Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - Beauty Queens

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.

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averygrey24's review against another edition

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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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sarasreading's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious tense 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

4.0

This has been on my to read list for ages. It's part Lord of the Flies, part Drop Dead Gorgeous/Miss Congeniality, part trashy reality TV, part vintage James Bond movie, and part capitalism hyperbole, with tons of satire and words from our sponsors.

It is a wild ride, like a teen action movie summer blockbuster in book form, if that blockbuster was a fever dream that was smarter than you. And honestly, I would expect no less from Libba Bray. If you know the experience you're in for when picking this up, you'll have a great time.

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bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

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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.

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monapearl's review against another edition

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adventurous funny reflective fast-paced

5.0

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questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

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adventurous funny 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

3.75

This was a wild ride. I didn't know quite how satirical it would be but I was pleasantly surprised at how funny I found it. It's a strange read all the way through and the ending reached new levels of absurdity but I was happy enough to go along with it. It was published in 2011 and while I never read it at the time, it does have some quality which reminded me of other YA books I read in the early 2010s. It's aged pretty well and lots of the social commentary is more relevant than ever.

Content Warnings

sarah984's review against another edition

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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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