nbnurse's review against another edition
2.0
I liked some parts of this book (especially the commercials), but the plot was really random and all over the place. It also got really cheesy toward the end.
c_dmckinney's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This was both a fun and painful story. It is well written and hilarious, however it is also very dark at the same time and in part made darker by how relevant it is in today's culture.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Homophobia, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Classism, Xenophobia, Eating disorder, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Sexism, Alcohol, Animal death, Cursing, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Violence, Gaslighting, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Outing, Xenophobia, Deadnaming, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, and Transphobia
Minor: Body shaming, Vomit, Fatphobia, Racism, Gaslighting, Genocide, Alcohol, Biphobia, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Child death, Grief, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, War, Abandonment, Classism, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Blood, Death, Homophobia, and Injury/injury detail
There is a plane crash and only 13 of 50 girls survive.stonesymes's review against another edition
5.0
Easily one of the best books I've ever read. If libba bray is a god of writing (which she is), this is her bible. I love this book more than I can physically explain. Stop what you're doing and read it now.
emnantel's review against another edition
5.0
A truly funny, feminist and fierce book!
Miss Congeniality meets Cast Away, with a dash of conspiracy à la Josie and the Pussycats.
The writing style is so cinematographic, I could actually see specific shots in my head.
The characters are likeable and relateable. The critic of capitalism, misogyny and corruption is on point, and still relevant 6 years later, especially seeing the state of American politics.
All in all, an amazing read.
Miss Congeniality meets Cast Away, with a dash of conspiracy à la Josie and the Pussycats.
The writing style is so cinematographic, I could actually see specific shots in my head.
The characters are likeable and relateable. The critic of capitalism, misogyny and corruption is on point, and still relevant 6 years later, especially seeing the state of American politics.
All in all, an amazing read.
booksfitforadreamer's review against another edition
3.0
I have a great amount of respect for Libba Bray and her versatility as a writer--after all, how many YA authors have you seen that can pull of an epic fantasy trilogy, written in first-person present, then write a satirical story about plane-wrecked beauty queens in third-person past? (I'm skipping over 'Going Bovine' here since I haven't yet read it.) I was excited to read this book just for that reason.
For me, it was mostly hit-or-miss. On the one hand, there were several laugh-out-loud moments. I even read some of them aloud to my sister, who then couldn't stop laughing about them over the next couple hours--so definitely memorable. But then, I felt like a lot of it was too over the top to swallow. I mean, reality show pirates? Explosive hair removal cream? *Every* contestant having some secret underlying drama? Some of them were quite well done, but it got to be too much, just like seemingly every other aspect of this book.
My favorite part of the book, absurdly, was the descriptions. Miss Bray must write poetry, because the scenery description (scarce though it was) was both original and beautiful. I looked forward to it more than the dialogue, most times. Which might just be a first, for me. It was about the only similarity I could find between this book and her fantasy series. I felt like the book was trying to be too much, with all of these separate elements piling on top of each other and just...overwhelming the reader.
Also, was I the only one who thought the book was WAY TOO LONG? It got to be difficult to continue at some points, and I kept looking to see how many pages were left to finish, which I don't like doing. There were definitely scenes that were both interesting and/or funny, but then some just didn't feel necessary.
That said, I give the book 3.5 stars overall because I really respect the author's attempt to branch out into new genres. I think humor is probably a very difficult genre to pull off in books, especially with so many plot elements going on at once, and there were definitely some high points in this novel.
For me, it was mostly hit-or-miss. On the one hand, there were several laugh-out-loud moments. I even read some of them aloud to my sister, who then couldn't stop laughing about them over the next couple hours--so definitely memorable. But then, I felt like a lot of it was too over the top to swallow. I mean, reality show pirates? Explosive hair removal cream? *Every* contestant having some secret underlying drama? Some of them were quite well done, but it got to be too much, just like seemingly every other aspect of this book.
My favorite part of the book, absurdly, was the descriptions. Miss Bray must write poetry, because the scenery description (scarce though it was) was both original and beautiful. I looked forward to it more than the dialogue, most times. Which might just be a first, for me. It was about the only similarity I could find between this book and her fantasy series. I felt like the book was trying to be too much, with all of these separate elements piling on top of each other and just...overwhelming the reader.
Also, was I the only one who thought the book was WAY TOO LONG? It got to be difficult to continue at some points, and I kept looking to see how many pages were left to finish, which I don't like doing. There were definitely scenes that were both interesting and/or funny, but then some just didn't feel necessary.
That said, I give the book 3.5 stars overall because I really respect the author's attempt to branch out into new genres. I think humor is probably a very difficult genre to pull off in books, especially with so many plot elements going on at once, and there were definitely some high points in this novel.
mehsi's review
5.0
Edit on 31st of August: Did a re-read of this book during my vacation. Oh my goodness, it was just too much fun. I would definitely love more books like this. I still agree with my review from 2013, the only thing I want to change is my rating. 4 > 5 stars!
