Jul 25, 2011

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray


Series: --
Next book in series: --
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: May 24, 2011
Hardcover: 400 pages
Age Group: Young Adult
Buy: Amazon
Add to Goodreads
Source: Library
Challenge: Support Your Local Library, 350 Page
Overall: 5/5


Summary                                                                              
From bestselling, Printz award-winning author Libba Bray comes the story of a plane of beauty pageant contestants that crashes on a desert island.
Teen beauty queens. A "Lost"-like island. Mysteries and dangers. No access to emall. And the spirit of fierce, feral competition that lives underground in girls, 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.

First Paragraph                                                                                                                               
This book begins with a plane crash. We do not want you to worry about this. According to U.S. Department of Unnecessary Statistics, your chances of dying in a place crash are one in a half of million. Whereas your chances of losing your bathing suit bottoms to a strong tide are two to one. So, all in all, it's safer to fly than to go to the beach. As we said, this book begins with a plane crash. But there are survivors. You see? Already it's a happy tale. They are all beauty queen contestants. You do not need to know their names here. But you will get to know them. They are all such nice girls. Yes, they are nice, happy, shining, patriotic girls who happen to have interests in baton twirling, sign language, AIDS prevention in the animal population, the ancient preparation of popadam, feminine firearms, interpretive dance, and sequins. Such a happy story. And shiny, too. 
My Thoughts                                                                                                                                 
Wow. I don't even really know where to start. This book was freakin' hilarious! I was laughing so hard at different parts in the novel. To be honest, when I first heard about this book, I wasn't very interested. Beauty Queens? I asked. Seriously? 


But then I heard that it was basically a parody of different things. Also that it was a much lighter, funnier, twisted version of Lord of the Flies. Which I seriously see! (If you have to read Lord of the Flies for school, or maybe you're just reading it for fun, pick up Beauty Queens afterwards if you want some giggles.) 


There are lots of funny footnotes. And I mean LOTS. At some points, too, too much. But still, it was a great book, and they were funny to read at times. 


The writing itself was awesome. Hilarious. I've read the first two book in Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle series, and I loved them. She's definitely an amazing writer. I'll have to definitely check out her other books sometime soon. (When my TBR lets me, that is.) 


The characters are all so different! At times they are called by their state names (i.e. Miss Nebraska, Miss New Mexico, etc.) and sometimes their actual names. Which those are mostly for the ones who you read about more often. Like Adina, and Taylor, and Mary Lou, etc. 


I can't completely figure out which character is my favorite. At first, I was rolling my eyes at every one of them. They all seemed just so ditzy and like they couldn't form a "smart" thought. Do you know the type? But then as the story went on, you started really getting to know each character and their story and realized that they aren't the normal Beauty Queen type. They all have a certain story to them of why they entered in the first place, which you will have to read the book to find out, because I'm not giving anything away on that! 


If I had to choose which Beauty Queen was my favorite, though, I think it might be Adina. She's the smartest of them all (Sorry Taylor.). She tried to engrave the fact that there was a possibility that no one was going to come rescue them into their minds as soon as they started brainstorming of what to do. But of course, no one really listened. Adina didn't join the beauty pageant to really win, she just wanted to bring the organization down. Which is all I'm going to say! 


But other than the writing, Libba adds other fun stuff into the story like profiles of the beauty pageant contestants, and commercials. No, seriously. Commercials. You'll have to at least look in the book to understand. 


Overall, this was a great book. I'm sorry I underestimated it. I seriously didn't think I was going to like it as much as I did. I'm very glad I picked it up and read it! =) So, you people should get to it and read it. Now. Seriously. GO! 
Cover Love                                                                                                                                  
The cover is cool. =) I really like it. I mean, at first I was just staring at it like WTF? but after reading the book, the cover is hilarious and awesome. It fits SO well.  



Ha, thought I'd share this video of Libba Bray talking about Beauty Queens. You gotta love her!

1 comment:

  1. I was going back and forth whether to read this one or not; I guess I'll have to now. Nice review.

    ReplyDelete

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