Beauty Queens

by Libba Bray

It’s not easy to categorize this book. There is a little bit of everything — actually, there are A LOT of everything, and almost every “disadvantaged” group of characters: a transgendered former boy band member, a hearing-impaired dancer, a mechanically talented lesbian, a second generation South East Asian overachiever, an African American overachiever, a dumb blond, a sex-maniac teen, a die-heart beauty queen – and a host of other supporting characters and villains. There lies the strength and the weakness of the book: it covers many possible grounds and actually treats all these characters sensitively and with depth; and it loses focus sometimes because all the varied characters and their back stories are told alternatively and at times the readers are pulled into the past when we want to move forward with the plot. It feels too much like the subject (reality TV and mass media) that the author set out to mock. Again, that could be a strength, if one views it and appreciates the intent; or it could be a distraction — at times, the readers might feel completely overloaded by the bombardment of so much farcical humor. I might have loved the book a bit more if some parts are better pruned. I am trying to understand the conceit of the book being published by The Corporation while it paints quite truthfully all the evil dealings the Cooperation sponsored. Perhaps, it is fitting: since the Cooperation only cares about profit margin and a Tell-it-All probably generates the highest monetary return, they don’t even care that it makes the Cooperation the arch-villain in the telling.

Very meta.

Just an aside: as a native of Republic of China – ROC, every time I see the Republic of ChaCha – ROC, with its grotesque dictator on display, I had the visceral cringing reaction. But, that’s just me.