Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

7 reviews

bumblemee's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was such a wild mix of emotions that I'm not wuite sure what to make of it. I red Going Bovine a few years back and this one felt a lot alike writing style wise. The humor, the absurdity, the messiness.
I liked a lot of things. Seeing the beauty queens grow and develop their identities, the handling of beauty standards and societys expectations towards girls/women. I think this book can make a lot of teenage girls feel understood and maybe help them reflect on things that are so implicit in a lot of social structures that they feel too normal to be challanged. 
The characters grew on me as well. It was interesting for me to realize how I liked them all the more they became themselves. I felt for them and their individual struggles.
I also liked the amount of work that went into the audio production, like the musical elements.

However, I found this book to be a little messy. There was a little too much going on - I didn't mind that it got absurd, but sometimes I thought it tried to do a little too much at once. 
Also, while some stereotyping made sense in the context of the satire that is this book, other stereotyping didn't. I do think that the author would've done a few things differently if this book came out now instead of 2011 - which was 13 years ago at this point, holy shit. I don't know it I'm simply not aware of similar books existing over a decade ago or if it was - in some aspects at least - a little ahead of its time.

All in all I'd recommend this book, if you are okay with absurdity.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Violence, Misogyny, and Body shaming

Moderate: Racism and Sexual content

am4man's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Sexism, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Racism

lindsayerin's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Misogyny

Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, Ableism, Lesbophobia, and Eating disorder

Minor: Abandonment

c_dmckinney's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was both a fun and painful story. It is well written and hilarious, however it is also very dark at the same time and in part made darker by how relevant it is in today's culture.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Homophobia, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Classism, Xenophobia, Eating disorder, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Sexism, Alcohol, Animal death, Cursing, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Violence, Gaslighting, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Outing, Xenophobia, Deadnaming, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, and Transphobia

Minor: Body shaming, Vomit, Fatphobia, Racism, Gaslighting, Genocide, Alcohol, Biphobia, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Child death, Grief, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, War, Abandonment, Classism, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Blood, Death, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

There is a plane crash and only 13 of 50 girls survive.

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

TW: discussions of eating disorder, transphobia, deadnaming, and misgendering

Beauty Queens didn’t fully grab my attention until about 200 pages in. Some of the sub plots felt so unnecessary and the pacing was off. It dragged a majority of the time and the footnotes slowed me down as they became more of a distraction that pulled me out of the story. 

It was a little all over the place and there were a lot of characters to keep track of. I think a few of them could’ve been removed as we don’t see them on a deep level anyways and are treated as simply background characters. I did enjoy the character development for the more center stage characters and their relationships with each other!

Since this book is satire, the jokes/poking at society could be funny at times but other times I cringed or rolled my eyes. I particularly had a hard time with all the body shaming/fatphobia and eating disorder discussions since I myself am in recovery for an ED. I think people who struggle with any of the below TW/CW should take caution if picking up this book.

Another aspect I was disappointed by was the transphobia and deadnaming. It was problematic and not the inclusive rep that the author might think she had done. The transphobia was addressed as being problematic at times by the characters but not very strongly reprimanded. The deadnaming and misgendering was never called out/addressed and occurred far too many times. Plus Petra being trans and who she used to be was used as a “shocking” plot device rather than forming a fuller character who could’ve been amazing. Even Petra herself acts as if she’s “not really a girl” because of her lack of bottom surgery when that’s not what determines someone’s gender. 

I didn’t hate it, it’s a strange read with important discussions on self esteem, misogyny, and racism hidden in between the unique plot line. I was really excited for this one but it just fell flat and I was really disappointed in the supposed LGBTQ+ rep. Maybe satire just isn’t my thing because it was a strange mix of emotions as I read this. I did like the ending though and it was a quick read once I got further into the book-if it had continued being slow and scattered I would’ve DNFd for sure.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Eating disorder, Transphobia, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Islamophobia, Sexual content, Ableism, Medical trauma, Vomit, and Death

Minor: Cancer

spookybecks's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is good silly fun! The satire is a little forced, but I enjoyed seeing the bond develop between the girls. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Transphobia

Moderate: Death

Minor: Cancer, Fatphobia, and Racism

obviousthings's review against another edition

DNF at 29%. The author clearly tried to be trans-inclusive, which I appreciate, but the way the one trans character is incorporated into the plot just... really sucks. Some of the transphobia is addressed, and probably will be addressed further later in the book, but the way transness is framed here really doesn't sit right with me. Spoilers if you want to know the details:

Petra herself says she's "not technically a girl yet" because she hasn't had "the surgery" (ugh). The fact that she's trans is revealed when someone sees her naked, and the narrative doesn't do anything to counter the idea that she's been "deceiving" the rest of the group.

Frankly, I don't like the book enough to keep reading and see how this turns out.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Racism, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Fatphobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Gun violence

Minor: Eating disorder, Cancer, Cannibalism, and Deadnaming