Sorry for the lack of activity

In light of the verdict of Darren Wilson on Monday, I just was really overcome with feelings and barred myself from the internet for the past week.

Reviews will resume this week.

~Lynette

Peace, Love and Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle Review

Heyo Femilit readers!

   So my last review on here was for Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and you can view thirteen reasons why this review was … a little harsh ........

    I decided this time around to review something a bit happier and that I liked a little bit more.

So I chose one of my favorite books by one of my favorite YA authors, the fab Mrs. Lauren Myracle.

Henceforth I bring to you one of my favorite books by her, Peace Love and Baby Ducks.

Now for a little summary

Summation

    Carly is a 16 year old girl who lives in upper-class Atlanta with her parents and sister. After a summer away at a rural camp she become highly disenfranchised with the upper class life she formally knew and also has to come to terms with her younger sister Anna, who has grown up while she was gone.

My Thoughts

      Let me tell you why I like this novel

This is a YA novel

This novel has romance and other typical young adult tropes.

But at its core, this  is a novel about two sisters navigating the very tumultuous waters that is siblinghood( is that word?).

      I myself am an only child, but books like this really help me to understand sibling relationships so much better, especially the relationship between a pair of close- in -age sisters.

Upon first reading this book, it seems like it’s gonna be light and fun; I mean just look at the cover. 

(its so adorable i could vomit rainbows)

    There’s also a lot of hilariously wacky subplots as is common in YA-:the title's namesake  is a reference to Carly adopting a troop of baby ducks; Carly’s romance with a Norwegian exchange student friend; Carly’s friendship with a slightly problematic black chick( but yay for representation!).

    But at its core, this is a novel about a pair of sisters, learning how to accept one another.

    Carly comes back from her rural junket and immediately starts assigning judgment to everything. Her little sister has grown boobs and started wearing more revealing clothes; Carly immediately views her differently all the while trying to keep Anna in the same box she’s content on keeping her in. She simultaneously judges her sisters more “slutty” behavior while still trying to keep Anna as her “little ducky wucky” and keep her as the Anna of youth. Meanwhile Anna is struggling with growing up, having a father who makes fun of her blossoming shape, and sister who doesn't seem to want to understand her tastes.

   Carly’s judgment doesn't stop there. She judges everyone around her harshly for things as minuscule as wanting to listen to mainstream music (gasp! How dare you listen to Fergie! The Hooorrrrooorrr…) She becomes enchanted with the school “bad boy” because he doesn't follow the “norms” of her religious school ; she becomes infatuated with the 60’s and the past and shuns the present. So this novel also heavily examines internal conflict that Carly faces as she tries to circumvent her discontent at her privileged upbringing and figure out how to be an “individual” in a society that prizes conformity. At the same time it examines the harms of how her constant struggle to be an individual ends up really being disingenuous to herself.

    I haven’t gone too indepthly feminist on this one. The most feminist thing I can say about this book is it really helps to show how complex the world teenage girls live in. One one hand you’ve got Carly, who struggles constantly with rebelling against the norms set forth on her by society. She wears a dashiki at one point( it was hideous), listens to Bob Dylan, stops shaving her legs; all in a effort to  not be a picture perfect mold of what an upper class teenage girl should be. On the complete other end we’ve got Anna- the picture perfect mold. She’s got blond hair, big boobs, wears the right clothes. And yet, both of them are still critiqued by society. Carly is critiqued for obviously trying to rebel the norms but Anna is still critiqued- by her own parents, by others at school; for dressing to revealing, for her body shape (as if that’s something she can control). She’s blamed for guys staring at her at one point. If that’s not the harm of modern / rape culture at work....

     Yet by the end, neither is painted as right or wrong. Carly is shown to be in a sense wrong, because her rebellion was born of the modern day  “I’m not like other girls” trope. And Anna is in a sense wrong, though mostly right because she was being true to herself

    I could go on and on about these things. It’s amazing how even a small fun book of less than 200 pages can provide so much analysis. But that’s the beauty of literature.

 Peace, Love and Baby Ducks is a fun read. But it's also a really good book  which examines a complex sibling relationship. It doesn't end perfectly happily. But it helps to show how sibling relationships are rarely ever just simple hate or love. And this book also helps to show the complex world of girls and how they feel the need to conform or be as individualistic as possible.

