Synopsis
Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is smart, cynical, loyal - and well aware that she's not the hot one in her group of friends. But when high-school jock and all round moron Wesley Rush tells her she's a DUFF - a Designated, Ugly Fat Friend - Bianca does not the see funny side. She may not be a beauty but she'd never stoop so low as to go anywhere near the likes of Wesley ... Or would she? Bianca is about to find out that attraction defies looks and that sometimes your sworn enemies can become your best friends ...
With a wry and tell-it-like-it-is voice, The Duff is a witty and poignant story of a teenager struggling with the rules of high school attraction, along with the breaking down of her relationships with family and friends. It is a novel about what it means to be sexy, in a world where we feel we have to be perfect!
Review
The book is incredibly easy to read, and addictive too. I was unsure how I would feel about it, as while I had heard good things about it, I was worried I would feel too ‘old’ for it, as occasionally with YA books, I don’t easily connect with the characters or understand their actions,
However my fears were unfounded and I could barely put this down. The writing draws you in, and I think it captured the characters and situations very well. While I expected most of this book to be a light hearted read (more like the movie - which is completely different to the book), however it actually was a lot deeper than I thought it would be as the story not only deals with the insecurities we all face, especially as a teenager but also Bianca has problems at home where her mother is barely there, and she’s on tenterhooks as she’s worried about her father relapsing from his sobriety as he was an alcoholic before Bianca was born.
Initially I was weary about Bianca, she seemed far too cynical and grumpy at the start (even before the DUFF incedent), but she grew on me fast and it mattered less and less. It was the way it was often tinged with humour that made me like her, and made me grow. She was obviously unhappy with things at home, and chose to bottle it all up and hence that leads to beginning a friends (or in this case enemies) with benefits arrangement with the person whom originally enlightened her to her ‘DUFF’ status, Wesley.
Wesley was instantly likeable, despite his cruelty calling Bianca ‘DUFF’ and his man-whore status. He is a bit of the stereotype bad boy at school that everyone fancies, and he knows it, but secretly he’s messed up inside with issues. That didn’t stop me liking him though. Bianca hates the way Wesley calls her Duffy after their first meeting, and despite him asking several times if it bothers her she says no, and I found myself just wishing she would just tell him! I’m sure he only meant it affectionately (Simon and I have a nickname for each other which is pretty offensive if we knew we didn’t mean it affectionately) and would have stopped had he known, he never meant to offend her.
I thought this book was really good. Funny with more depth than I was expecting, not your standard teen high school based novel. I cannot wait to read the companion book.
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Published by: Hodder Children's Books
Gratefully received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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