Dumplin' (Dumplin', #1)

by Julie Murphy

For fans of John Green and Rainbow Rowell comes this powerful novel with the most fearless heroine-self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson-from Julie Murphy, the acclaimed author of Side Effects May Vary. With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine-Dumplin' is guaranteed to steal your heart. Dubbed "Dumplin'" by her former beauty queen mom, Willowdean has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American-beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked ...until Will takes a job at Harpy's, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn't surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back. Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself.
So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Teen Blue Bonnet Pageant-along with several other unlikely candidates-to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she'll shock the hell out of Clover City-and maybe herself most of all.

• ISBN10: 0062327186
• ISBN13: 9780062327185
• Publish Date: 28 January 2016 (first published 15 September 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 15 October 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: Balzer and Bray
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[ellieroth]

Original de: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Tuve un conflicto tremendo para empezar Dumplin'. Toda mi vida he sido muy delgada. Ahora dirás "Ella deja de presumir" o "ya, pobre-pobre tú". La cosa es esta; nunca entendí porque mi delgadez supuestamente era algo bueno y de lo que debería estar "agradecida". Y lo mismo pensaba porque si no eras delgada o gorda, ahí, lo dije, no es una mala palabra, algo que me enseñó este libro, estaba mal. Es difícil sentirse bien con tu cuerpo cuando recibes comentarios pasivos agresivos todo el tiempo, te hacen sentir culpable, sobre todo si por una cosa médica el que seas de cierta manera.

POR ESO, UNO DE MIS MÁS GRANDES MIEDOS ERA ENCONTRARME CON SKINNY SHAMING ENTRE SUS PÁGINAS

Pero, no.

Una de las cosas que más me gustó del libro que no solo es sobre sobre si eres flaco o gordo; sino sobre todas las inseguridades que podamos tener, esos defectos que nos hagan sentir culpables de vernos de cierta manera.

Dumplin' es muy importante sobre todo porque nos dice de una vez por todas que la palabra gorda no es un insulto, es lo que uno es. Ser gordo, ser flaco, ser alto, ser bajo, tener ojos grises, ser blanco, ser negro, ser asiático, son solo una pequeña parte de quienes somos, pero sobre todo, ninguna de estas palabras debería ser usado como algo negativo o insulto. Lo mejor de todo es que Julie Murphy nos trae todo esto sin la necesidad de menospreciar a los demás, cosa para mí sumamente importante.

Luego de terminar Dumplin' me di cuenta de que a pesar de que sé que esas cosas que menciono no son algo malo, aún tengo reserva de decirlas en voz alta, algo me gustaría completamente sacar de mí. Dumplin' definitivamente me hizo pensar un montón.

GO BIG OR GO HOME

En julio, cuando Disney compró los derechos para una futura película, la idea que tenía sobre el libro era que Will entraba al concurso de belleza por un chico y sería una historia un poco rosa.

Más equivocada no pude estar.

Ok, sí, una parte tiene que ver Bo, y es entendible, pero no en un 100% como pensé. Es mucho, mucho más. Y el hecho de que ni siquiera esté mencionado en la sinopsis, tan solo me confirma que es algo que el lector debe descubrir y que el cariño por esta historia comience. O sea, que no, no te voy a decir.

¿ESTA HISTORIA RESULTARÁ PARA DISNEY? A las dos páginas del libro, grité un ¡sí! Pero luego, no estoy tan segura. Dumplin' es una historia que abarca muchas cosas, no solo aceptación de tu físico, sino también homosexualidad, discapacidad aunque en una manera muy superficial, y son esas cosas que hicieron este libro lo que es, cosas que Disney es bastante probable quitaría. Será cuestión de esperar.

¿es un libro que recomiendo? Sí y bastante. DEMASIADO.


Twitter || Blog || Pinterest || Tumblr || Instagram || Facebook

[shannonmiz]

This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight



Dumplin' is kind of adorable. Willowdean is pretty adorable. Her group of friends are adorable. Clearly, I'm going to use "adorable" a lot to sum this book up. But it is. That's the bottom line.

Will has all kinds of stuff going on in this book, certainly way more than just being overweight. Her mom is like, Queen of the Pageant, and in Texas, that is apparently a big deal. Her aunt, who was basically her support system, died at a young age not long ago from weight-related complications. Her best friend is kind of acting shady, and she's got a big old crush on Bo, the dude who works with her.

So you know, let's join said beauty pageant with as many other "pageant atypical" females you can gather! It's fun, and charming, and for other characters it probably wouldn't work so well, but with Will, it just made sense. It fit her personality, and I loved that she started kind of a mini-movement.