Having this book for about 1 or 2 years, and trying to read the book about 2 or 3 times in that time span, I wasn't really looking forward to reading it again. But it was for a challenge of one of my groups, so I decided to go for it.
The book is satire, and you can see that pretty much immediately, it takes Reality TV, Sponsorship by corporations, products and things about beauty and mashes that all together to make this book.
There are little side notes, commercial breaks (highly annoying) and tells us about the characters through forms submitted for the pageant.
The book itself, starts of slowly and the characters are quite annoying at the beginning, but soon, about half way, they start to become more awesome, you learn more about them. And yeah, though I wasn't thinking I would, but I started to love the book.
The characters are awesome, from cute, beautiful girls with only one thing on their mind: beauty, they turn to kick-ass babes who know how to do stuff. They make huts, fishing lines and a lot more!
Also who can say no to a girl when she is carrying a flame-thrower? :)
Of course they are not the only ones around. We also got the Corporation wandering about, a cute guy and last but not least: Sexy Pirates... yes you heard me right. Sexy, bodacious pirates. *rolls eyes*
The pirates, well, let's just say they brought an interesting thing to the island. And it was fun to see how all the girls went from kick-ass to girly girls who batted their eye-lashes and acted giggly. Such a nice stereotype.
In overall, the book had it's up and downs. But the ups are more prominent than the downs. The only things I didn't like were the little notes at the bottom of the page, it would have been better if they were featured at the end of the book, less distraction. Also the whole commercial stuff, some were funny, but most were just lame and not interesting to me.
I would say, read this book, give it a try. If you like satire, and everything from beauty to corporations being trolled/joked about, survival and beauty queens, some Hollywood scenes then you will like this book!
I will also mention that this book is clearly not for tweens/teens. I would recommend this book for 16 or 17+, this due to some slight sexual scenes.
And as an extra some fun quotes:
“You want to know what pain is? Try running out of Advil when you've got a Category Five period. I've had cramps that would make grown men beg for a bullet between the eyes."
“Really, being a librarian is a much more dangerous job than you realize.”
“I hate this place,” Tiara whimpered. “It’s super creepy. Like a haunted Chuck E. Cheese’s where the games all want to kill you and you never get your pizza.”
Having this book for about 1 or 2 years, and trying to read the book about 2 or 3 times in that time span, I wasn't really looking forward to reading it again. But it was for a challenge of one of my groups, so I decided to go for it.
The book is satire, and you can see that pretty much immediately, it takes Reality TV, Sponsorship by corporations, products and things about beauty and mashes that all together to make this book.
There are little side notes, commercial breaks (highly annoying) and tells us about the characters through forms submitted for the pageant.
The book itself, starts of slowly and the characters are quite annoying at the beginning, but soon, about half way, they start to become more awesome, you learn more about them. And yeah, though I wasn't thinking I would, but I started to love the book.
The characters are awesome, from cute, beautiful girls with only one thing on their mind: beauty, they turn to kick-ass babes who know how to do stuff. They make huts, fishing lines and a lot more!
Also who can say no to a girl when she is carrying a flame-thrower? :)
Of course they are not the only ones around. We also got the Corporation wandering about, a cute guy and last but not least: Sexy Pirates... yes you heard me right. Sexy, bodacious pirates. *rolls eyes*
The pirates, well, let's just say they brought an interesting thing to the island. And it was fun to see how all the girls went from kick-ass to girly girls who batted their eye-lashes and acted giggly. Such a nice stereotype.
In overall, the book had it's up and downs. But the ups are more prominent than the downs. The only things I didn't like were the little notes at the bottom of the page, it would have been better if they were featured at the end of the book, less distraction. Also the whole commercial stuff, some were funny, but most were just lame and not interesting to me.
I would say, read this book, give it a try. If you like satire, and everything from beauty to corporations being trolled/joked about, survival and beauty queens, some Hollywood scenes then you will like this book!
I will also mention that this book is clearly not for tweens/teens. I would recommend this book for 16 or 17+, this due to some slight sexual scenes.
And as an extra some fun quotes:
“You want to know what pain is? Try running out of Advil when you've got a Category Five period. I've had cramps that would make grown men beg for a bullet between the eyes."
“Really, being a librarian is a much more dangerous job than you realize.”
“I hate this place,” Tiara whimpered. “It’s super creepy. Like a haunted Chuck E. Cheese’s where the games all want to kill you and you never get your pizza.”
trixie_reads's review against another edition
3.0
A fun book, though it was hard not to roll my eyes sometimes at the coincidences and over-the-top happenings. However, I am not the intended audience for this book, and my almost 14-year-old LOVED it and found it hilarious. She bugged me daily until I read it.
ejoyws's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75