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A review by sonia_reppe
Miss World by Randi Black
3.0
I love the time period here--the first half of the 1990's: Kurt Cobain, Nirvana; Stone Temple Pilots; me a grundge high-schooler at the time, everything still had a feeling of newness about it, and the world was my playground. Actually the world sometimes seemed to be a scary place, but nothing bad could possibly happen to me, other than bad hair days and pimples, right?
Contrarily, Randi Black's novel, Miss World, is about a Californian high-schooler in the '90's who is dealing with some heavy issues, and bad things do happen to her. Carefree days of keds and pony-tails this novel is not. Actually it's pretty profane. The main themes in this book are sex, oppression (mainly the parental kind), and rebellion. Rebellion big time.
The novel has a good pace; the writing is good overall. The imaginary friend/alter ego that Kim, the protagonist, conjures up works well. His snappy, sarcastic dialogue is the best in the novel.
Kim's harsh treatment by her aunt and mother, who is oppressive and seemingly unloving, cause Kim to seek out love wherever she can find it. Supposedly, things get better for Kim when she starts dating a dyslexic boy from school, but the relationship just comes across as sexual and a temporary ego-boost for Kim. I understand that Kim was trying to compensate for feeling violated by that creepy older guy she hooked up with, but when the boyfriend gets possessive and obsessed with the idea of killing the creepy guy, this relationship does not seem to be helping Kim in any way. I would've rather seem Kim forgive herself and find her way to happiness. Instead, she kept acting out in anger. When she meets creepy guy again, she partly stands up for herself, but it's an ugly scene. Why did we (the readers) even have to see him again? I don't know. Some would say the problem with this book is it's a lot of sex without enough else to balance it out.
One part that worked is Kim's confrontation with her aunt and mother at the end, and finding out some family history which revealed their hypocrisy, and showed her that their criticism at her may stem from something else entirely.
Don't read this book if you don't like profanity. An independent press, Fire Spirit claims to print "bad books for bad girls." I guess that about sums it up.
Contrarily, Randi Black's novel, Miss World, is about a Californian high-schooler in the '90's who is dealing with some heavy issues, and bad things do happen to her. Carefree days of keds and pony-tails this novel is not. Actually it's pretty profane. The main themes in this book are sex, oppression (mainly the parental kind), and rebellion. Rebellion big time.
The novel has a good pace; the writing is good overall. The imaginary friend/alter ego that Kim, the protagonist, conjures up works well. His snappy, sarcastic dialogue is the best in the novel.
Kim's harsh treatment by her aunt and mother, who is oppressive and seemingly unloving, cause Kim to seek out love wherever she can find it. Supposedly, things get better for Kim when she starts dating a dyslexic boy from school, but the relationship just comes across as sexual and a temporary ego-boost for Kim. I understand that Kim was trying to compensate for feeling violated by that creepy older guy she hooked up with, but when the boyfriend gets possessive and obsessed with the idea of killing the creepy guy, this relationship does not seem to be helping Kim in any way. I would've rather seem Kim forgive herself and find her way to happiness. Instead, she kept acting out in anger. When she meets creepy guy again, she partly stands up for herself, but it's an ugly scene. Why did we (the readers) even have to see him again? I don't know. Some would say the problem with this book is it's a lot of sex without enough else to balance it out.
One part that worked is Kim's confrontation with her aunt and mother at the end, and finding out some family history which revealed their hypocrisy, and showed her that their criticism at her may stem from something else entirely.
Don't read this book if you don't like profanity. An independent press, Fire Spirit claims to print "bad books for bad girls." I guess that about sums it up.