Beauty Queens
by Libba Bray, read by the author
Imagine, if you will, The Lord of the Flies older, prettier teenage sister mixed with the plots of Miss Congeniality and the dark pageant humor of Drop Dead Gorgeous and you’d have a pretty good idea of what Beauty Queens is about. A plane full of beauty queens on their way to the Miss Teen Dream Pageant crashes on a remote island, and the survivors must hike up their pantyhose and find a way to survive until they are rescued or find their own way off the island. Complete with secret volcano lairs, British pirates, sexual intrigue, hallucinogenic plants, and biting sarcasm, Beauty Queens hits every single stereotype and makes you snort milk out your nose (should you be drinking milk while reading or listening to this book).
Do yourselves a favor and don’t read this book. Find it on mp3, CD, or have someone else (preferably the author) read it to you, but definitely listen to it. I’ve read mixed reviews about the book, and I can see why some people might not have enjoyed reading this book. Bray’s opinions aren’t even carefully masked. It’s obvious what she thinks on a lot of platforms and it could have felt preachy if I hadn’t been distracted by her amazing performance. In all honesty, I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed reading it. But I spent 17 practically blissful hours listening to Bray bring life to each of these characters in a way that made me want to be a part of the production. Yes, you have your stereotypes – the cynic investigator, the ditz, the professional pageantess, the lesbian, etc. – but that’s part of the satire. Personally, I think that every female reader will be able to relate to at least one of these stranded girls because Bray covers a lot of issues in a short amount of space. It’s definitely far-fetched that each of these would occur in such a small sampling (as well as some of the other things that happen), but hey, it’s fiction. It’s not what I could call high literature, but oh my gosh did I find it funny.
If you enjoy your entertainment replete with quirk, find this audiobook today.
Image taken from http://www.amazon.com.
