Books : Beauty Queen
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780062051615
ISBN: 006205161X
Label: HarperTeen
Manufacturer: HarperTeen
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 176
Publication Date: October 31, 1998
Publisher: HarperTeen
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: September 19, 1998
Sales Rank: 89058
Studio: HarperTeen
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
I felt the prick of the needle, but only for a second, because this great rush of warmth quickly followed, encompassing my whole body from my toes right up to the top hair on my head. I couldn't move for a minute as she guided the needle in and out of my vein. When she was done, I felt like I had entered heaven. I looked in the mirror and felt beautiful and confident. I felt this great peace, at last, a warmth, and I knew that everything was going to be okay--and really always had been. Like time had stopped and I was floating on a cloud.
"Writing the book, I saw my old dope dealer and bought $1,500 worth of pure heroin--Brown Gold--and started shooting up ten times a day to get the feel of the book. Well, I did, all right. I ended up in Glen Cove General, almost dead. In truth, you make a deal with the Devil. He takes away your pain, but he owns you. You live for the next fix. After a while, it's totally physical; your body has to have it. But I'm off it for good."
-- Linda Glovach
Young Adults' Choices for 2000 (IRA)
Amazon.com Review:
When we first meet 19-year-old Samantha, she sounds like a normal teenager, writing in her diary about an ex-boyfriend: "I will never fall in love again, never, ever! Why is life so cruel? Why do people like to hurt each other?" But a mere three months later--after moving into her own apartment, taking a job as a topless dancer, and becoming addicted to heroin--her tone takes on that of a grizzled drug abuser: "I've been shooting in my bony hip area... toward my groin, so no one can detect the needle points on my rear when I wear my G-string, and I'm getting terribly numb there." Samantha's story is told entirely in the form of her journal entries, which vividly reflect this young woman's rapid descent into the seedy world of addiction.
Author Linda Glovach creates a likable, believable character in Samantha: we recognize her humanity as a girl genuinely troubled by her mother's alcoholism (as well as by her mom's lascivious boyfriend); we feel the unconditional love she harbors for her diabetic Maine coon cat; we shake our heads as her greed for money and flippant attitude about her addiction cause Sam to make naive decisions. As Sam spirals further downward--still unaware of how far gone she really is, even though she can't complete a journal entry without shooting up--readers will feel the remorse of what could have been, and may learn a valuable lesson in the process. (Ages 13 and older) --Brangien Davis
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Samantha is supposed to be nineteen-years-old, but Glovach gives her the voice of a fourteen-year-old. She has lived a rough life with her alcoholic mother and the mother's creepy verging on pervy boyfriend. No way would this woman be so immature and naive at the age of nineteen.
The other thing is that there is only about three days time between Samantha's first experience with stripping and heroin before she is profoundly addicted to the drug, and inexplicably now a seasoned professional stripper. And again only a few more days until her whole new life of mobsters, obsession with a dirty cop and general desperation.
The most unpredictable thing about this book is that nothing unpredictable happens. You keep waiting. The mobster and the dirty cop inspire a little fear, but ultimately fall flat. I finished this book only out of a morbid curiosity to see how bad and ridiculous it would get. If you look at it that way you won't be disappointed!
Rating: -
I liked the candid style. Craft didn't seem to matter so much because it was "genuine." I didn't need a whole bunch of flowery monologues because the heart was on the page. For those who have done the stuff before the book will probably seem like an old confirmation- "been there, done that," and for those who haven't, while it might not be a total warning because she writes while high and glowing, it will be like watching the closest disappointments in your life happen in superspeed. Sam's innocence only makes it worse because you feel "she doesn't know what she is throwing away." She is quick to decide that Black is for her, and after picking it up ONCE, never puts it down! A bad end does seem inevitable because where else is all this optimism go- it can't go any higher because she starts out dealing with the tragedy in her life by sprouting daisies. it's not go ask alice. I mean sure it has a similar plot, and yes it is also a diary, but it's more like a "Emotional diary of an idiot" by Maggie Estep except with the polar opposite in terms of character type. While it isn't a funny book, what it lacks in humor it makes up for in seriousness of purpose.
Rating: -
The back of the novel said that the author bought $1,500 worth of heroin, and started to shoot up 10 times a day.
I guess her attempts to "feel" the story didn't work, because this is the worse book about Heroin I've ever read. It was so unrealistic I couldn't believe it. I've met 5 year olds less nieve than the main character. This book was terrible, and I regret wasting my time to read it.
I guess I should have listened to what some of the reviews said, I thought people were exagerating when they said the book stunk.
They weren't lying.
Rating:  -
The book was very good and interesting. But at the end of the book it was very sad and I enjoyed it very much.
Rating: -
This book is different from most the books i've read before. The first sentence made me want to read more and more. It was never boring. When I finished it I was sad the book was over. I recomend reading this book.
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