Dumplin’: Go Big or Go Home

Murphy, Julie. Dumplin’: Go Big or Go Home. 2015. 371p. ISBN 978-0-06-232718-5. Available at FIC MUR on the library shelves.

Willowdean Dickson is fat. She knows it, the world knows it, and, by in large, she’s okay with it. A die-hard fan of Dolly Parton, she’s always been big, and it runs in her family. Her mother was fat until she self-consciously worked to lose the weight, while her aunt never was able to. In their little town of Clover, Texas, there’s not much to do. The highway doesn’t go through here, and there aren’t any local attractions that would draw in tourists. So the town is pretty much left to its locals.

Dumplin’, as her mother calls her, meets Bo at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint where she works. She knows that as the fat chick she’s unlikely to score a date, but they soon begin to fall for each other. Bo wants to keep it a secret, however, so Willowdean doesn’t tell her best friend Ellen about the new guy in her life. Will also begins questioning herself. She’s always been comfortable in her body, but now that someone else is touching her, she’s worried about her size and how her body feels.

Speaking of Ellen, the two of them have begun drifting away from each other, and Will doesn’t know how to prevent it. To regain her confidence she decides to participate in the Miss Clover City, the local teen pageant organized by her mother, a former winner herself who can still fit in her pageant dress. With her eccentric friends, Will must conquer this newfound fear of her body, and at the same time figure out what kind of relationship she deserves from Bo.