OH MY GOD. 
 I have so many things to say about this. I am going to rant non-stop about this book for like, all eternity. 
 Not sorry. 
 "Why do girls always feel like they have to apologize for giving an opinion or taking space in the world?" 
 I gotta be honest, I didn't want to read this book. The first time I stumbled upon it on Goodreads, I read the summary and was like "no fucking way". I honestly prejudged it with all the prejudices and judgments inside me. A few weeks later, Beauty Queens was picked as March's book for the LGBTQ book club I'm in, and so I decided to suck it up and give it a try. 
 Oh, dear God. 
 Okay, first of all, I have to say this book is not perfect. I found myself frowning at times, because, come on. As I said in one of my reading update status, there is a very thin line between a satire and what's just bizarre. This story stepped into the bizarre more than once. Was it even funny? Eh. I don't know. I mean, yeah. I smiled. I even giggled at some point. But it didn't crack me up. I didn't find myself reading the same scene over and over because manthisissofunny. Other books I've read accomplished that, at least with me and my silly sense of humor I have an easy laugh, gotta be honest. This one did not. 
 BUT. And this is the moment you all have to sit down, grab your favorite snack and LISTEN. This book is so important. If you think that just because it's a satire based on beauty pageants with a bunch of teenage girls, it will tell a silly story about fashion and love and friendship, then you are dead wrong. Well, actually, it is a story about fashion and love and friendship. BUT IT DOES NOT STOP THERE, MY FRIEND. 
 Beauty Queens creates a world where the international acclaimed TV show 'Lost' and the William Golding's masterpiece Lord of the Flies come together. Only that gayer. And with a better fashion sense. 
 There was something about the island that made the girls forget who they had been. All those rules and shalt nots. They were no longer waiting for some arbitrary grade. They were no longer performing. Waiting. Hoping. 
 They were becoming. 
 They were. 
 The bunch of girls Libba Bray introduces in this story are amazing. We get to know thirteen teen beauty contestants with all their background stories, their insecurities, the reasons why they decided or were obliged to participate in the pageant. They are all lovely, cute, fucking strong and magnificent warriors. The character development they all face is INCREDIBLE. And most important of all, THE DIVERSITY AMONG THEM IS MIND BLOWING. We are talking about race, cultures, sexualities, genders. All in a very well accomplished representation. SIGN ME UP. 
 THIS BOOK SHOULD BE READ AT HIGH SCHOOL, YOU GUYS. 
 AND. Because there is always an 'and' with this book and I am not even close to being done. The PARALLELISMS with reality. Not only does it talk about feminism, the objectification and dehumanization of women and beauty constructs that make us girls and women feel bad about ourselves; we also have WAR. ARM DEALS. SPIES. THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT BEING AN ASSHOLE. Sorry, United States pals. Your government has taken some pretty shitty decisions in the past regarding other countries, and this book talks about it with no filters. And all the things I just mentioned, carried by the one thing that pulls us all together: the capitalism system. Sweet old capitalism. Or, if you wanna look at it in a simpler way: money and power. 
 "What if we could catch him in an act so henious, so terrible, that the entire world would be on our side? We'd be justified in killing him. The wolrd would thank us for doing its dirty work - and for marching right into his backward country and setting up a democracy. Along with lots and lots of cute shops." 
 Rings a bell? 
 Not to even mention the adorable relationships and friendships that develop during the whole war-arm deals-spying thing. These girls get to know each other and survive in a fucking deserted island and, meanwhile, they become friends or something more AND they become better human beings AND they plan their future for once they come back home AND THEY LEARN TO BE POWERFUL AND INDEPENDENT AND STOP TRYING TO ALWAYS REACH OUT TO OTHER PEOPLE'S STANDARDS. Oh, and did I mention we get pirates? Honestly, could this book BE anymore awesome? if you understood the Chandler Bing reference, please marry me? 
 So yeah. All of that fitted into this one 400 hundred pages book. Aren't you as blown away as I am? 
 "They are a bunch of girls. How dangerous could they be?