Review: Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Author: Libba Bray
Series: None
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Publication Date: May 24, 2011
Pages: 390
Format/Source: Paperback/Purchased
Age Group/Genre: Young Adult/Humor
The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another idea, crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.
What’s a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program – or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan – or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?
Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Your tour guide? None other than Libba Bray, the hilarious, sensational, Printz Award-winning author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Going Bovine. The result is a novel that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you never see beauty the same way again. (Cover photo and synopsis from Goodreads)
A New Fangirl…
So I own Libba Bray’s A Great and Terrible Beauty, and I’ve been meaning to read it forever. But I just had to get Beauty Queens and read it first, so I decided I’d read it right before the Austin Teen Book Festival, where Ms. Bray would be the key-note speaker, as well as a panelist. So that’s what I did. I started reading almost a week before ATBF, but my hectic life got in the way and I didn’t finish it until after the event. I still wanted to get it signed, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to, because her line was the longest and my feet were killing me.
But let me just tell you about Libba Bray at the 2012 ATBF. First of all, she opened the show with fog and a whole lightsaber fight, wearing a cape and underwear over her pants. Then she read a fantastically funny and moving key-note speech where she cussed and said things like, “Farts are always funny.” Then she took off her costume and lo and behold, she was wearing a Doctor Who shirt. So basically, I’m a fangirl now. I mean, I was starting to become a fan while reading Beauty Queens, but seeing her in person totally sealed the deal. Okay, now onto the actual review…
So Clever It’s Crazy…
Beauty Queens is not your typical YA novel. It really kind of falls under the “Humor” genre, and while many YA novels are humorous, there aren’t too many (at least that I know of), that don’t really fit under any other category. Although, I guess that Beauty Queens could also fall under “Feminist Lit” or something like that, because this is the ultimate Girl Power book. And I loved every second of it.
So not only does Bray hit you with these beautiful feminist manifestos, but she does it in an epically clever way. Each of the Teen Dream contestants fall under over-exaggerated stereotypes, but Bray molds each character in such a way that they not only defy these stereotypes, but embrace them as well. They’re like hyper-stereotypes. Superstereotypes, if you will. (I’m not really sure how to articulate that, so I apologize if I’ve totally confused you.)
And along the way, Bray sprinkles the story with commercial breaks and product placement, as well as thinly-disguised references to pop culture. She even threw in some nods to her author friends, like David Levithan, who pitched the idea of beauty queens stranded on a deserted island to her in the first place. I loved when I’d see all these little pop culture references (50 million bonus points for the Doctor Who reference!), because not only were they awesome and hilarious, but they made me feel like Bray was right in front of me, giving me a little wink, like it was our own inside joke.
All-Around Amazing…
I loved the characters. Ladybird Hope may be one of my new favorite characters of all time. And I really grew to love most of the contestants, even though, at first, it seemed that I really only connected to a few of them. I even didn’t hate Taylor (Miss Texas) at the end. Thus another example of Bray’s brilliance, because trust me, Taylor was totally hateable at the beginning.
And I loved the over-the-top plot. It was a mix of old TV shows, newer Reality TV shows, comic books and literary tropes, as well as a blending of Lost and Lord of the Flies and Drop Dead Gorgeous. Seriously, how can that combination ever be bad?
Great Quotes…
The whole book was full of fantastic quotable lines, but here are just a few of my favorite quotes from Beauty Queens:

Andrea @ Cozy Up
October 3, 2012 at 6:36 pmI just finished reading her new book THE DIVINERS and I absolutely love her writing! Libba Bray has such awesome stories and I am definitely interested in this one, it sounds hilarious. Too bad you couldn't meet her ATBF that would have been awesome.
bookaddictsguide
October 3, 2012 at 7:12 pmI've heard that this was really good!! I've actually heard that the audio is hilarious too. Great review! I look forward to reading it.
Kimberly @ On the Wings of Books
October 3, 2012 at 10:33 pmI'm sooooo glad you loved it! This was by far the most fun book I think I've ever read. I agree that you could maybe classify it as Femminist Lit but Humor is the best way to catagorize it.
I can't wait to get the The Diviners.
Kate Midnight Book Girl
October 4, 2012 at 2:24 amI am really looking forward to reading this- but I didn't really love her A Great and Terrible Beauty books, even though I think she's a fantastic writer. Also, can't wait for Kim to read The Diviners so that I can borrow it!
Lily Child
October 4, 2012 at 7:34 amI've been meaning to read this book for so long! I'm glad you liked it! Your review makes me want to read this RIGHT NOW!
fakesteph
October 4, 2012 at 12:59 pmI'm so glad you loved this!!! I've read the first page and then life kind of punched me in the face and I never got to keep going. I really want to get to it tho!
Bittner
October 4, 2012 at 7:52 pmSuch a great review Andrea! You know that I will officially have to read this one now for obvious reasons but who knows when I will be able to find the time! But I will say that any author that knows how to handle a lighsaber earns my respect!
Allison
October 6, 2012 at 4:07 amI've read a lot of reviews of this book, but none have made me want to pick it up as much as yours does! I love the way you described it! Humor and Lost and feminism…all the good things!
I also love the light saber + underwear + Doctor Who combo.