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A review by reader_fictions
Middle School's a Drag, You Better Werk by Greg Howard
1.0
NOTE: I follow Goodreads' rating scale, and I didn't enjoy much about this so, it's a 1 for didn't like it. That does not mean I loathe it or want to prevent others from reading it.
Coming off the heels of watching all of RuPaul's Drag Race in a couple of months, Middle School's a Drag, You Better Werk! called to me. Maybe I shouldn't have answered.
This is one of those cases where I feel like the wrong character is the MC. Based on the title, I thought this would be about drag primarily, but it's not. In fact, the book centers on a precocious (if you're nice—which I'm not) or obnoxious (if you're unforgiving) kid who constantly dreams up new business ideas. Mikey reminds me most of a very young Mr. Collins with his lack of self-awareness, self-congratulation, repetitive phrases, and general demeanor.
Anyway, Julian, an eighth grader approaches Mikey and his company Anything Inc seeking a talent agent. Mikey, not knowing anything about drag or being an agent, accepts. Really, I should have DNFed, because the premise frustrated me right from the start. While I could believe that Mikey would think his ideas had merit, I could not believe that anyone else would take him seriously. I'm team bratty sister.
Like, to be perfectly honest, I was hoping that Mikey's venture would be an epic failure. I was zero percent rooting for him. I wanted him to be smacked down by the fact that real life is hard and learn valuable lessons and have a character arc where he stopped being so Collins-y. No dice. Mikey really doesn't seem to learn anything at all, except maybe that he's even better at everything than he already thought, which has me gagging in the literal, non-drag way.
I wish this book had been more what I expected from the title, like if it had been about Julian. In general too, I did feel like the whole thing lacked, ironically, pizzazz. The writing's repetitive, and it all felt very tell-y.
That said, I'll acknowledge that I am a grumpy old miser, so I'm far from the target audience for this. Maybe it will be something special for young gay kids, and I do hope so. For me, though, it wasn't great.
Coming off the heels of watching all of RuPaul's Drag Race in a couple of months, Middle School's a Drag, You Better Werk! called to me. Maybe I shouldn't have answered.
This is one of those cases where I feel like the wrong character is the MC. Based on the title, I thought this would be about drag primarily, but it's not. In fact, the book centers on a precocious (if you're nice—which I'm not) or obnoxious (if you're unforgiving) kid who constantly dreams up new business ideas. Mikey reminds me most of a very young Mr. Collins with his lack of self-awareness, self-congratulation, repetitive phrases, and general demeanor.
Anyway, Julian, an eighth grader approaches Mikey and his company Anything Inc seeking a talent agent. Mikey, not knowing anything about drag or being an agent, accepts. Really, I should have DNFed, because the premise frustrated me right from the start. While I could believe that Mikey would think his ideas had merit, I could not believe that anyone else would take him seriously. I'm team bratty sister.
Like, to be perfectly honest, I was hoping that Mikey's venture would be an epic failure. I was zero percent rooting for him. I wanted him to be smacked down by the fact that real life is hard and learn valuable lessons and have a character arc where he stopped being so Collins-y. No dice. Mikey really doesn't seem to learn anything at all, except maybe that he's even better at everything than he already thought, which has me gagging in the literal, non-drag way.
I wish this book had been more what I expected from the title, like if it had been about Julian. In general too, I did feel like the whole thing lacked, ironically, pizzazz. The writing's repetitive, and it all felt very tell-y.
That said, I'll acknowledge that I am a grumpy old miser, so I'm far from the target audience for this. Maybe it will be something special for young gay kids, and I do hope so. For me, though, it wasn't great.