Self proclaimed fat girls rejoice! As a girl that has always been on the bigger side of things and a girl who grew up in Texas I relate to this novels in ways I never though possible. I mean lets face it I have read hundreds of books over the years and non of the heroines in those novels are even close to being described as looking like me. Everything about Julie Murphy’s Dumplin’ is funny, heartfelt and painfully honest; from chub rub to bathing suit anxiety to feeling confident till the moment someone shows interest. I relate to Will’s journey because its a journey I have been on my entire life. Coming to terms with the way our body looks, especially in comparison to others, is probably the hardest second hardest thing. The first, at lest for me, was coming to terms with the fact other people view my body very differently then I do.

Willowdean “Dumplin” Dickinson, also known as Will,  has spent her entire life in a small town in the middle of nowhere Texas. Her mother is an ex-Beauty Queen while her Aunt Lucy never seemed to comfortable in her own skin. Willowdean on the other hand has always been at peace with her body or as peace as one can be. Then she meets Bo and her world is flipped upside down. Bo is the kind of beautiful you find on the pages of GQ or described on the pages of a trashy grocery store romance. It one thing to have a crush on a boy that you decided was out of your league and know its never going to happen its quite another to have said boy reciprocate those feelings troughs you for a loop. Like many girls Will begins to question Bo’s intentions and compares herself to the girls he has dated before and it inevitably shakes her confidence. Dumplin’ is about way more then a budding high school romance between two people you would never expect. The novel taken on what it truly means to be a so called “Fat Girl”. From dealing with a mom you only had the best of intentions, but who ultimately shames her daughter, to having a best friend who’s life seems to moving at a much different pace, to doing things that scare you because they scare the living shit out of you. I highly recommend Dumplin’ to anybody who has ever felt out of place in their own bodies.