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A review by inuyasha
Don't Be a Drag by Skye Quinlan
1.0
i'm DNFing this and not going to give a rating bc of the small amount of reviews. i don't want to be a dick but also this is my goodreads account so
just really found it difficult to find things about this i enjoyed other than the concept on paper. feels like it was written by someone who does not have a grasp on how local drag scenes operate especially since most of the characters are up and coming or brand new performers - at least in the portion of the book i read, there was also no mention of how most drag spaces don't even BOOK kings. so to making your main drag king have 30k followers with consistent shows is nuts. i know many talented, veteran kings who headline shows and run competitions and have been working every weekend for YEARS in major cities who barely have 3k. this is a small detail as an example to be hung up on, but this kind of misunderstanding of what the local scene is like (especially for kings!) kind of permeates the whole text. another example: the first in-text drag performance is to lady gaga's born this way (LOL) and there's a line of dialogue where a character says it's a cool performance bc "no one really does gaga" anymore..... i go to mostly alt/punk drag shows but. gaga? drag queens don't do gaga anymore? in what world?
this suffered the typical pitfalls most YA does where it feels a rabid need to reference pop culture, except the author is not in the intended age demographic and i'm convinced maybe doesn't know anyone that does? lost my mind at this 17 year old in 2024 writing yuri on ice fanfic bc like............... What. and the drag king performing to post-ryan ross panic! songs. these are not things young adults are into. these aren't even things teenagers would be able to talk to you at length about. putting pop culture references like this in dates your book enough, you don't need to make it worse.
i also really, really intensely hated every time enzo and jac spoke. i think making an attempt at diversifying your cast of characters is noble and worthy, but having your main latina character "swear in spanish" (and not even saying the word) every other paragraph and having your only black woman character (IN A BOOK ABOUT DRAG IN NEW YORK... CRAZY) speak in the most stereotypical cadence was really.... truly.... embarrassing at best and uncomfortable at worst to read.
this is also example #3905095 of books that would work better as adult that i'm not really sure why the author is insistent about making a YA project - there is only so much disbelief you can suspend when high schoolers are constantly in bars and working at bars. and the line about how selene started performing shirtless the second s(he) turned 18 was......... well. it was!
i don't know. i was really excited to read this. i love drag and i love drag kings and there are so few books out there that have two women who aren't both hyper fem - this would have meant the world to me had it panned out.
just really found it difficult to find things about this i enjoyed other than the concept on paper. feels like it was written by someone who does not have a grasp on how local drag scenes operate especially since most of the characters are up and coming or brand new performers - at least in the portion of the book i read, there was also no mention of how most drag spaces don't even BOOK kings. so to making your main drag king have 30k followers with consistent shows is nuts. i know many talented, veteran kings who headline shows and run competitions and have been working every weekend for YEARS in major cities who barely have 3k. this is a small detail as an example to be hung up on, but this kind of misunderstanding of what the local scene is like (especially for kings!) kind of permeates the whole text. another example: the first in-text drag performance is to lady gaga's born this way (LOL) and there's a line of dialogue where a character says it's a cool performance bc "no one really does gaga" anymore..... i go to mostly alt/punk drag shows but. gaga? drag queens don't do gaga anymore? in what world?
this suffered the typical pitfalls most YA does where it feels a rabid need to reference pop culture, except the author is not in the intended age demographic and i'm convinced maybe doesn't know anyone that does? lost my mind at this 17 year old in 2024 writing yuri on ice fanfic bc like............... What. and the drag king performing to post-ryan ross panic! songs. these are not things young adults are into. these aren't even things teenagers would be able to talk to you at length about. putting pop culture references like this in dates your book enough, you don't need to make it worse.
i also really, really intensely hated every time enzo and jac spoke. i think making an attempt at diversifying your cast of characters is noble and worthy, but having your main latina character "swear in spanish" (and not even saying the word) every other paragraph and having your only black woman character (IN A BOOK ABOUT DRAG IN NEW YORK... CRAZY) speak in the most stereotypical cadence was really.... truly.... embarrassing at best and uncomfortable at worst to read.
this is also example #3905095 of books that would work better as adult that i'm not really sure why the author is insistent about making a YA project - there is only so much disbelief you can suspend when high schoolers are constantly in bars and working at bars. and the line about how selene started performing shirtless the second s(he) turned 18 was......... well. it was!
i don't know. i was really excited to read this. i love drag and i love drag kings and there are so few books out there that have two women who aren't both hyper fem - this would have meant the world to me had it panned out.