Readers United Book Reviews | Dumplin’ and Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend​

Cecilia Curran ’20 reviews two fun and captivating novels impossible to put down. 

Dumplin’​ By Julie Murphy

In this day and age, how many teenage girls truly love their body? Not many. However, Willowdean “Dumplin’” Dickson is an exception. The protagonist of Dumplin’ take us along on an adventure of love of all sorts.

Willowdean Dickson has never been small. A word many would use to describe her is “fat,” but, to herself, she is beautiful. Growing up in a household with her overweight Aunt taught her to love herself. Willow never saw herself as inferior in any way, but, after the death of her Aunt Lucy, she stuck living with her pageant- running mother. Followed by constant reminders of her weight and how she could be “better,” her life seems to be on the decline, but her home life isn’t the worst of it. 

Outside of the house, Willow is faced with a problem she’s never known before- Bo: The rugged dreamboat from every girls’ dreams, Willow finds herself falling in love, but she can’t bring herself to be in a relationship. Insecurities cloud her decision making in addition to shame from her sexual immaturity. Topped with her mother’s constant berating, she finds herself going insane. 

As pageant season rolls around, things are at their worst, but Willow decides to do something to change everything, something she never thought she would do before: she enters her mother's pageant. Shocking everyone around her, including her former best friend, Willow finds herself risking it all to get Bo and prove to her mother that big is beautiful. 

Verdict: Despite its seemingly cliché plot, as soon as you begin the book you’ll fall in love with Willow’s confident personality. Combined with a love story and a diverse group of misfit friends, Dumplin’ is impossible to put down.

Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend​ by Alan Cumyn 

Last time anyone checked, Pterodactyls went extinct 66 million years ago, and yet here lies the tale of Vista Views High. As bizarre as the title sounds, Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend is an insane adventure surrounding the arrival of a Pterodactyl student. 

Sheils had it all. She loved her school, her family, her boyfriends, and her position as student body chair. Not to mention that she was great at being a part of all of them. A bright future lay ahead of her, but everything would change with a moment that would make history in the world, the arrival of Pyke, a pterodactyl student. 

Sheils automatically assumes that Pyke will be hated by the student body but finds that everyone loves him. A musician, athlete, and new boyfriend of the school’s track star- everyone falls in love with him. Soon Sheils comes to the realization that she may love him too, and she doesn’t know why. In addition to facing this new revelation, Sheils deals with many more real problems. A crazy night at a school dance finds her marked by Pyke: a purple nose. As she tries to keep the school and community the same, she finds herself fighting a losing battle. She loses her boyfriend, the respect of her school, and the authority that comes with her position. In addition, with everything going on, she can’t even think about her future. 

From the lowest point in her life, Sheils finds herself lost and all she can think about is a Pterodactyl. 

Verdict: If you’re in the mood for a one of a kind book with a bizarre premise, the twists and turns of Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend may be exactly what you’re looking for.

Readers United Book Reviews | Modern Lovers

Jamie Shin ’20 reviews a thought-provoking novel full of surprises. 

Modern Lovers by Emma Straub

To me, Modern Lovers by Emma Straub was about finding new love, looking to recover old love, what it means to be a family, and figuring out the messiest moments in life. From college bandmates, to lovers, to next-door neighbors, Andrew, Elizabeth, Zoe, and Jane have gone through it all together. But now they’re almost fifty, and are clinging on to the things that allow them to feel the last bit of youth they can. 

Andrew Marx, though supported by his trust fund from his rich parents, is job-less, insecure, and is having with trouble in his marriage; he hits his mid-life crisis. Elizabeth Marx can do nothing but watch him figure things out for himself, even if that means standing by him as he accidentally almost joins a cult-like yoga-house… After all, she is busy enough on her own, dealing with her job as a real-estate agent, which gives her the pressure to let no one in her town see her anything but happy all the time. Even when the four find out their son and daughter are sleeping together in the most humiliating way— at the police station. 

