"Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy

Title: Dumplin'

Author: Julie Murphy

Publication Year: 2015

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Pages: 375

My Rating: 2.5/5 stars

This is the story of Willowdean Dickson who also goes under the name of Dumplin'. Willowdean is a high school student with a bit too much weight on her thighs. However, that doesn't refrain her from entering a beauty pageant in her hometown in Texas, because apparently Willowdean has enough confidence to do just that! 

While this is a somewhat cute story targeted towards young adults about redeeming yourself and facing some truths, I was very underwhelmed by this book. I was expecting a story about a heavy-weighted protagonist who decides to enter a beauty pageant, simply because she has the confidence to do so. While this is somewhat true, I don't think Willowdean comes across as having much confidence at all. She keeps second-guessing herself, and worst of all she's very disrespectful and mean to people. I couldn't help but wonder if that was really her way of being confident - not hesitating from sullying people around her? I regretfully didn't fint any inspiration in Willowdean at any point in this book. 

Furthermore, I very much disliked how Julie Murphy threw a "golden line" into the story now and again. By that I mean that she often includes sentences that are supposed to be these philosophies on life and how we're supposed to view ourselves and each other. I prefer to read that myself between the lines and not be reminded of it as often as was the case in this book. 

All in all, I did have quite a few problems with this novel which turned out to be quite predictable. As stated in the beginning, I think it is a quite story, but it's also very mediocre, and I honestly didn't like the message that Willowdean's behaviour might send readers of this book. 

"The Year of the Runaways" by Sunjeev Sahota

Title: The Year of the Runaways

Author: Sunjeev Sahota

Publication Year: 2015

Publisher: Picador

Pages: 468

My Rating: 4/5 stars

This book takes place in London as well as in India. We follow various Indians who are settled in London and who don't know each other to begin with. All the Indians have moved to London illegally in order to earn enough money for their poor families back home. Some Indians come from a more cruel background than others, but they all have one thing in common, which is that they are in a desperate situation. 

This book was highly educating and very interesting to read! I knew about illegal workers and their poor conditions, but this book gave me a really good insight into what their lives and situations are really like. These people live from day to day in a constant presence of fear. They do this with the best of intentions - they want to save their families back home - but life is very tough for each one of them. 

Besides from that, this novel also taught me about Indian culture such as food, traditions and ways of living which is always very nice. It furthermore comes with some very clever observations which I really admire Sunjeev Sahota for. However, in my opinion the story did stretch on for a bit too long, and even though I wanted to continue reading about the characters, I did feel a slight disconnect to them towards the ending. BUT it was most certainly a great read, and I have a feeling it's going to be one of those books that will stick to my mind for a long time to come.