There were two parts of this book that stood out the most to me: The overwhelming charm, and the relationships. I don't mean the romantic ones (though they do stand out!) but all of them: Willow's tumultuous relationship with her mom, her evolving friendships, and most importantly, the relationship she has with herself. 

Will basically never realized that she even did feel insecure in her own skin. She didn't give it much thought at all, until Bo showed reciprocal interest. And of course, as one does, he wants to touch her. She feels repulsed by the mere thought of someone feeling her heft, and in that moment, she becomes so, so human. So relatable. I wanted to hug her and then cry with her, because it's such an awful, yet such a real feeling.

The gist of the book is Will navigating life. Not just "life as a fat girl", but life in general. She struggles with things that are specific to her, and things that pretty much everyone goes through. Will's personality is larger than her body, and she just shines. She makes mistakes, she gets back up, and she learns to live her life.

Bottom Line: This is such a lovely coming of age book that I dare say everyone can relate to. Thin, heavy, or anywhere in between, Will has to go through the same ups and downs we all face, and learns so much about herself and everyone around her along the way.

*Copy provided from publisher for review.

[jnikkir]

This review can also be found at my blog, There were books involved...

-----------------------------

I'm a little sad to have to write this review, because so many people love and adore this book, and the character Willowdean. First off, I fully appreciate and understand why. Dumplin' has a really important message, which so many people need to hear today.

But Dumplin' and I... Well, we never really hit it off. We probably should have, but we never did.

On the surface, Will and I should have gotten along great. We have a lot of similar insecurities, so I definitely related to a lot of what she was going through. But unfortunately, I didn't really like Will that much, so I had a hard time staying in her head for the entirety of the book. Totally a personal preference thing -- if I don't like the main character or find them compelling, I'm just not going to enjoy the book.

My main issue was that I kept seeing Will being not very nice to other people, and she herself does many of the things that she calls other people out on. She also goes back and forth a lot with regards to her confidence -- which is realistic, yes... to an extent. She relayed so many important messages about positive body image and self-confidence; but she also suffered from a lack of that same self-confidence. There were moments when I deeply related to her own self-doubt, and moments when I was pumping my fists when she'd talk about things like how we should never have to feel bad about the way we look. But through it all, I felt really disconnected from her, and I never grew to love her as a character. I'm not sure exactly where that disconnect stemmed from -- if it was just from the fact that I didn't really like her, or if it had something to do with not relating to her enough, I'm not sure -- but I felt it throughout the book.

Another thing that I wasn't really expecting was how serious Dumplin' is. Don't get me wrong, the subject matter is incredibly important and these are messages that are necessary to convey in YA, but which are much too few and far between. They should be treated with the proper amount of respect and not laughed off or treated lightly. But there was a lot about the plot and relationships (with her friends, boys, her family...) that was definitely not happy (realistically so, but still). For me, there wasn't enough positivity elsewhere to balance that out. There was some silliness, and some humor, but just... not enough? Not the right kind? Obviously, again, this is an issue with personal preference and possibly a mood thing, for me.

Also, a quick note about the romance, because most contemporaries with a hint of romance in the blurb are usually assumed to focus on that romance... I think it's important to note that Dumplin' really doesn't. Will's relationships with the boys in her life are pretty complicated, and they're important to Will's overall story; but if you're looking for a book with a focus on romance, and for those threads to be tied up at the end... this isn't that book. The romance isn't the point of this story, and for good reason; but while I appreciated that, I still would've liked a little more closure there.

 
In conclusion...

Can I be totally real with you guys for a second? I honestly feel bad for not liking this book more. As I said before, Dumplin' conveys a message that is incredibly important and (unfortunately) incredibly rare -- at least in the YA I've been reading (point me in the direction of more body-positive books, please?). I wanted to love this, to be able to yell from the rooftops about how amazing it is. But... I didn't connect with it. So I can't.

I do feel like there was a lot of good stuff in this book, but none of it was pulled off in a way that hit home for me. Despite relating to the character, Will never clicked with me, and the tone was a bit heavier than I wanted/was expecting. So, as much as I wanted to love Dumplin', unfortunately, it was just okay for me.

It's definitely a book that I'd recommend picking up for yourself, though, if the blurb appeals to you. You might also want to check out some other reviews, like Cassi's and Shannon's, who both really enjoyed it. :)

--

There were books involved...

[girlinthepages]

I guess sometimes the perfection we perceive in others is made up of a whole bunch of tiny imperfections, because some days the damn dress just won't zip.

