The DUFF by Kody Keplinger, published September 2010 by Poppy.
Read: March 2015
Genre: Young Adult/Contemporary/Romance
Source: Publisher – this does not affect my opinion of the book.
#Pages: 311
Get It Now: Wordery
Goodreads Synopsis: 17 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.
The Review
I had seen this book around the book blogs, and when I learned a movie was coming out based on it – I was super intrigued. The term DUFF – Designated Ugly Fat Friend, while hugely insulting, was a feeling I’m sure most girls could at least relate to, and I was looking forward to this read. Unfortunately, I seem to be in the minority who just didn’t gel with this book. I didn’t connect with the story, or the characters, and at times I struggled to get through it.
For me, the main character’s voice (Bianca) is incredibly grating, unlikable and annoying – there was a lot of slut-shaming, and overly confusing loyalties and friendships. For most of this novel I questioned why these people were even friends. The family-issues were depicted well, but the realism of living and dealing with those issues wasn’t, in my opinion. I struggled to continue with the read, often wanting to reach into the pages and knock some sense into our MC. I just couldn’t connect with this on the level I was hoping to.
Granted, the MC is 17, and I’m sure at 17 I could be equally annoying, with little conviction and confused ideals, but it really does grate on me when I read novels like this as I don’t think the message in this book was portrayed as well as it could have been. I just felt this read didn’t do 17 year-olds justice, especially for our MC. My notes for this book read as the following:
“Having serious issues with the MC’s attitude!”
“Who does she actually think she is?! She’s like a bully who doesn’t think she’s a bully and acts a victim while hating on EVERYONE.”
“Questioning the friendships in this book – why is the MC even friends with these girls?”
“Why is the whole book obsessed with being tall, blonde and skinny?”
“Plot-twist that comes from nowhere…”
“Wow, that was an uncomfortable rape culture joke.”
Here is an actual quote from our MC, to a boy about his reading Jane Eyre – “I’ve read Jane Eyre, which was definitely full of early feminism. I’m not saying that’s a problem. Personally, I’m a total feminist, but it’s a little sketchy for a teenage boy.”
FACE PALM.
After reading this book, I found out the author was just 18 when it was published – good on her, a wonderful achievement, but if I’m picking up any of her work in the future, I’m going to be looking for some serious growth and development as a writer. Still looking forward to seeing what they do with the movie, the on-screen adaptation may allow for more irony in the humour, which may ease the pain.
The Rating
2/5
Have you read The Duff? Did you love it? I have seen the movie and will be posting a review soon!
Confessions of a Book Geek 
I haven’t seen the movie or read the book yet, but from what I’ve heard the movie is better than the book in this case. I’m sort of hesitant to read it because it seems so superficial and I just don’t think I would like it. An annoying main character is one of my biggest pet peeves!
LikeLike
I definitely preferred the movie to the book – though oddly now that I’ve seen it, I’m glad I read it first. Go figure lol. Where the book fell down for me, the movie saved it, but also oddly, there were areas where the movie fell down where it didn’t stay true to certain aspects of the storyline that I actually enjoyed. You can’t win em all! The movie is worth seeing though. R x
LikeLike
The movie is somewhat similar in the areas you stated, but I enjoyed it. It’s got a lot of things that are done differently and I think it came across kind of like a Mean Girls type movie. It was funny and snarky. Hope you like the movie better!
LikeLike
I did much prefer the movie! I got that Mean Girls vibe, but in a really good way, where it didn’t feel like it was copy-catting it. There were some elements of the book that were changed in the movie that I didn’t enjoy though – the family issues weren’t what drew Bianca and Wesley together, and the friends took a back seat, Wesley wasn’t smart in the movie, and Bianca had her mum in her life instead of her dad – the pivotal drunk/punch scene was left out, and while I feel the adaptation is good in a lot of ways, some of those things felt original for a contemporary to me, and I’d have hoped for at least some of them to be included. R x
LikeLike
I completely agree. Those were the changes that actually really irritated me because they made the book unique and real. I still enjoyed the movie though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve seen a lot of mixed reviews on this one, and it just doesn’t appeal to me at all. It sounds kinda awful, actually. I’m sorry it didn’t work for you!
LikeLike
I was hoping for more from this read – but I’ve seen people giving it 4/5 too so it must work for some. The movie was pretty enjoyable though! The humour/tone works much better on screen for me. I ADORE Mean Girls and I’m pretty sure a book version wouldn’t have clicked with me either. R x
LikeLiked by 1 person
I haven’t heard very flattering things about this book, and I heard the movie does a better job of conveying the message it’s meant to send. I look forward to hearing what you thought of the movie.
LikeLike
I thought I was in the minority?! I seem to have only spotted good reviews about this book. It’s a personal thing, as the book isn’t badly written, but the humour and cynicism was lost in translation for me. The movie was much better at depicting the tone, but a few things were changed that I was annoyed about too – full review of the movie will be up this week! R x
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve been on the fence about this book. Now that I’ve read your review I know I definitely don’t want to read it, it is full of things that would annoy me. I’ll wait for the film!
LikeLike
The film did a much better job at conveying some character traits that grated on me much more in text form, oddly! There’s a topic for a discussion this month. Have to say though, the movie also changed some aspects of the book that I enjoyed and which were quite original for a contemporary read, so that was disappointing! Will have a review of the movie up this week! R x
LikeLike
I actaully really liked this book, but I know it’s not for everyone and can completely see where you are coming from.
Great review hun 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks, Stacie! R x
LikeLike
[…] I also watched The DUFF movie adaptation – I enjoyed it more than the book (check out my review of The DUFF) but thought some original elements of the book that I did enjoy shouldn’t have been left […]
LikeLike
[…] The DUFF just didn’t work for me at all, and I eye rolled quite a lot at it. There were elements I enjoyed, but overall it just wasn’t for me. […]
LikeLike
[…] Check out my review of The Duff – https://confessionsofabookgeek.com/2015/03/23/review-the-duff/ […]
LikeLike
[…] were a couple of books that disappointed me this year. The DUFF was getting excellent reviews, and while I didn’t hate it, it just didn’t work for me. […]
LikeLike