Beauty Queens
Libba Bray
Scholastic Press
Pub Date- May 24, 2011
Libba Bray’s Beauty Queens is not my typical read but I absolutely loved the cover and thought it would make a nice summer escape…and that it did. If you are looking for a book that is silly and fun, this one hits the nail on the head.
From Goodreads:
The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another idea crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.
What's a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program--or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan--or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?
Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Your tour guide? None other than Libba Bray, the hilarious, sensational, Printz Award-winning author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Going Bovine. The result is a novel that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you never see beauty the same way again.
What's a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program--or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan--or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?
Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Your tour guide? None other than Libba Bray, the hilarious, sensational, Printz Award-winning author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Going Bovine. The result is a novel that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you never see beauty the same way again.
The over the top social satire caused me to laugh to loud on several occasions and I loved the pop culture references. I do have to say that the footnotes were fun at first, but after a few chapters I found them to be slightly irritating. While the plot is insane and sometimes strange, the outrageous elements certainly made the story entertaining. The characters are wildly stereotypical which adds to the overall charm of the book, however at times I felt overwhelmed with the multiple character story lines and never really fell in love with any of them. While I appreciated the strong underlying tones questioning society and the important messages of female empowerment, I did think that the criticisms were at times too repetitive and the message felt forced. Overall, I thought it was a delightful and charming read but not amazing. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
I feel like people either LOVE this book, or, like you, they just find it so-so. I haven't read it yet (been waiting FOREVER on the library waiting list), but I'm so hoping that I'll fall into the "love it" category. Fingers crossed.
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