(And it does it all with cute baby ducks. So go read the book.)

~Lynette

Hey People

All of us bloggers have been very busy in the past couple of months with school, work and various life tasks.

But never fear!

Posting will be resumed by me(Lynette) and any others who may find the time to help out.

My main goal is to post a review every week, for your reading entertainment

Mainly I review YA, though I will always take suggestions into consideration because readers are most important.

So here's to reviving femilit!

Lynette on What It Means To Be An Intersectional Feminist

It’s hard out here for a feminist.


Every twist and turn you find someone misattributing something new to feminism: man hating, blaming, victimization.

I’m here to set the record straight. 
I am a feminist. 
I am, specifically, an intersectional feminist- I believe in a feminism which includes many different issues.

 So while I focus on women, I also acknowledge the struggles different women face, and how these struggles intersect into feminism.

My feminism is not just for white cis women. My feminism is for women of color, for trans women, for disabled women.

Simply put, my feminism is for ALL women.


And even though my feminism is not for men, it benefits men. I am here to defend and protect male rape victims from the awful people who act as if such a thing never exists. I am not here to man hate. 


At its core, feminism is about the equality of the sexes.

We do not call it “equalism” because we recognize that women are at the disadvantage in this society, especially if you add in the above mentioned factors of race, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Equalism implies that both sexes and all genders are in equal need of help, and you don't have to look far to see this isn't true. 
Feminism is about lifting women to same social status as men. It means if we do the same exact job, women should not be paid 5,000 less than men every year.

Intersectional feminism is so much more. It’s about recognizing the struggles of the black woman as she encounters stereotype after stereotype; it's about recognizing that trans women die at disproportionately higher rates than their cis counterparts; it’s about recognizing the struggles of disabled women who are often overlooked, even by the mainstream disability and neuroatypical movement.


The next time you wand to attribute something bad to feminism, stop and truly think. 
Feminists have flaws. I’m aware of the some of the “radical” ones out there, although I don't consider them true feminists. That's not what it's really about. What I hope to do is shine a light on feminism and dispel all of these myths about it.

Obviously, this is a feminist book blog. We are five young feminists who met on a writing sites' forum, became friends, and decided to start a blog. We all come from different backgrounds and all have different lives. 


But we are intersected by our views. We believe in equality at its core. That I can say for all of us.

Hi everyone! So sorry we haven't updated in so long, it's been super busy the past week or so! I promise we'll have a post up by the end of the week. Thanks for your patience.

~Femilit Team

Review of Starcrossed

I discovered the book Starcrossed, by Elizabeth Bunce, a long time ago- I think it might have been fifth or sixth grade? I found it on the Teen Readers shelf at my neighborhood bookstore, and I never thought much of it. That was at the point in my life when I had all the time in the world to eat up three YA novels a week. This was another one of those- a quick read, around three hundred pages or so, and action-packed. I didn’t think much of it at the time. Now, five years later, I consider it to be one of my favorite books.

The book follows the story of a young thief named Digger, a girl in a medieval-esque fantasy world, a thief under an almost totalitarian government, and, quite possibly, a sorcerer in a world where magic is banned. This world’s pantheon of gods is a wide and lively one- they worship seven stars, the leader of which is Celyse, the goddess of life. Unfortunately, however, since the current king took power, the people have been seeing more of Celyse and less of all the other gods. Especially her younger sister, Sar, goddess of magic, the worship of whom has been banned across the country. Starting the book, we know only a couple things about Digger: she’s a thief with a talent for language and forgery, she just had to abandon her partner in crime in a fight, and there is, as is common in YA novels, a deep family secret that she is desperately trying to flee. So, upon encountering thirteen-year-old noble Merista Nemair, and befriending her under the pseudonym “Celyn,” Digger opts to flee the city of Gerse where she has lived all her life and go to serve as Merista’s ladies maid until she deems it safe to return. However, when she reaches Merista’s family’s fortress, all is not as picturesque as she imagined. The Nemair are planning something with the other guests, who are there, supposedly, for Merista’s fourteenth birthday. And, on top of that, Digger is being blackmailed into digging up even more secrets, by Merista’s foster-uncle, lord Remy Daul, who seems to have it in for the Nemair.

