’. I thought her confidence made her pretty bad-ass.

I also really loved all the Dolly Parton references throughout the book. They were fun and it made me want to turn on some old Country music to listen to after finishing the book.

I really do like this book, but I wish I liked the plot more.

Without giving away spoilers, I just feel like the romance should have turned out differently. There are basically two major plot threads - the romance thread and the relationship with her mother thread. I feel like both of them had awesome parts, but I also would rather things had come together differently, particularly the romance thread. I'm not a fan of the main love interest and I feel like his character didn't get explored deeply enough. In general I feel like the book fizzled out in the end.

But the main character is so fun to read and so likeable that the book is still really enjoyable and I think we need more books like it out there.

MY THOUGHTS
Willowdean is a fat girl and she's not afraid to say it. She's comfortable in her own body, despite her mom's (the former beauty queen) insistence that she lose weight. Will grows feelings for her co-worker, Bo, and ends up having a summer relationship with her. For some reason, Will begins to feel doubt about herself, so she does something that she never expected to do: enter her mom's beauty pageant.

I had high expectations for this book and it just wasn't what I expected. First of all, it was a bit boring. Will doesn't even get the idea to go into the pageant until more than halfway through the book! That's the main part of the book! And everything also felt incredibly draggy. Honestly, not a whole lot happened. Still, there were enjoyable moments.

Besides the mostly positive reviews, I wanted to read this book because of the meaning it provides. This books deals with body positivity, something that the book world needs. I know that many, myself included, are not comfortable in their own skin and I like having a character that is actually comfortable in her skin, and heck, I like the fact that there's a fat MC without a focus on getting skinny (like most books).

I must mention, though, that Will did bother me at times. She wasn't very good with her relationships. Meaning: she picked fights with those close to her and I thought some of it was unnecessary. For example: she got in a huge fight with her best friend,Ellen, because Will didn't want her to be in the pageant. Why? Because Ellen might actually win. Will wasn't aiming to win this thing and she wasn't letting her best friend enter because there's the small chance she might win. What? Will just have issues with relationships in this book. She was also against the misfits entering and was borderline judgmental about them. While I don't like some things Will did, we all have our flaws and some of the other characters weren't squeaky-clean either. It bothered me at points, but it's all realistic.

There's romance in this book. I don't want to say much about the romance because it's just more of Will's bad decision making. She kind of rebounds and leads a poor, sweet guy on. I also didn't particularly like Bo's decision making either.

IN CONCLUSION
I know I sound like I didn't like this book. I kept complaining and complaining, but I actually liked it. Most of my complaining is because I heard so many amazing things about this book beforehand and was kind of let down. Overall, I liked the idea of this book and how it talks about being comfortable in your own skin. It's a needed book in the YA market.