Dumplin' is a book that completely took me by surprise this summer. I found out it was being signed at ALA and, despite the fact that YA contemporary isn't always what I reach for first, found myself drawn to it. The simple cover, the tongue in cheek tagline (Go Big or Go Home)...I had a feeling Dumplin' was going to be a hot mess or utter YA perfection. I need not have worried, as Dumplin' has been one of the strongest, if not the strongest, YA contemporary I've read to date to be released in 2015.

I was initially worried that Dumplin' was going to serve as a generic YA makeover tale where the heavier protagonist goes from swan to ugly duckling thanks to a beauty pageant. Or else it was going to be a morality tale on bullying people about their appearance and everyone comes to accept Willowdean in the end (not that a story like that isn't something to be aspired to, but it's not very realistic). Dumplin' is none of those things; it's truly at its foundation a coming of age tale with a huge dose of reality. The novel drives home the idea that self-confidence doesn't make one impervious to vulnerability, that weight and beauty aren't mutually exclusive, and that not everyone is going to be likeable all the time (or heck, most of the time). Rather, life happens and sometimes people and circumstances such (there's no other word for it), but it's those small, individual acts of acceptance, of courage, and of self-awareness that make up someone's life, rather than one big grand gesture that happens perfectly and irrevocably changes everything.

Sometimes figuring out who you are means understanding that we are a mosiac of experiences. I'm Dumplin'. And Will and Willowdean. I'm fat. I'm happy. I'm insecure. I'm bold. -pg 371

Willowdean's story resonates with readers because it's about so many firsts that come about in high school: first kisses, first boyfriends, first dates, first fights with best friends, and first times you push yourself out of your comfort zone. Willowdean, like so many other teenagers, encounters all of these experiences with a constant layer of insecurity that blankets every experience. With Willowdean it's her weight, but it just as well be a lisp, a nervous tick, a limp- anything that would make one feel like an outlier in the microcosm of high school. While the novel itself focuses mainly on self-empowerment and rejecting the notion of fat-shaming, Willowdean is not immune to being self-conscious and self-doubt despite her confidence and good sense of humor. This made the narrative feel incredibly realistic and complex, as readers aren't thrust into a situation where the protagonist sheds all insecurities after one moment of "enlightenment." Growing up and accepting yourself is a process that goes far beyond the teen years, and I think Julie Murphy did a wonderful job portraying how difficult the struggle is while also sending an overall positive message. While Willowdean may have moments of insecurity, she never feels the need to change or tries to change for the sake of others.

All my life, I've had a body worth commenting on and if living in my skin has taught me anything it's that if it's not your body, it's not yours to comment on. -pg 33

The supporting cast of characters really added to Willowdean's story and felt fleshed out without being caricatures. Everyone in this book is a normal yet flawed person (there's no over the top quirkiness or outliers; they're just average teens struggling with different issues in a small town, which I appreciated. No over the top drama or extreme circumstances here). Yet these characters are not defined by the one thing that's emphasized for the sake of plot, and they don't feel like they're written just to have their differences and/or disabilities highlighted in the pageant for the purpose of implementing a moral message. Take Willowdean, for example. Sure, there's a lot of reference to her weight, but at times I just completely forgot about that aspect of her character in favor of other elements that stood out just as strongly: her sass, her wit, her feminist principles, etc. These characters don't feel essentialized by their physical characteristics.

What I also enjoyed about Dumplin' were the complex family dynamics, especially in the mother-daughter relationship between Willowdean and her mother. Willowdean's mother is a former pageant winner, and hasn't been able to let go of her glory days. You can tell she loves Willowdean dearly, but there's always subtle critiques she's giving to Willowdean about her weight, and a deep rooted animosity toward each other for the way they prioritize certain things, especially looks. I appreciated the subtle dynamics in their relationship that danced on that fine line between love and hate, and how you can share a close bond with a family member while still having issues seeing eye to eye with that person.

The only teeny, tiny complaint I have about this book is that the ending felt a bit incomplete. I actually had to double check that my copy wasn't missing pages, because it felt so abrupt.

Overall: Dumplin' was a standout amongst all of the ARCs I received at ALA this year. It has sass, promotes feminist values without hitting you over the head with them, and was able to give a message about self-acceptance and positive body image without feeling cheesy. The pageant element of the plot didn't eclipse the story, and much of it was focused on ordinary people dealing with human issues of self esteem, acceptance, and even grief. There's so much sass and heart in this book, and it manages to deliver a message of body positivity, self-acceptance, and not letting others define oneself without neglecting the hardships of achieving those goals. Dumplin' is a standout in the YA Contemporary genre for 2015, and you won't regret reading it.

*Please note that all quotes are taken from an ARC and could be subject to change in the finished copyThis review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages

[Hillary]

This review was originally posted on Adventures in Never Never Land