I’ll get to the review part of this, and get to explaining why it achieved so much when it came to feminism, but I’m going to start with a rant about how underrated this book is. It is fantastic. The world that Bunce created is ridiculously complex and fascinating, the characters are colorful and alive, and the plot is simultaneously fast-paced, well-written, and hugely entertaining. It's what all YA fantasy novels should aspire to.

If I had to critique Starcrossed, I’d say the plot is generic. People forced to worship the wrong god? Magic is banned? This skinny white girl is a thief? She has a dark family secret that seems to involve a beef with her brother? A villainous and vaguely rapey antagonist that blackmails our poor MC and calls her “Little Mouse”? Please, we’ve all heard those ones before. The protagonist, too, is generic- Digger isn’t “pretty," but she’s thin and white and conventionally attractive. She’s sassy, and has problems with listening to authority. And she has a lot of secrets. Perhaps even more than you’d expect going into it. Digger isn’t quite a Mary Sue, but I wouldn’t call her particularly unusual.

Despite all this, there are a few things that make the plot not so generic after all. For one thing, there’s almost a complete lack of romance. Perhaps a small attraction to a handsome prince. But Digger is never swept off her feet by any tall, dark, and handsome strangers. She’s not the type. And, (shocking, I know), this doesn’t detract from the plot in the slightest. In fact, it just leaves more time for character development for everyone. Now, where Digger lacks romance, Merista Nemair does not. She is, throughout the book, carrying out a scandalous affair with a young mage she met in the woods. And the amazing thing about Starcrossed is that Digger never once begrudges her for it. Merista is some naïve little nob that Digger had initially intended to use only for her wealth. Digger helps her friend through these scary tides of romance, and through even the every-day trials of life as a young noble girl. And Merista, in turn, remains unshakably loyal to her maid and friend, "Celyn."

And with this, I can move directly into what made this book wonderfully feminist. These were the aspects that I didn’t notice the first time I read the book, maybe not even the second or third time. These were the things I discovered going back to it much, much later. What I’m talking about, of course, are the female characters and their relationships with one another. The book is centered almost completely around the development of a close friendship between to girls. Two intelligent, talented, interesting girls with a remarkable character foil that doesn’t make them hate each other, but makes them become even closer. And it doesn’t stop with Merista and Digger; there's Lady Lyllace Nemair, Merista’s mother, a talented healer and scientist, as well as a badass who’s almost singlehandedly plotting a rebellion and hiding wanted criminals in her basement while still remaining a lovely sophisticated lady and a loving mother. This, my friends, is what we call an Interesting Female Character. There is Marlytte, the courtesan from Gerse, Digger’s former acquaintance and now ally, who came to the fortress unwillingly as a certain lord’s lover, but who becomes so much more than that. A *gasp!* sex worker, who's still a smart, loyal, BAMF. There is Phandre, who fills the “bitchy blonde rich girl” trope, but who ends up possessing a more important role in the plot than we ever imagined. And there is Lady Cardom the rebel, the little mage girl in the woods, the Corless cook who’s Lyllace’s accomplice, Merista’s former nurse-maid and close friend, and so, so many more.

For once, the ladies out-do the gentlemen. And for this, I love Starcrossed more than the majority of what I read these days.

-Razi

Review of The Bone Season **This review contains spoilers**

The Bone Season follows the story of Paige Mahoney, a 19-year-old clairvoyant in the Scion citadel of London. Clairvoyance of any kind is forbidden, but Paige is an especially rare (and especially illegal) type; a dreamwalker. She can separate her soul from her body. She works for an underground mafia/gang called “The Syndicate” made up of other clairvoyants and run by Mime-lords and ladies- basically, crime kings. It’s not made clear what the syndicate actually does (or how it makes money, although the mime-lords seem to be rolling in it), but we’re told that it’s, like, really really illegal, and stuff. 

Before you read anymore, I’d just like to say that I actually did enjoy The Bone Season, and am going to be buying the next book as well as the hardcover edition of this one. Most of the angst in this review will come from the fact that I felt like it could have been a shitton better than it actually was- and I’m kinda disappointed. 

