Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

Posted September 21, 2025 by Shaun Winters in Books Read / 0 Comments

Publisher: Balzer + Bray
First Published: September 15, 2015
Main Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
Pages: 371 (actual pages of story)
Format: Hardcover
Source: Half Price Books

Goodreads

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Amazon / Barnes and Noble \ Thrift Books

Synopsis:
(From Goodreads)

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked…until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine—Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

I had seen this book around from when I used to do more book blogging and was very active in the twitter book community. It was one that I always thought I would get around to reading at some point of life. I also knew that it had been made into a movie (see the other information below). One day, I was at my local Half Price Books and in the clearance section for $3 was a hardcover copy of the book. It called to me and I knew that it was going home with me. I knew the message was one about body positivity. I finished a few books recently that felt “heavier” in nature and I needed something that while it may be dealing with body positivity felt like it may be a bit lighter than the dystopian that I had just finished (I will review eventually Parable of the Sower). It felt like it was the perfect time to pick this book up and read.

Main Thoughts:
As mentioned, I went into this mainly as a palette cleanser. I had read “Wicked” by Gregory Maguire (this took me like 6 months to read all of) and then I went into “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia E. Butler. These felt like weirdly heavy books because of the subject matter. I needed something that I thought would be a quicker read, but also something that felt more grounded in reality while still being fictional. This definitely did not disappoint at all.

The story focuses on Willowdean, known by Dumplin’ by her momma, and how she internalizes her feelings related to her body. The story is one about finding yourself in your true body and being comfortable in that skin. Willowdean does this through the pageant her mom is affiliated with. I will be honest, it felt like it took far too long to get to the actual pageant part. I was over a hundred pages into the book before it really felt that came into it all. This annoyed me a few times because the first 100 pages really focuses more on a romance plot. This romance plot is seen throughout the book and is so early on that it doesn’t feel like a spoiler in the slightest. This romance plot felt like it became the overwhelming narrative of this story, which at times made me not enjoy the journey that Willowdean was on. Then when I finished the book I realized something, being comfortable in your skin is also about allowing other people to love you. To allow yourself to be touched by someone that loves you is also a part of body positivity. This is when I moved my rating up to the 4 strawberries that it currently sits at because Julie Murphy encapsulated the truth about not loving the body you are in on various real levels that at one point I was moved to tears because I knew exactly how Willowdean felt. That internalized negative self-talk that can become a tape cassette of lies but we believe as truths that tears us down and makes us not achieve goals or dreams. I have been there and Murphy gutted me with those truths and reminders. This element of the book will sit with me for a minute, as I learn that I also need to learn to love myself and the body that I am in. It brought things that I was not dealing with up and I believe a good book makes you think about yourself as well, not just the character on the page.

Favorite Character:
By far Hannah! There was something about this character’s hardshell that resonated with me. I saw her as actually a dear friend to Willowdean, but Willowdean could not really feel that for a large chunk of the book. Also the fact that this character has a BIG LIE that ended up being MAGICAL to me in the plot, even though it was sooo simple it was one of my favorite moments in the book. I mean when the lie came out I chuckled because I knew instantly what Hannah had done. I was like YES! You did what had to be done.

Worst Character:
Throughout the book I felt like Willowdean’s mother was a raging umm word that I won’t say even though I do allow myself to cuss on this site. The character had a lot of flaws and little redeeming qualities throughout 95% of this book. She was hypercritical of almost everything and everyone, especially Willowdean. Her treatment of Willowdean’s emotions around Lucy was the ultimate reason why I disliked her. Let people grieve in their own way and allow them to have whatever time they need. I never arrived at liking this character based on the contents of the book. She needed to be there, but I wish Murphy had made her just a tiny bit umm softer, yes that is the word that I will go with because this momma was just not it.

Favorite Aspect:
OMG, I loved all the pageant related aspects, but that wasn’t the best part of this book. Please remember that this is how I felt about the book and it may not be what you enjoyed or like because it was definitely the breakup/breakdown of Willowdean and her besties friendship. This aspect drove a large chunk of the plot and goodness did it feel truly how some friendships have ups and downs. I enjoyed hearing how Willowdean felt about the changes in this important relationship and how she wished this friend was there. It felt so authentic and I lived for it. I was glad when it wrapped up, which I won’t tell you how, but it just felt like “YEP! EXACTLY HOW TRUE FRIENDSHIP WORKS.” I felt also that it was just the right amount of sprinkled throughout the book without overpowering the other plot elements that were going on. Second place would definitely be the Dale and Lee stuff, but sorry not sorry I liked friendship element just slightly better than that.

Worst Aspect and FINAL THOUGHTS:
The biggest ding for me truly was this romantic undertone, when you arrive at the ending of this book you will see why it annoyed me slightly. I don’t want to give away spoilers by any means on this, but if you finish this book you will probably have a base understanding why the romantic elements annoyed me. I want to remind all of us that we are more than just being loved by a singular person, we also have to believe internally that we are worthy of loving ourselves. That got lost, to me, in this narrative slightly. This is why I can’t say this is a 5 strawberries book, but you know what? It was still a delicious little book that I am glad I read and heck, again I only paid $3 to do so.