♥ Favorite Line(s):♥ Summary: 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 desperate for a distraction.
>"No matter where you go or what you do to distract yourself, reality catches up with you eventually."
>"'El tono de tu voz hace que queria estrangularme.' I stood up and waited for him to hand over my papers.
'That sounds sexy,' he said, getting to his feet and handing me the stack of Spanish work he'd swept together. 'What's it mean?'
'The sound of your voice makes me want to strangle myself.'
'Kinky.'
♥ My thoughts:
I thought I would enjoy The DUFF. I thought I would like the story and plot and characters. I thought it would be an interesting read. I didn't think I would love it so much. And I definitely didn't believe it would make me think so much about stereotypes, generalizations, and verbal abuse.
The lovely bits>
- Bianca> To be honest, I really hated Bianca at first. She was very, very sarcastic, blunt, and pretty damn cynical. I've realized that I didn't like her because she reminded me too much of...me. Heh. Anyway, she definitely grew on me throughout the book. From her quirks to her secrets, every detail brought her to life. Bianca practically yelled from the pages, as did most of the main characters. She has a very distinct voice. And that's the most important thing to me when reading. If I don't believe the main character, how can I believe any of the story? I truly loved being in Bianca's head.
- The enjoyable predictability> I, and most likely all of you, could guess how this most likely was going to end. 97.68% of the time I hate predictable story lines and endings. But with The DUFF, anything predictable feels right, natural. The plot moves and unfolds in such a believable way that if anything was different it would've felt fake. The absolute belief I had in Bianca's story is a true testament to Kody Keplinger's writing.
- The snark> English is my second language, Sarcasm is my first. Many hate sarcasm and really hate sarcastic protags., but I am not one of them. The DUFF is hilarious and tense and has that brilliantly original voice because of the snark practically spilling from Bianca, Wesley, and even Casey from time to time. The snark won me over in the end.
- The message> Throughout the first half of the book Bianca struggles with labels and hastily thrown insults. This book is about learning and becoming aware of the people around you. Being aware that the people around you are humans beings. With like brains and feelings and stuff. I was pulled in and ended up growing and learning right alongside Bianca. Definitely a great read for
any girls dealing with body image and/or self-esteem issueseveryone. Who am I kidding, we all have issues, right?
The not-so-lovely bits>
- Minor characters> There is some minor character development, but I felt as if I was told what the minor characters were like rather than shown. Jessica is innocent. Casey needs to help people {this was shown, but then told and told and told}. If Bianca's voice wasn't so commanding and strong, I might not've been able to get into The DUFF purely because the minor characters were a little flat to me. But this is Bianca's story. Wesley's to some extent as well, but it truly is hers and Kody delivers it to us, raw.
I really liked it! I'd recommend it for anyone who loves a contemporary with spunk. The DUFF's got the spunk.
P.S. Have you noticed my newest link in the sidebar? Click on "To Swap" to see the books I'm trying to swap for new ones. Also, don't forget to vote in the poll at the bottom of my blog and it's the last day to enter my Summer Solstice Celebration!
Happy Tuesday!
"Stay"-Safetysuit,