The Bone Season is, first and foremost, fun. It’s engaging and exciting and, even when I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about it constantly. It was also VERY confusing. As I bought the ebook edition, I couldn’t read the diagrams that Shannon had drawn, and had no idea what the hell any of the types of clairvoyance meant. Although she tells you in great detail about Paige’s personal life, it would have been nice to understand the basics of the world first. Shannon told us everything you could ever possibly want to know about the history of Scion and still managed to make the book confusing. And, dear lord, the infodumps. C’mon, Sam; you could do so much better. 

However, I don’t think it’s entirely the fault of the prose that The Bone Season was hard to understand. The plot was like reading a nearly 500 page first chapter. In order to have a successful series, every book has to stand on it’s own two legs as a story. This one was laying on it’s back in bed, maybe hungover or something.

Paige Mahoney was the only part of the book that I honest-to-god hated. The first half was almost entirely devoted to telling us how SPECIAL, PRETTY, and IMPORTANT Paige was. One-sided, annoying, stupid, and petty, Paige Mahoney should have been killed off. Nothing in the plot happened because of her- it happened to her, handed over on a golden platter. If you took her out of the story nothing would change. Hopefully, we’re gonna see some development from this point on (and maybe an apology from her to some other characters). 

In perfect contrast, all the other characters were fantastic. I could talk about Jaxon and Liss for days. Read the book for them, if nothing else. The relationship between Warden and Nashira was a genuinely interesting dynamic that made me want to know more, and Nick was an example of minority representation done right. The side characters get an A++.

Many of the negative reviews you see of The Bone Season complain about the hype. I hardly see how that’s it’s own fault, and not the publisher’s. True; it’s nothing like Harry Potter or The Hunger Games, and it shouldn’t have been compared to either of them, but that doesn’t mean you have to hate it cause some other people loved it. Plus, think about how stressful this must be to Shannon. Being called “The next J. K. Rowling” is a huge responsibility, and not one she picked herself. Give her a break. 

Now, since this review is for a feminist book review blog, a word on the feminist merits of The Bone Season: 

Paige Mahoney, as I have already mentioned, was a feminist nightmare. Most of the events she was involved in were entirely controlled by men, and many of the choices she made were based only upon how those men would react. She seemed incapable of her own thoughts. Side female characters such as Liss were strong and interesting, but she was taken out of the story before she even had a chance to really interact with it. As for intersectionality, Nick was a well-written gay character, and I was relieved when his sexuality wasn't the entire focus of his character. When we learned Nick was gay, there wasn't a long "He's gay, and we accept him. We accept gay people. Gay people? Accepted." rant put in by the author. Not only does that kind of 'acceptance' pull the focus away from the person and onto the politics, it's usually only there to prove how 'progressive' and author is, and give them a pat on the back for daring to write anything other than a cishet. 

The plot regarding slavery could have well been made into a metaphor for oppression, but Shannon seemed to want to focus more on Paige's interesting romantic life. From that I got the impression she wasn't really willing to step her foot out and write anything too progressive. A safely white, male, and cisgender gay character was the extent of it. I doubt there will be any more queer characters in the later books. Still; you get what you can, and I am grateful for the representation. 

For those reasons, I give The Bone Season a 2/5 stars for feminism.

The Bone Season is the start of what will hopefully be an excellent series, and, with any luck, my rating will only go up with the successive books. 

-Leon

Daughter of Smoke and What? (Review of Daughter of Smoke and Bone) (****MAJOR SPOILERS****)

Plot

Karou is a seventeen-year-old art student at a school in Prague. She was raised from birth by chimaeras, creatures whose bodies are comprised of different animal and sometimes human features. The chimaera who raised her ask for teeth in exchange for wishes, and send Karou to fetch said teeth for them. In the beginning, Karou has yet to discover what the teeth are used for and why there are rules about what kinds of teeth she can collect (such as "no baby teeth" and "no rotting"). While on one of these missions, Karou meets Akiva, an angel, and her world is turned even more upside down than it already is.

