Now a popular Netflix feature film, starring Jennifer Aniston, Danielle Macdonald, and Dove Cameron, as well as a soundtrack from Dolly Parton!The #1 New York Times bestseller and feel-good YA of the year—about Willowdean Dixon, the fearless, funny, and totally unforgettable heroine who takes on her small town’s beauty pageant.Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her … 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 girl does.
Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.
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As a fat girl, to other fat girls— read this book!
This book was so heartwarming. This book was full of great quotes and anecdotes about life. Willowdean is wise beyond her years. She also was a great person to look up to. She was greatly human.
This book was interesting. Not a lot of body positivity that I thought it was going to have. This story follows Willowdean an obese teen in high school. She seems to be hyper-focused on her weight, which I guess is good if she did not hate it so much. She also finds love but doesn’t stay with him because she is worried about what others will think. Not a lot of positivity going on, at least that is how it came across for me. I gave it four stars for the way she handles her friendships and seems to find some sort of bond with her mom.
You know that moment when you get a book you really want to read and you fully intend to read it right away, but it sits on your shelf for a really long time, then you fiiinally get to reading it and you friggin love it, and sit there wondering why the hell you didn’t read it right away. I totally had that happen after reading this book.
So I actually listened to the audiobook that I borrowed from my library and it made the reading experience 10x more amazing. I could not get enough of this book. I never wanted it to end. I loved all the wonderfully diverse characters in this book except for Patrick and Willowdeans mom most of the time. I wanted Willowdean to be my bff. I wanted to fist pump this awesome girl. I laughed nonstop and melted in my seat anytime you had Willowdean and Bo together because they had the hottest chemistry I may have ever read. When it was over and the last page and sentence were read I was sad, angry, and happy all at once. I was sad because it was over, angry because how could Julie Murphy end this beautiful book that way, and happy because I loved everything that Dumplin’ had to offer.
Dumplin’ is about Willowdean who is fat and she embraces that fat. She has a confidence she doesn’t even realize she possesses. I loved that she has a sharp tongue as well. While in most YA’s it irritates me when the MC talks to their parents crazy I loved when Willowdean puts her mom in place because she deserves it. She speaks her mind and says what everyone else is afraid to say to her. I think this helped sink things into her moms head about Willowdean being fat and her being ashamed of it. I honestly think that Willow was a great friend to Ellen. I liked that their relationship gets tested and have to learn how to still be friends even though their both changing and finding different interests. It is part of growing up really. The newly formed friendships with Hannah, Amanda, and Millie happened unexpectedly and had a huge impact on the story and the MC. The girls were all very different from one another and their friendship was so refreshing and fun.
Willowdeans relationship with Bo, her coworker at Harpy’s shakes Willows confidence and causes her to question her own beauty. It makes her give in to the stereotypes and feel like she is not worthy of a cute, nonfat guy. God I loved these two. The crush she had on Bo was hella funny but genuine at the same time. Bo is the kind of guy and every young girl wants. He always spoke his mind and told Willow exactly what he wanted from her. I just could not get enough.
Needless to say I loved Dumplin’. I may not have been totally happy with the way it ended only because I want more. No. I need more. I loved every moment spent reading this book and will forever be a favorite of mine. The writing was phenomenal, the story beautiful, and I believe there is a bit of Willowdean in all of us. I highly recommend giving this book a try.