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Dumplin' (Dumplin', #1)

Julie Murphy

Start date: May 1, 2021

Finish date: May 31, 2021

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What Members Thought

Mar 20, 2020 Midu Hadi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: physical-copies, instaposted, read-in-2020, reviewed, series, first-in-the-series, series-completed, family, us-author, friendship

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
I picked up this book, thinking I’d get a body-positive message out of it. But it fails on that account. A fat girl who cringes at other fatter girls — even while coming to their aid against bullies — and makes a mockery out of the one thing that she was going to use to send a message about body positivity; that’s what I got. In a nutshell, that isn’t the kind of show that I came to watch.

The pageant thing really got my goat. If you’re going to use a platform to rebel, then, at least, respect it
I picked up this book, thinking I’d get a body-positive message out of it. But it fails on that account. A fat girl who cringes at other fatter girls — even while coming to their aid against bullies — and makes a mockery out of the one thing that she was going to use to send a message about body positivity; that’s what I got. In a nutshell, that isn’t the kind of show that I came to watch.

The pageant thing really got my goat. If you’re going to use a platform to rebel, then, at least, respect its rules. The heroine did close to nothing for the different tasks that make up the competition. If she meant to put out the message that fat girls are lazy, well that one, she got across fine!

Yet another thing that really bothered me was her relationship with the guy whom she worked with at the diner. He was everything that she wasn’t, so when they’re together at the end, it only reinforces one thing: good fat girls are rewarded with not-fat hot boyfriends. How’s that progressive in any way? And, give me one good reason why the book needed a love interest in the first place. Also, that whole phase where she and her guy suck face in remote places just made the whole thing seem dirty.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on the way Will treated the jock who was interested in her. I kept thinking, maybe, for once, the girl will end up with the guy who values her for her. But nope, she went straight to the cardboard cutout of a guy, Bo.

How the mother and daughter deal with their grief in different ways was the best thing about this book.

The movie is different from the book in several ways. I don’t know if that’s for the better or not but I’ll mention some. Firstly, the whole dirty remote-kissing phase isn’t part of the movie. Secondly, the major part of the book concerned itself with the fight between the MC and her BFF, Ellen. The movie shortens it so much that it loses the powerful effect it had on both the girls’ lives. Healthy female friendships are a good thing and that is the one of the few things that I liked while reading this mess of a book. But the movie got rid of that.

And ugh, they combined two characters to create a very stereotypical goth one. Not cool at all. They held their own in the book.

To me, the movie felt rushed and incomplete. And I found the book to be a mess. ...more

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Nov 27, 2015 Deborah rated it really liked it

Shelves: civility, mature-teen, romance, humerous, clever, death-grieving-fiction, community, body-image, bullying, honesty

I love Willowdean "Dumplin'" Dickson! She's large, in both pant size and personality. She's full of sassy confidence which is at times laugh-out-loud funny, at times powerfully thoughtful, and at times poignant to the point of tears. The positive body-image message is obvious, but what resonated the most for me was the sisterhood. There's the difficult relationship between her mother and her recently deceased aunt, who had been obese in life and self-conscious to the point of becoming a hermit, I love Willowdean "Dumplin'" Dickson! She's large, in both pant size and personality. She's full of sassy confidence which is at times laugh-out-loud funny, at times powerfully thoughtful, and at times poignant to the point of tears. The positive body-image message is obvious, but what resonated the most for me was the sisterhood. There's the difficult relationship between her mother and her recently deceased aunt, who had been obese in life and self-conscious to the point of becoming a hermit, holing up inside their home nearly all her adult life. The complications of that that sisterhood bleeds over into a strained mother-daughter relationship. Then there's the sisterhood between Willowdean and her best friend, El, of the tall, flirty, Barbie-doll good looks. The story explores how friends and sisters, may grow apart in interests and needs and how it becomes the responsibility of each individual to work at keeping that sisterhood whole.

El is not just interested in popularity. It's not that simple. She has a genuine desire to make new friends join more social events. Whereas, Willowdean is a bit settled in her habits and prefers to remain with her inner circle of friends--not because she is shy about her body. She's actually quite strong about it and has no problem wearing a swimsuit all summer at the public pool, because she likes to swim. The young women are just changing. Their relationship conflicts grow when Willowdean begins a secret, sizzling relationship with her mysterious hot co-worker. The start of their relationship reminded me of the Buffy/Spike thing, but like everything in the book, it evolves into real emotion! And caring! Willowdean's other romantic interest is not merely a quick route to jealousy, the additional beau pushes her understanding and acceptance of her own sexuality and sexual needs.

The beauty pageant made the best vehicle for exposing our culture's obsession with body-image over true personal beauty. I loved the Dolly Parton fandom! ...more

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