Characters

The big question is: is this a feminist novel? The short answer is no; at least, not in comparison to works like Beauty Queens or Tamora Pierce's books. It certainly has the potential to be feminist, and the premise is exciting, but Taylor falls flat as she gets into the story. One of the most prominent topics in the novel is beauty—more specifically, how beautiful Karou and Akiva are (as well as Karou's best friend, Zusana).

Every important person in this novel is presented as being jaw-droppingly beautiful. I would usually have no issue with this, because I have no issue with attractive characters, but they're all traditionally beautiful. Karou is a tiny-waisted, bird-like girl with long blue hair, Zusana is a four-foot-tall manic pixie dream girl, Kaz is a creepier version of Edward Cullen, and Akiva is literally an angel (with eyes that, as we are told constantly, are exactly like a tiger's).

All of the characters in the novel are also white, which is problematic in its own right.

Karou in particular is a definitive Mary Sue. She's amazing at anything to do with art, dancing and writing, not to mention her prowess at fighting. Her character development is minimal at best, and all of it revolves around her relationship with Akiva.

Akiva's personality is comprised of three factors: he's a seraph, he's ridiculously beautiful, and he is full of RAGING angst. Most of this angst is due to how he's killed countless chimaera and was forced to watch his One True Love, Madrigal, die.

Zusana is the sassy short pixie friend who wants to be a puppeteer. She's repeatedly described as being doll-like but terrifying (she's also the Threatening Short Friend™). This, it would seem, is her only defining characteristic.

Kaz is mentioned frequently at the beginning of the novel, but is ultimately an unimportant character who does nothing to further the plot. He could have been left out of the book entirely and it wouldn't have affected anything.

Madrigal is, without a doubt, the only good character in the novel, which is strange, since she and Karou are supposed to be the same person (Karou is the human reincarnation of Madrigal). She is a chimaera who saves Akiva's life after he's been left to die on the battlefield. Two years later, they meet again and fall in love. While she is my favorite character, Madrigal still isn't a great one. She's naïve, overly trusting, and is supposed to be the character who looks down with condescension on the primitive ways of her kind (which is frustrating, to say the least).

Story

The story is told reasonably well, but it's not a well-written book. The language is flowery, the dialogue is unrealistic, and all of the characters are flat. While the wishes are an interesting concept (as well as the fact that the cost for them was pain), they weren't explored to the degree that I would have liked. I wish that the romance had been left out in lieu of more plot devoted to the wishes. 

I also find it strange that the chimaera, the majority of which have animal heads as opposed to human heads, have the same beauty standards as humans. They also hold archaic views of “purity”--once a chimaera has died and been reborn, they have "hamsas"- an eye tattoos on the middle of their hands. A chimaera without these tattoos is considered “pure”, which is a (preposterous) concept similar to that of virginity.

Once Madrigal is reincarnated into Karou, she has hamsas, which turn out to be super handy when fighting angels. They're conveniently magic, and she accidentally uses them against Akiva several times. 

While Madrigal and Akiva work fairly well together, the romance between Karou and Akiva seems unnecessary and forced, even though she is supposed to be Madrigal reincarnate. There's also the age difference—he's fifty and she's seventeen—although this seems to slip both their minds, as angels age far slower than humans, making him appear much younger than he is. It would have been better without the element of romance, and if Taylor had stuck to telling us Karou's journey to find her family and herself, rather than falling in love with and becoming dependent on Akiva.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone had the potential to be a well-written feminist novel, but Taylor's undeveloped, flat characters and poorly executed plot caused it to fall short.

-Bucky

13 Reasons Why I Hated this Book (Review of 13 Reasons Why)

Plot

Clay Jensen, a high school student, comes home one afternoon and finds a package sitting at his door. Upon opening it, he finds it is a shoebox filled with 13 cassette tapes recorded by Hannah, a girl at his school who has recently committed suicide. The tapes were being mailed to one classmate and once they finished listening, they were to mail the tapes to the next classmate on the list. Hannah has a second set of tapes with someone else, who will leak the tapes to the entire school if a person does not pass them on.

Clay listens to the tapes in which Hannah details all of her pain and suffering and where her life has went wrong, and how this relates to the person who has been given the tapes. Each person who has been given the tapes has supposedly played a role in Hannah's destruction and by giving them the tapes, it is Hannah's last way to tell her story.

