Review: THE DUFF by Kody Keplinger

August 29, 2010

THE DUFF
Author: Kody Keplinger
Publisher: Poppy (an imprint of Little, Brown)
Pages: 277
ISBN: 9780316084239
Publication date: 7 September 2010
Review book source: ARC from the publisher

Summary
From the publisher: 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 “Duffy,” she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren’t so great at home right now. Desperate for a distraction, Bianca ends up kissing Wesley. And likes it. Eager for escape, she throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with Wesley.

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out that 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.

My thoughts
Before I talk about anything else, I first have to say how bummed I am with how the cover changed from the ARC to the final version.

I think the girl on the final cover looks a lot younger (both younger than the girl on the ARC cover and younger than Bianca herself). I also just don’t think she looks like Bianca–she doesn’t have wavy auburn hair and Bianca doesn’t seem like the bubble-blowing type. The final cover looks a lot more like shallow chick-lit than the ARC cover, and I think that does a disservice to a smart story. And augh, the girl on the cover of the ARC might be fat–but the girl on the final cover is definitely not fat.

But aside from my disappointment with the final cover, everything else I have to say about this book is positive!

What I found most striking about this book was how fresh and real the high school experience seems. This book doesn’t fall back on weird tropes about high school that aren’t true anymore (and maybe never were) and something in the way the characters relate to one another, bounce between school and home and popular places to hang out, and how conversations play out just feels right.

It’s possible that the reason this book felt so accurate is because Keplinger was seventeen when she wrote THE DUFF. Seventeen! Her age belies her skill, because this book is good. Except for the ending feeling almost a little too perfect (to spoil it, it turns out Toby Tucker was just using Bianca to get over his ex, too, so it’s okay that she’s using him and she’s free to get back with the reformed Wesley guilt-free), this book flows well and presents realistic internal struggles and realizations.

THE DUFF does contain plenty of underage sex (though they do use protection–and discuss the use of that protection) and lots of swearing, but it just makes the high school experience feel real. This definitely isn’t a book for middle-grade readers, though–it’s a high school book through and through.

Bianca’s narration is distinct, mostly due to her sarcasm and snarky observations. She’s the girl who’s stuck in high school for now but feels different from everyone else around her, not understanding how they can get wrapped up in petty high school things. She’s disdainful of school dances, doesn’t see the point in teen relationships, and would never show too much enthusiasm for anything. More happy-go-lucky readers may be put off by this, but it gives Bianca a strong voice and makes her a memorable character.

I really enjoyed how openly feminist this book is. In struggling with her label as the Duff and with her interactions with friends and other girls in school, Bianca comes to realize that we all feel like the Duff at times, and that “the Duff” is just another label like slut or bitch or prude that we use to hurt one another–but that we can all be those things at different times, and girls’ sexual and dating behavior is much more nuanced than those labels allow. She also sees how the other girls at her school are whole people with home lives and emotions and motivations that guide what they’re doing–they’re not just the school slut or whatever their label might be. And those realizations don’t feel forced or didactic at all; Bianca’s just figuring things out based on her own experience and her ability to emphasize with others.

But it’s not just sexual behavior and labels that Bianca realizes are subjective. When she finally tells her friends that she’s upset about being the Duff of their group, they’re both surprised that she thought that, and Casey even says that she feels like the ugly one because she’s so tall, calling herself Sasquatch. Bianca realizes through her relationship with her friends and Wesley that beauty is relative and all in the eye of the beholder. Is Bianca really ugly and fat? She might feel that way sometimes in comparison to her friends, but so do they, and no matter how she looks, Wesley’s interested in her. Along these lines, Angie Manfredi examines whether or not Bianca is fat in the first place–and whether it even matters–in her recent post at Fat Girl, Reading.

I really highly recommend this book not just for its feminism but also for Bianca’s sarcastic narrative voice, Keplinger’s spot-on portrayal of high school life, and the way the book examines real issues of self-worth and self-perception in a natural-feeling context. I can’t wait to see what else Keplinger has for us!

More reviews

• The Bodacious Pen
• Lit Snit
• Librarilly Blonde
• The Compulsive Reader

Bonus: check out Kody’s blog.

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Tags: kody keplinger, reviews, ya lit