Similarly, Zoe and Jane are having a rough patch in their relationship as well. While their daughter, Ruby, is getting into all sorts of trouble, they feel like they have lost the spark in their relationship. But maybe all they needed was an emergency in the family business to bring them all back together and remind them of the passion they hold for each other and in life. 

Simply put, Modern Lovers made me feel confused about how I should feel. Emma Straub’s humor is best put as realistic, rather than dark, but only because she puts things exactly how it is. Straub implies ideas, instead of stating them. By writing in a way in which she was slightly assuming the audience had some knowledge about the characters before getting to know them, she made me figure things out about the character using context. There were countless “ohhh” moments while reading the book, which means it was getting me to think harder. 

I have to admit, the novel is quite a long read; it took me about two weeks worth of on and off reading to finish. Even if I had the time, I don’t think I could’ve finished it in one reading, because of the heavy material. I know the target audience isn’t my age, so I understood what I could and the rest, I didn’t try to force myself to. 

Verdict: In general, I would recommend this book to an older audience, however it is a compelling read full of surprises. 

Readers United Book Reviews | Room and Wonder

Siri Palreddy ’20 reviews two novels that, though with very different subject matter, will both keep you interested and reading until the end. 

Room by Emma Donogue
 

Room by Emma Donoghue Room is told through the eyes of Jack, a five year-old boy who has been confined to an 11 foot by 11 foot room him and his mother have lived in for all his life. 

Since Jack has never been out into the real world, his closest friends besides his mom are the things that surround him, like Rug, Bed, and Wall. The unique way we see Jack’s world is one of the best parts of this book. When Jack learns something, the reader does as well. There is no all-knowing view in this story but instead a carefully crafted plot that strings us along more information as we go. 

This aspect of the novel was what makes this book really stand out. Sometimes, I would read a few pages thinking Jack was observing something that was just an ordinary thing, then I would re-read it and see that Donoghue was actually describing something much more horrifying - such as when we realize that Jack’s mom had been kept in Room because she was abducted by a sexual predator at 19, a man whom Jack calls Old Nick, another name for the devil, after relating this man to what he has heard about Satan on TV. 

There are many more instances like these that will make you think about what was written, trying to understand it again and analyze it. 

Another part of this novel I really enjoyed was getting to experience Jack’s mom, or as he calls her, Ma. Ma is not someone we feel pity for, nor is she a perfect heroine. We admire her because she stays so strong even when she is continuously raped, making sure that whatever she does is for the best of Jack, even if it negatively affects her. However, when Jack and Ma are rescued from Old Nick, we also see how hard it is for her to adapt back to this world she was stolen from.

Verdict: All in all, Room is a great book with dynamic character relationships. It can be a little scary and disturbing at times, so if you’d rather stray away from those things, this book may not be a good choice. But read this book when you can; it’s a really inspiring story by the end. 

Wonder by R.J Palacio 

Recently, I was re-reading Wonder and I realized again how good of a book it is - since a new movie adaptation of it came out, a synopsis of the book might help those trying to understand Wonder. Wonder is about a ten-year old boy named Auggie Pullman who was born with severe facial deformities. He had to get several surgeries after birth, and now he doesn’t have that many friends because of his appearance. 

The book starts with Auggie entering middle-school at Beecher Prep. At first, he is bullied because of his looks, but, by the end of the novel, he makes many new friends and learns that what’s on the outside doesn’t matter. 

Although there’s a stereotypical moral to this story, the plot is anything but that. Almost each character in the book gets their own section where we see the story from their view. We see how Auggie feels at this new school, and how his sister, who loves Auggie but is also overshadowed by his needs, reacts to Auggie being away and her own social life being altered. 

Each part gives us a 3D shape to each character instead of a flat, boring perception that would have been expected from most books with a single narrator. 

Palacio does not make any character perfect - each has flaws and pros, but readers learn to appreciate these all the same. When, in the end, Auggie is supported by those who had previously turned against them, it shows that Auggie is just like any other kid in Beecher Prep. 

Verdict: The message of equality really resonates in this novel, and it’s great for both older and younger people. It’s just such a heart-warming novel that is also really fun to read with others.