Title: Beauty Queens {goodreads}
Author: Libba Bray
Publication (dd/mm/yy): 01/06/11
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Source: For review
Age: 14+ Sexual scenes, language and mild violence.
Age: 14+ Sexual scenes, language and mild violence.
Pages: 400
My Rating:
Summary:
Teen beauty queens. A lost island. Mysteries and dangers. No access to email.
And the spirit of fierce, feral competition that lives deep in the heart of every girl, a savage brutality that can only be revealed by a journey into the heart of non-exfoliated darkness.
Oh, the horror, the horror!
Only funnier. With evening gowns. And a body count.
My thoughts:
Beauty Queens was insane. Think about the most primped up, preppy and clueless beauty pageant girls, stranded on a deserted island. How do they survive life without technology and loving people at their beck and call? With beauty products of course! The premise of this book, and the crossover of LOST and Lord of the Flies really drew me towards this book. I didn't really have any expectations of the book that weren't met, because what I was expecting was an entertaining, satirical outlook on popular culture and the accepted tropes in modern-day society. That's what I got, and while I think that Libba Bray delivered with a book that very much so agrees with my own views, I don't know. Perhaps there was just TOO much poking fun that it became silly.
The plot moved along pretty slowly, but the writing style was such that it moved along at a good pace, if that makes any sense. Much of the first half of the book is filling in with back-stories for the girls (Adina is my favourite, if you want to know), and the girls surviving the crash and using whatever has been salvaged from the crash for a purpose. It gets interesting when it actually becomes apparent that there will be some kind of evil people who reside on the island ...
The girls and characters are by and far in Beauty Queens. The thing I liked was that these girls have actual dreams and interests that are apart from their beauty pageant expeditions. One loves to dance, another loves to lead others. And another flat-out hates beauty pageants and all that they stand for. All of these girls had something to prove, and it takes a life-threatening plane crash for them to realise how shallow Miss Teen Dream is.
I'm not saying this book is for everyone, but I did enjoy reading it and for me there was a lot to like.
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