My Thoughts
Here are 13 reasons why this book is truly not as wonderful and gripping as everybody seems to think it is:

1. We are not given any hint that Hannah did not pop out of the ground fully grown, because Hannah's parents are never shown. At least, Hannah's relationship with her parents is never shown. While this is a trope commonly present in YA fiction, she doesn't even remotely seem to think of them or what her actions will do to them before she commits suicide.

2. Clay doesn't really have much of a personality. You can tell he is just a vehicle for us (the audience) to listen to these tapes. He doesn't have any character.

3. I couldn't connect the dots. I don't get how Hannah got from point A to point B. I thought it would all come together in the end and make sense, but it didn't. It was only a loose string of events that Hannah was desperately trying to string together.

4. The suspense is non-existent. I didn't have a burning need to get to the end, which is what the author is going for.

5. None of the people on the list seem to get much retribution for their actions--even the ones who actually committed crimes.

6. This isn't a realistic portrayal of depression and suicidal thoughts. Hannah says she's only depressed because people were mean to her, while in reality, even situational depression is a legitimate mental health issue.

7. In relation to the number above, this book wasn't researched properly. I don't think he took the time to get different portrayals of depression and suicide victims and truly get all sides of the story. Asher just took every broken bird trope he could find and applied it to Hannah.

8. I couldn't connect to Hannah--she was made out to be a sympathetic character, but was actually aggravating.

9. Most of the main characters were flat and unemotional. Specifically, many of the female characters weren't fleshed out. While the male characters were sort of deep (the story is narrated by Clay, a responsible, straight-laced yet sensitive guy), no one in this book was given much of a personality, and the female characters fared the worst. I can't even remember any female characters' names apart from Hannah.

11. There were plot holes. Specifically, the parts in the coffee shop were vague and unconnected to the total plot.

12. Hannah has scarred the lives of 13 teenagers as "revenge". She foists incredible amounts of guilt onto these people and I doubt they will be getting over this soon; most of them feel miserable and guilty. They will forever regret being the cause of death for a sensitive teenage girl.

13. Remember when I said I had thirteen reasons for why I hated this book?
I lied.

This last point is going to be about what this book could have accomplished, in the hands of a more skilled author. The theme of this book was that words and actions, which may seem small and inconsequential, can ruin a person's life. Hannah was slut-shamed into despair. All it took was one lie about her doing something with one guy and it spiraled into Hannah being turned into the school's resident "ho". This is something that plagues girls and women everywhere. We are not allowed to be sexually free beings. Not only that, but if there's even word of us being sexually free beings, we are shamed to no end. There's always a fear there.

I can see what Jay Asher was trying to do. He had an essentially good premise, but it didn't work. He jsut seemed to have a fundamental misunderstanding of depression and suicide, and other mental health-related issues. Hannah had the potential to be a strong vehicle for a stand against slut-shaming and how it goes and in hand with the bullying many teen girls face. A few kids talked about Hannah and called her a mean name, and it ended her world. That isn't believable. She accuses people of not seeing or understanding her, yet doesn't even try to get people to help before deciding they don't care. She plays the victim throughout the novel while doing some of the exact same things she accuses others of. Hannah doesn't realize that she is the one who took those pills. She is the one who chose to end it all. She never puts the blame on herself, instead handing it off to everybody else. Asher, instead of placing the blame on the system that made Hannah's suicide possible, places it on random characters in order to make Hannah more sympathetic. Thirteen Reasons Why is full of wasted potential.

-Lynette

Constantine's Liv: Mary Sue?

"Mary Sue"

A character too perfect for their setting. Most often, this character is talented and attractive, and anyone who doesn't adore them is portrayed as mean, stupid, or evil. It's common for them to be the smartest, even if this requires everyone else to act stupider than they should. Out of place but awesome names are also frequent occurrences. They lead charmed lives, and any conflict or drama they are met with will be either overdone to the point of headache induction, or easily brushed aside.

source: urbandictionary.com

So when I read the basic plot for the new CW show, Constantine, I cringed. It was about a man named John Constantine, who protected Liv, the daughter of an old friend, as she figured out her powers and the world of the supernatural.

