Dumplin'

Willowdean, thinking about her favorite song from Dolly Parton says, “...to me, it's this reminder that no matter who you are, there will always be somebody prettier or smarter or thinner. Perfection is nothing more than a phantom shadow we're all chasing.”

And this is the heart of most of Willowdean's conflicts—with her friends, with the others at school, with her own mother. For Willowdean is a big girl, a self-described fat girl, and this causes her no end of pain in the form of cruel remarks and jarring actions from others.

Her strength is in her confidence. Willowdean confidently takes down bullies, rejects a potential boyfriend when he appears to be keeping their relationship secret, casts off friends when they cozy up to thinner girls, even tells off her mother for her inability to nurture a fat daughter. But is it confidence or is it bravado?

I was struck with the vivid characters of this book, all with equal parts of both strengths and weaknesses, making them seem very, very real.

Of course I loved the state of Texas as a character, too. From the book:

“Most women in the South take great pride in their iced tea and pass their recipes down from generation to generation. But Lorraine (Willowdean's boyfriend's stepmom) is not most women. She mixes her tea with powder from a box. To my mom, powdered iced tea is almost as bad as the possibility of being left behind in the wake of the rapture.”

And Willowdean's mom, just before the pageant: “Let the glitter fall where it may.”

There's everything in this story. Love. Loss. Friend relationships. Mother-daughter relationships. Conflict. Laughter. Lots of laughter.