Book Review: Dumplin'

Stars: 4
Author: Julie Murphy
Genre: Young adult fiction
Publisher: Balzer & Bray

I fought against liking this book, I'm not sure why, but I did. In the end, it overcame all of the negativity I could throw against it and was a really excellent read-- and not just for girls who have felt "fat," or bad about themselves their whole lives-- this is an empowering story for anyone who has struggled with body image or self-esteem. My initial concern with the book came from thinking that this would be a book that encouraged girls to be unhealthy. I think everyone should be happy in their body, no matter the size, but eating healthy and maintaining a healthy weight is important, especially for teens. The blurb makes it sounds like Will (Dumplin') is one of those "fat" girls that is all in your face about how she's fat and she's proud and she doesn't care if that means she is unhealthy.

It turns out that Will, like all of us, has a confident front that she puts on, but is insecure deep down. But she's insecure about lots of things in her life, not just her weight, I guess you could say that most of them stem from her weight, but really this is more than just a story about a girl with body-image issues.

I LOVED the setting in Texas. Somehow a Texas setting always feels like you are reading about some exotic foreign country (if you are living in the Northeast like me). I also loved the excellent development of the secondary characters. Will's mom was well-fleshed out, and Will's aunt Lucy, though deceased, plays a big, important role in the story-- a complex role. Will has really complicated feelings about her aunt and the things that she struggled wit h in her life (Lucy was morbidly obese). The other girls competing as the ugly ducklings of the pageant are pretty great and are given more than just the token-misfit roles here. And lastly, Dolly Parton plays a big role in the story which sets the whole story apart.

There is (I hesitate to call it a love triangle) some conflict for Will about her feelings for Bo versus Mitch. I liked the way that conflict was resolved. Although you can see going along that Mitch-- the nice guy-- is going to get the short end of the stick. It's hard to watch Will treat Mitch badly and know what she is doing, but continue to do it anyway. But I could relate to that, and I think lots of others will too sometimes you hurt people carelessly and then feel bad about it.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the storyline with the pageant, and Dolly Parton references, and how Murphy resolves everything. And it's not some silly, ridiculous, tied-up-in-a-bow perfect ending, it felt legit.

I immediately picked up Murphy's first novel: Side Effects May Vary, because this was a great read.