Aj the Ravenous Reader's Reviews > Dumplin'

“There’s something about swimsuits that make you think you’ve got to earn the right to wear them. And that’s wrong. Really, the criteria is simple. Do you have a body? Put a swimsuit on it.”

This is one completely adorable, funny, heartwarming and inspiring contemporary YA. I regret that I hadn’t read it sooner. I love the main purpose that the book wants to put across. People spend too much time thinking they’re too fat or too thin, eyes too far apart or too close together, teeth too big or too small, skin too dark or too pale. Perhaps it’s true that somebody else is always going to be better but so what? Nobody is perfect and yes that’s cliché but in order to be comfortable with ourselves, that’s the only way to think.

Every person has insecurities even Jon Snow (no matter how confident, handsome and haaawt he looks *sighs*) and that’s perfectly okay because what a dull life would it be if we all had been so confident and so sure of ourselves all the time. These inspiring ideas were realistically and genuinely portrayed in the story through Dumplin’, the main character who is gorgeous, fat, confident, funny, awkward, beautiful and insecure all at the same time. Her uncertainties about herself are what make her human. They’re what make her relatable and true. I love the statement that she made by entering a pageant. She rocks!

The book is another eye-opening experience for me because I’m often guilty of commenting on other people’s body especially when I think they’re too thin. Simple comments like “You really should eat more” seems sweet and harmless to me until I’ve read the book reminding me that I am in no position to comment on anyone’s body unless it’s mine. I think this is a must read for every teenager out there, for everybody actually.