It's not a horrible plot, definitely not the worst I have ever heard, but pause for a moment. Does anyone else get the feeling that this show will basically be about this rugged, older man protecting this young, helpless and frail girl? Honestly, that's the only feeling I get, and I do not like it at all.

For the most part, in our society, girls play this role. They're the damsel in distress, the helpless one. The man sweeps in and saves her, and they live happily ever after. Right? Wrong.

What troubles me is that Liv actually does have the potential to be a good character. Perhaps not the most likable, but I think she'd do well on the show. The entire "girl is thrust into new world, has to adapt" premise is good with me, it's just the fact that they made Liv seem like a helpless little girl that I don't like.

A lot of girls in television and movies are portrayed like this. They have no real character, no motivations of their own, and no faults. Girls in real life aren't like that at all. It just gets me wondering why writers would still insist on portraying girls, who obviously could be alright if a few tweaks were made to their character, like this.

Either way, they thankfully changed the plot of the show. It now features a woman named Zed, who is supposed to basically fill the "femme fatale" role, as I take it. In the actual comics, she was a woman who possessed several psychic powers. She and Constantine had a romantic thing going on, which makes also me wonder. Did they change the plot because they wanted romantic tension in the first season, but couldn't do it with Liv without freaking the audience out?

I'll leave you with that question. In the end though, I'm glad they made the decision to change it, although I do hope they eventually bring Liv back into the plot. The key to Liv is starting her out as a Mary-Sue (because they can't change the character too much from the comic book), then making her a stronger, rougher person due to her experiences.

-Luce

On Femilit Articles

Hi, everyone. So, as you know, Femilit is primarily a book blog. However, we do try to have broad enough horizons to not stay 100% in that genre, and we feel that it's sometimes necessary to make our readers aware of the feminist news in the world and media today, even that outside of literature. We'll feature issues that we, as feminists ourselves, believe are important, and do our best to inform on them in interesting and unique ways. Hence the new series: Articles By Luce, which, written by our lovely admin Luce, will be published on the blog every so often along with reviews. We hope you enjoy them!

Review of Beauty Queens, by Libba Bray (originally posted on Fab-fem.edu)

Hey, everyone. Recently, I joined a feminist “Girl Power Book Club” at my neighborhood bookstore. It is one of the most awesome things I have ever had the good fortune to be a part of. I thought a good first review would be of one of the books that we read there. 

The first book we read was Beauty Queens, by Libba Bray. Before I launch into it, I want to say that I’m glad that this was the first book, because, as one of my all-time favorite novels, it makes an amazing example of a YA book done right. Beauty Queens embraces the best ideals of feminism, and actually helps and supports teenage girls. I’m glad to have the opportunity to make it the first blog post, because it give me hope, both in it’s message and it’s existence. You’ll find this to be a pretty positive review. 

The premise of Beauty Queens is this: A group of “Miss Teen Dream” pageant runner-ups crash in a plane onto a deserted island, instilling a Lord of the Flies-esque situation. However, rather than a bunch of boys, you’ve got thirteen BAMF teenage girls running amok on the island, trying their best to survive. I can say without a doubt that it is one of the most incredible books I’ve ever read. I’m not saying that it’s going to be a classic; I’m not saying that it’s beautifully written or brings tears to your eyes. Someone who isn’t a regular of YA literature might never even see the appeal. But this book gives the reader nine amazing female protagonists: real teenage girls with incredible personalities, all of whom I connected with on a deep personal level.

I will admit that I was ambivalent at the beginning of the book. The cover itself puts people off- the torso of a bikini clad girl, with lipstick lined up on a belt that would traditionally contain bullets. This, of course, is exactly what a feminist book club should be trying to avoid: books about faceless conventional beauties. 
But Beauty Queens isn’t like that at all. The surprise that comes with discovering each girl’s individuality is one of the most important aspects of the book.

Beauty Queens is a parody, a satirical narrative of American pop-culture and beauty standards. Because of this, at the beginning of the book, each girl seems as thoughtless and inanely giggly as the next. Which is something that most people would find it hugely entertaining, yet something that a big group of hardcore third-wave feminists like my book club would generally feel deeply insulted by. It’s probably a good thing that the book didn’t continue like that. At all. 

