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bookwormexpresskwan 's review for:
You Could Be So Pretty
by Holly Bourne
I love all Holly Bourne’s books and You Could Be So Pretty was - per usual - a great YA book.
Set in a dystopian, not too far from now future, the Bad Times are over and there’s no longer inequality - all women and girls do or don’t do are their choice now. But the red thread in You Could Be So Pretty is the question whether it is a choice, if society dictates what choices to praise and punish.
Belle and Joni are showing both sides of the same coin, one a Pretty and one an Objectionable. Both pay the prize for choosing their path.
I love how You Could Be So Pretty addresses running issues around the beauty/influencers industry. Holly Bourne found euphemism and “new words” to describe what is already at play in our society nowadays: youth being exposed to unrealistic and high maintenance body images, girls getting validation and being appreciated for their looks above anything, porn prioritising extremity over intimacy and consent. This is particularly worrying since porn - let’s face it - is in a sense an open source for sex education nowadays. All worrying tendencies. The dystopia Belle and Joni live in, is built up with the same structures and systems as our modern society and as a result, it recreates the very same worrying tendencies and structures.
I think You Could Be So Pretty works well in that it found words and euphemisms to somehow change the perspective. For example, instead of sharing a post on Social Media, in this dystopia it’s uploading a picture to the Ranking. There are many more brilliant word plays in this book that help look at modern issues in a different way.
At the same time, I wished You Could Be So Pretty had took it a bit further. I’m not totally convinced that Belle and Joni’s story couldn’t be told without this world building, but I’m not the target audience, so I think it’s great as it is.
Set in a dystopian, not too far from now future, the Bad Times are over and there’s no longer inequality - all women and girls do or don’t do are their choice now. But the red thread in You Could Be So Pretty is the question whether it is a choice, if society dictates what choices to praise and punish.
Belle and Joni are showing both sides of the same coin, one a Pretty and one an Objectionable. Both pay the prize for choosing their path.
I love how You Could Be So Pretty addresses running issues around the beauty/influencers industry. Holly Bourne found euphemism and “new words” to describe what is already at play in our society nowadays: youth being exposed to unrealistic and high maintenance body images, girls getting validation and being appreciated for their looks above anything, porn prioritising extremity over intimacy and consent. This is particularly worrying since porn - let’s face it - is in a sense an open source for sex education nowadays. All worrying tendencies. The dystopia Belle and Joni live in, is built up with the same structures and systems as our modern society and as a result, it recreates the very same worrying tendencies and structures.
I think You Could Be So Pretty works well in that it found words and euphemisms to somehow change the perspective. For example, instead of sharing a post on Social Media, in this dystopia it’s uploading a picture to the Ranking. There are many more brilliant word plays in this book that help look at modern issues in a different way.
At the same time, I wished You Could Be So Pretty had took it a bit further. I’m not totally convinced that Belle and Joni’s story couldn’t be told without this world building, but I’m not the target audience, so I think it’s great as it is.