Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

4 reviews

averygrey24's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted reflective 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? No

4.5

this is what i think you would get if you combined lord of the flies with 1984 but made it about teenage beauty queens. you have to suspend belief because it is very dystopian in a modern sense, but it is fantastic. very feminist, anti-capitalist, pro-women, and inclusive 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Misogyny

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Racism, War, Body shaming, and Homophobia

sarah984's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

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

1.0

This is a dark comedy about a group of teen pageant contestants stranded on an island after a plane crash. Unfortunately, it's just not very funny. The author loves driving already weak jokes into the ground (the trust fund guy with The Corporation says "you misunderestimated me" five or six times, the Borat style jokes with the dictator character go on way too long, the tray in that one girl’s forehead comes up again and again) and the girl power stuff comes off preachy and heavy-handed. Every girl is an embarrassing stereotype and the way the mistreatment of the trans character is brushed off really rubbed me the wrong way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Outing, and Transphobia

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Colonisation, Confinement, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Xenophobia, Vomit, Death, and Islamophobia

humanmessofaperson's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Deadnaming, Mental illness, and Transphobia

Minor: Animal death, Death, and Gun violence

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.

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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