Just Like Beauty

by Lisa Lerner

A plague of mutant grasshoppers is invading American suburbia. An underground suicide cult is gaining national prominence. Gangs of teenage boys with blow torches run amok. But what really has fourteen-year-old Edie Stein distracted from her town’s annual Feminine Woman of Conscience Pageant is Lana Grimaldi, the sexy girl next door. How does a feminine woman of conscience deal with her? Just Like Beauty is a brilliantly inventive blend of adolescent angst and cultural satire set in a disconcertingly not-so-distant future.

Genres: Fiction, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Young Adult, American, Chick Lit

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Erin Crane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book on a list of weird books and my did it deliver 😂

I loved the weird elements here - the satirical products and brands, the pageant and its bizarre events. There was a lot of humor in the midst of some horrific attitudes.

I also really enjoyed the expressive writing. It was descriptive in a way that made the story feel lush and appropriately over-sweet. I listened to the story via audiobook, and the narrator did a great job, but I am sad I missed the full impact of the writing because I went with that format. I know I missed things.

I did find myself kind of moved at the end, but overall the story is too strange to feel for Edie as a real person (to me), so that’s one drawback of this kind of satirical approach. The book tackles sexism, sexualization of girls, queerness, toxic pollution, and consumerism, so there’s a lot of stuff here to make you think. I just didn’t find myself especially emotionally engaged, which is a shame.

So sad the author hasn’t written more because the imaginative narrative and writing style were so fascinating!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frighteningly relevant.

[Reta · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel is a scathing, futuristic perspective of our sex-obsessed, polluted, drug-addicted, unhappy, sexist, beauty-seeking, dissatisfied culture told through the eyes of an adolescent Pageant contestant. At times, crass, compulsive, thoughtful, and staggered, the narration works by assuming the existence of futuristic technology and struggles without explaining the changes, which I believe is the best, most prophetic narration form to use within sci-fi and dystopian literature.

I was most intrigued by the underground suicide group, but I was personally moved by the premise and questions posed by the entire novel although the plot delays were occasionally stilted. The writing had hard-shifting moments and needed fine polishing, but overall, the book was genius.

[Desiree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reminiscent of Atwood's "Handmaid's Tale" and Palahniuk's "Rant" and "Survivor," this is easily the best new fiction I've read in five or ten years; certainly one of the best female-authored novels I've EVER read. It puts all of those "insecure 20-something dates wrong boy, finds better job, finds perfect guy thanks to mom" chick lit novels to SHAME. God, how do they even get published??
Futuristic, but in a way that heavily satirizes the current trajectory of our culture. Gorgeously imagined and brought to life. Just fantastic. This is Lerner's first novel but I know I will certainly be looking out for anything and everything she produces (which will hopefully be prolifically).

[Catherine Handren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really, really interesting sci-fi, feminist, coming-of-age weirdness. I read this in one sitting. It was like going on a space ship to another universe. Which is always a good feeling.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very odd book. It's one of those books you aren't sure about, but don't want to stop reading because you want to know what happens at the end.

[Meika · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was akin to what I imagine the sensory experience would be for drinking antifreeze. It tastes weirdly sweet on the tongue and poisons you all the same.
It's a beauty pageant, but it's twisted around with the hyperreal focus on survival and sexuality. It rips the veil back on what pageantry is, and as the central theme, pulls all other coming of age dynamics into its orbit. The main character, Edie, is forging her queer, Jewish identity while grappling with the requirements of this pageant. Her mother/coach knows no bounds in her methods for pushing Edie into the required formation of the right girl. Her Bubbeh is only concerned with her being her best girl (whatever that means to Edie). Her classmates and friends suffer unthinkable things, but rally around the pageant. Also, grasshoppers.
The story hums with an angry buzz of a bazillion volts of angry feminist energy. I like that a lot. You want Edie to bring the Electropolyrubber man to climax? You're gonna get the whole sixteen ounces of glittering jizz, and she's not even thinking about men. Take that! She doesn't even need to use grandma's blackmail dirt on the pageant's sponsor to win. Take that, too.

[Stephen Dorneman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The dystopia of Lerner's first novel is both depressingly familiar (an environment in crisis, women on parade for the patriarchy, brand names dominating everyday life) and weirdly new (giant tool-using grasshoppers, suicide cult terrorists, $500,000 scholarship prizes), but at its heart, it is the story of female love; lesbian adolescent obsession, mother/daughter, grandmother/granddaughter love, and more. Too many cutesy brandnames and made-up drugs, too many actions that lack repercussions, but still a wild and worthy debut.

[Steven W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dark!! Like Judy Blume meets Steven King.....What would it be like to go through puberty and come out in a dystopian society? I couldn't stop reading it but I don't know if I liked it....

[Nicole (Reading Books With Coffee) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the premise of the novel, but I felt like it started in the middle of the story. There was a lot missing- basic details about how this town got to be so futuristic, what the pageant is really all about, and critical parts of the story weren't explained very well, and that's if they were explained at all. Edie's first love, her relationship with her parents, and why her mother was the way she was weren't really developed.

The book does make you think, and I have all kinds of questions. Why is society is okay with their teenage daughter performing sex acts on a plastic dummy? Why are teen boys allowed to run amok? Why are there people "torching" the girls in the pageant?

It gets a 2 out of 5. She had the wrong kind of details- she went on too long about how futuristic the society was but glossed over the back story of how this town came to be and why things were the way they were.

[Nichole · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was such an odd book. it did make me think about a lot of the themes, so maybe it deserves better than a 2 rating, but i can't say that i liked it a lot.

[Pam]

04/17/08 rec via bookmooch

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

another great book with a random girl and a skirt on the cover

[Debdanz · Rating 3 out of 5]

yowza-an odd new dystopia; freaky modern 'handmaid's tale' meets american beauty pageant.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

great coming of age alternate reality type book.

[Jill · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible.

[Crystal Helcel]

The writing is flat and the story is played out. Waste of time.

[Amberjade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, writen beautifully, nail biter for sure.

[Amber Womack · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gem of a book! Really funny! Something you've probably never heard of, but you should read it!