When you begin the book, it seems to be making fun of the pageant girls. This is partly due to the MC. Adina is the Miss New-Hampshire of the pageant, and, at the beginning, seems to be the only one with her priorities straight. 

Adina is not in the pageant to win- she thinks it’s complete bullshit, and is there to expose it. She plays in an all girl punk band, likes poetry, and wants to be a journalist. 
The culture of objectifying teenage girls isn’t something that appeals to her. 

As the book goes on, Adina sinks from being your favorite character into the background. As the other girls develop, you see that she was wrong about them. 
And you were, too. 

There’s a decent level of diversity in the book. Of the nine girls that are developed throughout the story, there are two WoC, a transgender girl, and a disabled girl. They aren’t the traditional American beauties. Kudos to Libba Bray for that. 

Even more importantly, each girl is a complete individual. They aren’t just caricatures, they are characters.

As the girls get to know each other, they slowly shed their previous prejudices and their own facades. Being alone on the island does not hurt them- it helps them. Over the course of the book each girl has (whether involving quicksand, sexy eco-warriors, or giant snakes), a glorious moment of self discovery. 
And this self discovery isn’t something that they regret. They even talk about it at one point: 

“Maybe girls need an island to find themselves. Maybe they need a place where no one’s watching them so they can be who they really are.”

As the girl become friends, they realize things about themselves and the world around them. They come to talk about what life is like as a teenage girl in America, and some of what they come up with I had never even thought of before. Their conclusions are painfully true. 

One of the best scenes in the book is one of these realizations. One of the girls begins talking, and after a short monologue, apologizes for sharing her opinion. The response that she receives is one of the best quotes I’ve ever discovered. 

“Why do girls always feel like they have to apologize for giving an opinion or taking up space in the world? Have you ever noticed that? [...] You go on websites and some girl leaves a post and if it’s longer than three sentences or she’s expressing her thoughts about some topic, she usually ends with, ‘Sorry for the rant’ or ‘That may be dumb, but that’s what I think.” 

I sat in shock for several minutes after reading this, because guess what? It’s true. I myself am often guilty of apologizing at the end of rants. Why do I do that? I’m not sorry at all! I feel strongly about my opinion, so I’m going to share it. Boys don’t do this. In class discussions at my school, all the girls will apologize after sharing how they feel, and the boys will go on and on. This is because we seem to think that girls shouldn’t have opinions. That they should always be sorry if they ever think outside the box. I think this line (as well as this entire book) is Libba Bray’s way of saying “Fuck You” to the system.

The girls decide to make an oath to stop saying sorry. 

These aren’t just random realizations. They all add up to one ginormous fact: It’s fucking hard to be a woman in today’s society, and it’s even harder to be a teenage girl. 

Beauty Queens isn’t about them abandoning girlhood, however. It’s not about them becoming rebels like Adina (although some do) and hating all that is girly. Because these are America’s beauty queens, and they will embrace their femininity in any situation. 

This book is about them learning how. 

This is about women taking control of their sexualities and their identities, and about them fucking up society using just what society has given them. Quite literally, by the end of it. 

“You want to know what pain is? Try running out of Advil when you’ve got a Category Five period. I’ve had cramps that would make grown men beg for a bullet between the eyes.” 

This is a quote spoken by Jennifer; one of the main characters while… well, I don’t want to give too much away. But surprising turns of events include piranha tanks, insane foreign dictators that dress like Elvis Presley, and cross-dressing reality TV show pirates. 

Previously, I called Beauty Queens a parody. But it’s also It’s more than that. It’s also an anthem for modern girls all over. 

Beauty Queens is a parody, but you’re not laughing at the girls- you’re laughing with them. And shouting with them, and smiling with them, and crying with them. 

Beauty Queens is a truly unbelievable book, and as a teenage girl, I found it more empowering than anything I’d ever read. So if you happen to be a teenage girl, (whether you identify as a feminist or not), I think you should read it. In fact, no matter what sort of human being you are, I think you should read it. Because this book is revolutionary. 

Libba Bray is moving mountains.

-Razi