I heard of Duff (book and definition) whilst watching endless film trailers (an exciting life I live). At first I was dubious as I thought "Here we go another chick flick with an obvious ending..etcetera etcetera." However, I was very surprised and hopeful for teen-romance novels.
What's is it about?
The story revolves around the down-to-earth Bianca Piper, who has a personality full of snarky comments and cynical criticisms. In an outline it is about her excruciating journey though High School and her interaction with Wesley (we all know what happens...*nudge nudge wink wink*.) It does have some typical chick-flick attributes including the jock Wesley Rush who has the modesty of a sloth.
Don't be fooled....
You may think this is a book for thirteen year old girls with their I <3 1D socks but do not be fooled! Do not buy this for your younger sister! It does include a lot of sauciness (as I like to call it) that I think is actually so important to the story line, because it adds some real context to the book, about the struggles we face as unbearably awkward teenagers. Kody Keplinger captures the truthfulness in teens lusty feeling and the obnoxious faults we make.
The Realism...
Like already said there is a touch of realism from Keplinger's writing style, she shows us how it is okay not to feel 100% about ourselves all the time.
Kody also uncovers everyone's insecure doubts and feelings about ourselves and that in the real scheme it does not matter. Kody also captures the honest truth about High School, we are not all bitchy girls who wear high heels or walk around with a basketball under our arm and that nerds and "populars" don't always hate one another but can actually be friends.
I loved Keplinger's view on name-calling and slut-shaming (from the title you can guess it is a large part of the book), it really changed my first judgment of people and the importance of respecting one another for who they are.
Any negatives....
I don't have any. Except one...or two.
Firstly I am a huge sucker for epilogues I like all loose ties to be completed and to be able to say "they all lived happily ever after". Kody doesn't do this completely and I felt a bit lost as I wanted to know what happened in a year after the story ended.
However the more philosophical part of me thinks that Kody created this structure for us purposefully, Although we expect to "like" (people who have read the book will know what this means) forever, this is not always the case.
Last one...I wished she had used time-scale a bit more, I felt that there wasn't really any dating and I didn't know what part of the year it was (this maybe because I didn't have an American Education so homecoming doesn't make much sense to me - tell me in the comments).
The Trailer...
After reading the book and watching the trailer again, this was the only time that I whimpered in despair. I am a firm believer that "the book is always better then the film" and from what I understand this is firmly correct after watching the clip.
Although Mae Whitman (plays Bianca) does seem to hold similar characteristics of Bianca she seems to become easily embarrassed and not present the same "who cares what people thinks!" attitude.
Also they have added huge plots and characters that did not happen. The film is to come out on February 20th 2015. I will definitely be seeing it just to compare to the book and annoy the people in front of me by shouting "THAT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!".
Overview......
Fantastic book! Which will change anyone's perception of high schoolers. 4.567 out of 5.
Tell me what you thought and what you think I should review next!
Bookle x
