Beauty Queens Review
I read Beauty Queens when it first came out in paperback and I loved the funny take on Lord of the Flies. Libba Bray is one of my favorite authors, and I have decided to re-read some of her books, including the Gemma Doyle trilogy. I remember it made me laugh so hard and I was really excited to re-experience the humor, especially during this pivotal and chaotic time in American politics (well, is American politics ever not pivotal or chaotic?). I started reading during the commercial breaks in the coverage of the election and it was a welcome respite from the extreme stress I was feeling as I was glued to the TV for five whole days (I folded out my couch bed so I could lay down in front of the TV and take strategically-timed naps). It’s also topical — it pokes fun at the American political system (relevant then; relevant now) and the narrative of American nationalism.
After the election was called, I kept reading this book on the bus to and from work and was thankful that my mask hid my face and disguised my giggles. Beauty Queens is highly quotable and I wish I were proficient at cross-stitching so I could frame samplers all around my house of all the phrases that made me laugh.
“Being a beauty queen is like being a marine, only harder. Marines do not fight in four-inch heels.”
Equally quotable, are the meditations on the pitfalls of being disabled, being LGBTQ+, or not being white in a competition judged on how well you fit prescribed beauty norms — a pageant, but also just life in general. Sosie, Miss Illinois, encapsulates the feeling of proving you can be non-threatening while deviating from the norms by having a hearing disability.
“I am hearing impaired but that doesn’t stop me! I hear with my heart. Well, not really. Because, as anybody who is not a complete and total moron knows, the heart does not have ears. This is the kind of s**t they make disabled people say all the time so everybody’s all “okay” with us. Soooo annoying.”
This is clearly a satire meant to be ridiculous for the sake of humor. There are also some plot holes that are clearly there to better explain the pageant world for readers to whom it is unfamiliar. For example, the scene where Tiara talks about the expense of pageant gowns and the other girls, who are also participants in the same pageant are surprised. Surely they know the expense of pageants since they are also part of the pageant world?
The ending wraps up too neatly, in my opinion, and is a little cringy. I wish there were more chaos and ambiguity after the end of the pageant’s final competition. The criticism that most people level at this book is that the sexy pirates are completely unrealistic — and yeah, that’s the point. All of this is ridiculous and unrealistic. I see it as a break from the world and its many problems for both the reader and Libba Bray, herself. I am sure I will read Beauty Queens again in the future when I need a mirthful escape.
