Synopsis:
Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) 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 Clover City beauty 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.
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.
This book took me a long time to finish, because it’s longer than my normal reads. Dumplin’ also a movie on Netflix. After reading the book, of course, I had to watch the movie. So, this review will also include the movie version as well.
Here are 5 reasons why I love this book:
- This book does a really good job of explaining the real-life struggles of being an overweight teen through the main character, Willowdean’s (Dumplin’) views. I felt her true emotions and I love that.
- The details in this book were everything. I loved how everything was easy to understand and everything made sense. Not to give too much away, but the movie didn’t have nearly as many details in it than the book which was a little disappointing.
- Every character had a purpose. I loved that each character added/contributed something different to the plot which made it so much more interesting.
- I really liked the occasional humor in this book because I’m always down for a good laugh and I love a book ten times more when it adds some funny moments!
- This book is very provocative and speaks out to different people who have struggled with being overweight and feel like they need to prove something to the world. This story teaches you about self-confidence and loving who you are in your own skin. I love the overall message that the author is trying to get across and even if you aren’t overweight, it’s still inspirational.
Here are 5 reasons why I love this movie:
- I love movies with happy endings and this movie really hit the bullseye with that!
- All of the actors and actresses did an amazing job playing their roles! One of my favorites was seeing Jennifer Aniston play Rosy Dickson (aka Willowdean’s mother)!
- I loved all of the Dolly Parton references throughout the movie and seeing the drag queens which were so amazing!
- The movie left out some characters from the book, but I wasn’t upset about it because the available actors/actresses’ roles were amazing all on their own!
- In my opinion, the movie had a better ending than the book which surprised me when I watched the end of the movie! When I was in the middle of reading the book, I thought the ending was going to be glamorous but it wasn’t. The movie’s ending was really great and I really loved it!
Overall, the movie and the book is amazing and I absolutely recommend watching and reading it!