Beauty Queens

Waarom dit boek zoveel lovende commentaren krijgt is mij een raadsel.
Het begon allemaal heel beloftevol, maar dan werd het gewoon krankzinnig. Ik heb mezelf letterlijk moeten dwingen om het uit te lezen, gewoon omdat ik niet graag een begonnen boek onuitgelezen laat, maar het was eerlijk gezegd een groot tijdsverlies. Ik heb er zelfs geen ster voor over.

Uitgangspunt: Een vliegtuig met 50 schoonheidskoninginnen en hun begeleiders stort neer op een onbewoond eiland. Allen sterven, op 13 schoonheidskoninginnen na. En dan is het een kwestie van te overleven, terwijl het ergste wat ze ooit hebben meegemaakt uitlopende mascara is.

Zie, dit uitgangspunt is heel beloftevol. Ik verwachtte me aan een satirische, hilarische reflectie op de huidige, oppervlakkige en op het uiterlijk gefixeerde maatschappij. Maar wat ik kreeg was een eerder bizar - Lucy-in-the-Sky-with-Diamonds bizar, als je begrijpt wat ik bedoel - verhaal, waar de organisatoren van de schoonheidswedstrijd zaken doen met dictators, waar haarverwijderaars ook perfecte bommen maken en sexy, Britse piraten toevallig op hetzelfde eiland landen en toevallig net één perfecte piraat voor elk van onze meisjes is. Oh ja, en het onbewoonde eiland is niet zo onbewoond.
Mjah, jammer, want het kon zo veel beter.

I overall enjoyed the book, but some stuff wasn't needed. And with this I mean the pirates. They add nothing to the story. And I mean /nothing/. The story would have been the same without them there. Less sex scenes and romance, but that's it. They didn't need to be there. They didn't help in the resolution of the story at all. Iwish they had not been added tbh.

I also have to say, as a bisexual girl myself, that as much as I appreciated the calling out of the sexualization we suffer, I did not appreciate the backtracking on Sosie. Being hesitant to be in a relationship could have happened in any of the idk how many f/m ships in the book, but it had to be the maybe-bi character that's not sure? I would have preferred it if it had not been teased at just to be taken back.

And before someone says it, I know questioning people exist, but having the supposed to be bi character be the one hurting the lesbian because maybe they're actually straight is a Bad Trope.

Those were really my two biggest problems with the book. I do also feel like the commercial breaks were fun at first but boring as the chapters went by.

This book is just fun. Are the characters over the top? Yup. Is it too preachy at times? Oh yeah. Does Bray hit the same target over and over and over again? Yup. But usually those targets have it coming.

There are plenty of flaws in this book, but Bray's style, tone and message(s) work so well that you ignore them easily and forgive them all even more easily. A great, fun read–even for a guy like me who is nowhere near the target audience.

What a ridiculous book! There are several moments in this book that have heart and a message and would be great in a book that was better written. Sometimes the satire and the comedy in this book overrode the plot and characters which made it a little hard to read. There were some parts where I'm like, “this isn't necessary!” She could have probably gotten some of her points across without the commercial breaks and fact sheets. But for what it's worth, I've never read a book like this so Libba Bray gets credit for doing something original and clearly having fun with her work. It's a decent book that should be given a shot.

This was not what I was expecting, and I totally love what it ended up being. I thought it would be like, I don't know, Survivor but with teen beauty queens. But it was more like Lost with teen beauty queens (but without the super annoying ending of Lost). I loved all the characters and their stories, and Libba Bray shows off some really smart feminist takes on beauty pageants, beauty products, sexuality, virginity, body acceptance, etc... It's kind of like [b:Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics 168484 Feminism is for Everybody Passionate Politics Bell Hooks http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327933698s/168484.jpg 843092] but performed as a set of desert island monologues. Or something??The plot about the Corporation weaponizing Lady Stache Off and selling out the Teen Dreamers to preserve their weapons deal/ratings was kind of over the top/dystopia tropetastic but who even cares.I also loved all the super over the top fake pop culture references. And footnote humor! I LOVE FOOTNOTE JOKES. I could definitely see where this would NOT be everyone's cup of tea, but I would drink a whole pot of this. So to speak. IDK, metaphors.

Short review: A funny satire about a group of beauty pageant contestants that crash land on a deserted island. The main theme of the book is finding your real self and not living the life that others place upon you. It is not a deep book. The revelations are not that surprising. But it is a fun book and has a pretty good message.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/beauty-queens-2/

What an enjoyable book! Do yourself a favor and try this one on audio if you have the chance. The production value is amazing. A plane of teenage beauty queens goes down on a deserted island. However will they manage without a team of primpers? But they more than manage, they thrive. But not everyone wants them to thrive as a secret plot is revealed. Will the beauty queens show they are more than just a pretty face? You know they will, but how they navigate it is truly hysterical!

Beauty Queens I'm going to be honest: I hated this book when I started listening to it. It grated on my nerves and made me cringe.
 
Then I figured out it was satire and was supposed to (thanks to some nudging from Amanda).
 
Once I embraced it for what is was... it was epic y'all.
 
EPIC!
 
I couldn't get enough of it. Let's not even talk about the story yet- I'm talking about Libba Bray's narration. It was flawless. It was stupendous. It was freaking amazing. Want a taste? Check this out (watch the whole thing, but the audiobook portion starts at 2:20):

[click through to my blog to watch the video]
 
How can you not fall in love with that kind of performance?
 
Story-wise, I absolutely fell in love with all of the characters by the end. Yes, even Taylor. I must admit, I think my favorite parts were Tiara's one-liners at the end of the chapters. Even though at first they thoroughly creeped me out because of her voice.
 
I really don't have anything bad to say about this one. I'm not sure my opinion would have been quite as favorable if I had read it instead of listening to it, so I'm definitely glad I listened to it. There are footnotes. And commercials. And it's just... epic. Seriously, there's no other word for it.
 
And really- they need to make it into a movie. Yes, I really think that.