The DUFF by Kody Keplinger - review

'There were times I found myself just laughing at how utterly stupid and fake the book really is'

I was chatting to some "internet friends" the other day about The DUFF, and they told me that they thought the book was horrible. They thought it was wrong to label people. I also saw this article as well, where the writer made some pretty good points, and I thought, "Maybe I should read this book and offer my own points." And that's what I've done.

Bianca is in a group of three friends with Casey and Jessica; both pretty, both flawless in her eyes. She goes to school, with these friends, at Hamilton High. Here, like in most schools, there's the womanizer, Wesley: the boy who Bianca believes will sleep with anything that is female. So when they meet at the bar in a teen lounge in town and he labels her the DUFF of her friendship group, it plays on her mind; along with several other things in life.

DUFF stands for: "Designated Ugly Fat Friend". This is where my first objection arises. This is disgusting. I'm not in the typical demographic that this book is aimed at, and my best bet is that it is aimed at young girls. To tell girls, and even boys for that matter, that in every friendship group there's the ugly one who's just there to make the other girls look good to boys, is just wrong, full stop. It's also really degrading. I feel sorry for anyone who reads this book and feels like they are a DUFF. You aren't, because that's horrible, and nobody, let alone a book, has any right to make you feel this way.

The book tries to pull it back, but it just doesn't do it in a way that satisfies my mind, at least.

The book in itself doesn't have well-formed characters, and there were times I found myself just laughing at how utterly stupid and fake the book really is. I apologise that there's no filter on this review either, because I genuinely feel like this book just wasn't right. That's just it, isn't it? This book just wasn't right.

The messages sent in this book were beyond normal, and in fact, if anyone reads this and takes on these messages as though they are gospel, then something is seriously wrong. And we need to be fixing that.

I'm also unconvinced that the book clearly grasped what the concept of The DUFF is. Bianca is called The DUFF of her friendship group by the same guy that later decides he loves her. Another boy ends up asking her out too. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't The DUFF supposed to be the one that no one wants? And nobody likes? Then why on earth is this the case?

The messages sent in this book were confused to say the least. I'm sad to say that there's a lot more to this book than it just being a book, and I think it's also a statement about society today. Yes, I know: the book actually wants you to believe that The DUFF is a concept that should be criticised, not glamorised. But read the book and tell me how the book doesn't do the opposite of that.

Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.

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