The Duff (Hamilton High)

by Kody Keplinger

[paperbackjedi]

Bianca is almost a good heroine. She’s tough, she’s strong, she’s a good best friend. But when life gets a little too real for her, she finds a way to escape the shit storm one tryst at a time. Ignoring her life at home and the problems she doesn't know how to deal with, she falls into an arrangement with Wesley, the school playboy. But can he save her? Can he help her save herself?

I’m going to start this review saying that I liked this book. However, I didn't think that it was a good book, if that makes sense. Bianca would be a great heroine if a.) she didn't push away her friends (who were clearly trying to be there for her) in favor of having escape sex with a guy she didn't even like and b.) she didn't sleep with a guy who she thought (even if it turned out not to be true) didn't give a crap about her and was actually kind of an ass to her and used her in an attempt to get play from her hotter friends. Like, really? We’re going to sleep with that guy? Even though I did end up liking Wesley in the end, it was just a little tough for me to swallow. Especially because his DUFF comment about her sent her into a downward self esteem spiral and caused her to have some serious body issues.

The book is very character driven as opposed to event driven. You spend the entire novel in Bianca’s head and it’s not exactly a good place to be. Everything felt circular, we kept coming back to the same things which got boring for me after a while. The book placed most of the focus on her relationship with Wesley and skirted around her relationships with her father, mother, and friends which made the story seem juvenile and less interesting. Plus, I felt the characterization was off. Especially during the fight with her father. We weren't given any indications on how he acted as an alcoholic at all during the novel until he had the blowout fight with Bianca and then it was overkill. I would have liked to see evidence of his alcoholism affecting his personality before the big fight. It seemed like the build up was non-existent. Whereas, the relationship with Wesley was lavished upon and you could see the development as the story progressed.

Basically, this book focused on a teen romance amidst a plethora of greater storylines ripe for the telling that were ignored. And while I enjoy a good book about teen love, I don’t like a good book that doesn’t explore the whole picture outside of the love story. I liked it, but then again, I didn’t. I finished it in a few hours and it kept my attention, but I didn't really get a positive feeling from it upon finishing- just an unsettling one.