"Admirable people, the British, in many ways, but soft… The king is ruled by his ministers, the ministers are subject to Parliament, and members of Parliament are chosen by the ordinary men. What sort of way is that to run a country?"
-Fall of Giants by Ken Follett"The working class are more numerous than the ruling class, and stronger. They depend on us for everything. We provide their food and build their houses and make their clothes, and without us they die. They can’t do anything unless we let them. Always remember that."
-Fall of Giants by Ken FollettBook Review: Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
Want to see how beauty queens will fare after landing with a deadly crash? Dying to see what happens when showers and boys, coaching and candy, and the other countless modern luxuries these teens dreams have are used to are taken away? Curious to see what happens when teen girls are left to fend for themselves when left alone on a desert island? Libba Bray brings you the makings of a world class flip of culture when these teen beauty queens are thrust into the jungle and the corrupt.
Bray’s three dimensional novel was more than I expected. I was aware Beauty Queens covered a group of pageant princesses landing on a desert island and fending for themselves. I did not expect a heavy dose of exposure to endless shades of humanity glossed with a manipulative corporate narrative. The book pokes fun at the pageant world but more importantly it pokes fun at the commercial nonsense that sometimes gets out of hand when influencing the youth. Bray captures every cultural issues that teens face when discovering who they are as individuals and the cruel and harsh reality that commercialism can sometimes create in the world.
Beauty Queens is a cute, sexy, light, and funny read perfect for a summer read or for any young teen looking for something to relate to in this crazy mixed-up world. It captures both the ugly and the beauty of humanity and the importance of accepting oneself and others for who they are and not what other demand they should turn out to be in the end.
Let’s be the next Greatest Generation.
We are not only a generation of reality TV watching, Twitter over-sharing, mp3 listening, spoiled little brats.
We are the children of J.K. Rowling. We are the generation of global community. We share and we enlighten the world with news that needs more attention than the celebrity blast of the week. We believe in fairness, openness, and love. We believe in the better parts of man-kind.
We did not create the problems of today. We were born into it. We were given the debt that seems impossible to repay and problems only Orwell could have imagined. We are the ones who hug our books and encourage literacy. We are the ones who seek new worlds and hope for better days. Yet we are accused of not caring about anything important, not participating in anything worth while, and not solving anything problematic. Accused of laziness, stupidity, and over confidence.
This is a call to my generation’s confidence. Let not the screw ups of the past define your future. Let not the challenges we are facing stop us from finding our way. Embrace your education and choose to use it as a weapon. Prove your constant communications online are not just frivolous and meaningless jabbers of a young adult but rather the plans of a better tomorrow. The Greatest Generation survived the Great Depression, fought through World War II, and created a new hope when it was all said and done. We have the power to do just the same.
Book Haul: June 2012 (2)
So, I bought some more books this month… =D
Yay for Ken Follett!
