The DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) by Kody Keplinger

Title: The DUFF (Desingated Ugly Fat Friend)
Author: Kody Keplinger
Publication: Poppy (2010)
ISBN 9780316084239
Format: Hardcover ($16.99)
Acquired: I got this book from the library. I had to put in on hold.

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Seventeen-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 "the Duff," she throws her coke in his face.

But things aren't so great at home now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.

Until all goes horribly awry. It turns out 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.

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When I first started this book I read the word cynical in the summary and I started to wonder if it would be like most books that describe the main character as cynical. They mostly come out as depressed more than cynical. So I was happy that she did not believe in love so much as two people growing on each other. Yet after that word it says that Bianca is loyal. I saw no loyalty for her. She was an equal opportunity ditcher. She cared for no one but herself and while I know that teenagers are fundamentally shallow I also know that teenagers also have the capacity to really care for the people that they know well. This book was way too shallow for me. It was written by a 17 year old and it reads like it. None of the problems that are presented in the book are worked out so much as the author slowly stops talking about them in the hopes that you forget that she even mentioned it. Obviously it failed because I was still waiting for the books loose ends to tie up on the last page.

There are many things that sat wrong with me when I read this book? Why did there have to be so many swear words in this book? Real teenagers swear, I get it. Sure that means that I am not a real teenager but who cares about that? Was Bianca even overweight? I get that she had big thighs but she is later called petite and she can apparently fit into a "little" guys jacket. In fact at the end it says that her being fat and ugly was all in her head. There was too many sex scenes that took the place of actual plot time. I could go on but I would rather move on.

I could not stand Bianca. there is a difference between cynical and whatever she was. Although on page 82 I find it nicely summed up as, "God, that girl is a bitch!" There is only so much complaining that you can take with one book so when all you get is non stop bitching there is no way for you to get to the place where the annoying character gets endearing. Bianca is a pain throughout the entire book. Backing up a step I really did not like the message. Have sex because it helps you forget your problems. If you have sex with someone you think that you love you are naive and a slut but if you only sleep with them because you want a "distraction" then you are perfectly chaste. I am sorry but this book would have been a lot better if it had not been written by a teenager because she refused to make any of the character's actions have any kind of bad  consequences. The all ended up with what they wanted.

Throughout the entire book I kept asking myself why Wesley would want Bianca and how on earth she had any friends because there was a girl in my high school like this and everyone stopped hanging out with her because they were sick of her negativity. The sad part is that even though Bianca and Wesley are flat characters they are the most developed of the characters also.

I would probably have liked this book if I had stopped sometime in the first few chapters because it gets bad a little after her first kiss with Wesley. Yuck. I am sorry but the thought teenagers having sex is nauseating.