Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The Duff by Kody Keplinger

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.
 

{taken from goodreads.com}

I hate to admit this, but I almost gave up on this book in the beginning.  I had heard such great things about it, so I knew I had to keep reading (however - that has happened before with other books & I never quite found the "such great things").  But I am so, so glad I stuck with it because let me just say.. this book was hysterical, enlightening, emotional, and over all a really good story.

Bianca is dubbed as The Duff by hottie/man-slut Wesley.  Duff meaning: Designated Ugly Fat Friend.  We all know who I'm talking about here, right?  Raise your hand if you would have classified yourself as one of these in high school? *Raises my hand REALLY high*  Naturally this comes as a shock to Bianca, but deep down she knows it's true and forces herself not to let Wesley know this.  Wesley takes a liking to Bianca by telling her he needs to get close to her, so he can get ever closer to her hot friends.  What an a-hole!  So what does Bianca do?  Willed with anger from Wesley's words, she plants a big fat kiss on him and to her surprise realizes she actually enjoys it. 

Bianca's home life is a wreck right now.  Her mother is off "finding herself", while her father is at home playing single parent.  She tells herself these are adult issues, and since her parents are adults, it is their problem to work out.  However, these issues are playing a bigger role in her mind and they begin to slowly eat away at her.  She soon discovers that while kissing Wesley, these issues fade from her mind and she is trapped in some type of euphoria that she knows is wrong, yet doesn't want to escape from.   Wesley has become her drug.  Not only did she kiss him, but it soon leads to a much more intimate relationship.  So here sits Bianca using Wesley, the school's man-slut who has a reputation of sleeping with girls & not caring about them, in order to escape from her own nightmare that is going on inside her head.  Bianca soon finds herself lying to her best friends, and even her dad, who wouldn't notice anyway because he has found himself in his own mess by falling off the wagon because Bianca's mom has served him with divorce papers.

Bianca thinks she can deal with her wrecked home life by escaping to Wesley and everything will be alright.  But as reality has it, she soon realizes it will eventually catch up to her and she must learn to deal with it.  Through the course of her "no strings attached" relationship that she's developed with Wesley, she's starting to see a decent person inside him.  Wesley may have called her The Duff, but what exactly does that mean?  Doesn't everyone have their own problems? their own secrets?  Not everyone is confident in who they are.  And unfortunately calling someone a bad name & putting them down, is only revealing that they themselves have issues of their own.

As the story continues, Bianca finds herself in a dilemma.  Does she continue her facade with Wesley in secrecy? or can this really be something meaningful between the two of them?  Are her parents problems really effecting her too? or can she keep pretending those too will just disappear?  In the end Bianca faces her realities, in what I felt like was a very real & mature way any seventeen year old girl would do.  I loved how this book represented the not so popular girl.  The one who doesn't always get the hot guy falling at her feet.  I know there are lots of readers out there who can relate to Bianca.  But what I loved even more, is that in end, this story shows us that everyone can be The Duff from time to time.  We all have our moments when we don't feel our best, but that doesn't mean we are beneath anyone else.  Even jerks like Wesley can redeem themselves.  So before you judge someone, take a good look in the mirror.  Everything isn't always as it seems.



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1 comment:

  1. I was already excited to read this but now I'm more excited! I have heard so many great things about this book!!! I definitely need something to eat up while I wait for the third Summer book!!
    Happy Reading
    Blakeley :-)

    ReplyDelete

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