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Summary: Great impacting book for teens with time
Review: Wow, i read this book within 6 hours (same day). This book caught my interest within the first sentence. Many teens can relate to this 19 year old who dreams of being a famous actress but gets sucked into a world of topless dancing, heroine, and a false sense of love. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone that wants to take a look into this girl's dangerous habit.
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Summary: Beauty Queen: A Great Book
Review: Beauty Queen
By: Linda Glovach
Reveiwed By: S.Ali
Period: 6The book Beauty Queen is a very interseting book. This book is a journal of Samantha. She is depressed because her boyfriend dumps her. Her mother is an alcoholic. Samantha lived with her mother and, her mother's boyfriend. She decided she should move away from her mother and her mother's problems. Samantha gets a job as a exotic dancer to help her pay for her new apartment and to feed her and her cat Dinah. She has to pay her bills some how. I really enjoyed reading this book, more than I liked reading other books. Usualy I don't like reading books in a journal format. But, this book is acceptable. This book is unlike any other book I have read. It is one of those books you will want to read over and over and over. This book is inappropriate for students of ages 12 and younger. Its more of an adult book. There's nothing I didn't like about this book. It was an unusual book. I liked the way that the author wrote this book in a journal format. It was a fantastic book. It wants you to turn to the next page. To keep on reading the book until you're finished with the book. And, after the first time you were done reading the book. You still wanted to read it again. My favorite part of the story is not reallty a part. It's more of a way the author did somthing to the book. The author made the book seem like a real journal, instead of a book. The author Linda Glovach made the book seem like a real journal. This is a good book for students who need or want to learn about what drugs can do to you. This book is very informative in that area. The main character, Sam, is going through so many problems. She thinks that drugs is the way out of her problems. But, in reality it just makes things worse.
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Summary: Beauty Queen?
Review: This book is excellent, this is coming from a person that doesn't really like to read books. Sam, the main character, is very believable, at first I thought it was a true story. The way it's written makes it even more interesting; it's written in a journal format. It's as if she was talking to you personally, and it's easier to read that way to. I definitely recommend this book. This is perfect for people who need to learn about drugs, specifically heroin, because it shows some of the dangers of heroin use, which can be very informative. If you want to read a great, entertaining book read Beauty Queen.
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Summary: Not So Beautiful After All
Review: Beauty Queen, by Linda Glovach, is an intense story about a teenage girl who gets introduced to heroin by a co-worker. Sam has a problem and believes that taking shot of heroin will help her get by her problem. Her friends find out and beg her to stop, but it's all a little too late. Sam's addicted and she doesn't seem to realize it. The details that Glovach uses put an excellent picture in your mind as you read along. You will soon realize that the "beauty queen" is not so beautiful after all. As I read more of the story I found that it was hard for me to put down the book. I enjoyed the book very much. I would recommend it to any one who enjoys reading novels that have to do with teens and what they go through on an every day basis.
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Summary: Beauty Queen Destruction
Review: Beauty Queen to me was an amazing book. I would recommend it to anyone. The author got me hooked because it was written in a journal entry style, and it was so similar to her life. The author was a heroin user just like the main character Sam, in the book. Sam always wanted to become an actress but never had the confidence to go to an acting agency. She went to a strip club instead, where her and her friend Nicole began to work. Sam was a stripper and Nicole was a bartender. Sam didn't have any self-esteem. It was difficult for her to take her top off so she started to use heroin. It took her pain away and it helped to raise her self-esteem.
She began to use heroin more and more. While she believed that she didn't have a heroin addiction. She also believed that a filthy, dirty, cop, Blaine Johnson, would love her and marry her. He became a part of her problems. As soon as they became a couple she started to use massive dosages of heroin. Beauty Queen really gets to you because you don't want to put the book down at all. It'll catch your interest from the minute you open that book! It can also teach a person a few things about what drugs can do to you, or how you'll end up if you use drugs.
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Summary: Uninspired and predictable
Review: "Beauty Queen" is not particularly impressive, even by the standards of a teen anti-drug novel. The protaganist, Sam, is archtypal - a teenaged girl with low self-esteem, from a broken home with an alchoholic mother. Her therapist advises her to move out, and she winds up stripping and being introduced to drugs. While I know that sometimes things do happen this way, the entire plot came across as incredibly contrived. The way she gets into heroin in the first place; the mobster with a big heart looking out for her; the loser, drug-dealing cop lover. She even has a diabetic cat, and is therefore already familiar with needles. Without revealing too much, one can see where everything is going and the part everyone plays in it almost from the start. It is less a self-destructive roller coaster ride than a plunge straight to hell from the very minute she moves out of her Mom's house: Sam literally cannot go even a journal entry without shooting some smack from the very day she starts using. If you are looking for anti-drug "smack fiction," then go with "Smack." The novel is much more sophisticated in terms of its character development and its plot, and furthermore one can learn a lot about 1980s British punk while reading it.
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Summary: Beauty Queen by Linda Glovach
Review: Beauty Queen was a great book! We really enjoyed reading about Sam and all of her trials and tribulations. The content in the book is very strong! Throughout the book, Sam is engaged in heroin, having sex, topless dancing, and extreme language. For these reasons, We would not recommend this book for elementary age children. We may allow extremely mature eighth graders to read this book outside of class. At the beginning of the book, Sam is talking about the problems that she has with her boyfriend, Teddy. She also introduces the fact that she sees a psychologist, Dr. Kohltari. As the book continues, Sam and Teddy break up. Sam lives with her mother, her mother's boyfriend, Kevin, and her cat Dinah. She does not get along with Kevin at all. She says that he makes her feel uncomfortable. Sam's mother is a severe alcoholic. The only people that Sam likes to talk to are Dinah and her best friend Nicole. Sam decides to move out on her own. Through a friend, Sam and Nicole find out about a strip bar called, The Web. Sam and Nicole get jobs at the bar. Sam takes a job as a dancer and Nicole becomes a bartender. On Sam's first night of dancing, she had still never taken her top off. She was too nervous! Behind stage, Sam sees a fellow dancer with heroin. Sam asks what she is doing and the girl said that she was shooting up heroin and invited Sam to join her. Sam does join her and immediately becomes addicted to the feeling created by the heroin. Sam says that she can only take off her top is she has shot up heroin. She loves the way the drug makes her feel and dance. Sam meets a man, Angelo, that is a regular at The Web. Sam and Angelo become very close. He is extremely wealthy and buys Sam whatever she wants. Sam resists telling Angelo about the heroin. One night, he found out and got very mad. His daughter passed away because of a drug addiction. Later on in the book, Sam becomes involved with a cop named Blaine. Although Sam thinks that Blaine is fabulous, Nicole, Angelo, and everyone else at The Web disagree. Sam disregards everyone's warnings and continues to see Blaine. The two of them get even deeper into heroin! This is the beginning of the end for Sam. This book is compiled completely of Sam's journal writings. All of the information in the book is directly from Sam's experiences. The end of the book takes the reader by surprise. That is all that we can say for now!
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Summary: A powerful look at denial, addiction, and depression
Review: Love is an emotion that often brings pain if you are not receiving it. While growing up as a child, there are so many overwhelming situations that one can undergo. When looking through the eyes of the main character in Beauty Queen, Samantha Strasburg, one can imagine the emotional stress, pain, and frustrations she feels. Imagine growing up without a father and living with a mother who uses alcohol to solve all of her problems. These are only two of the many difficulties Samantha must live with everyday. Samantha gets involved in the New York nightlife of fast money, quick highs, and throw away lives. Through Samantha's writings in her journal, the reader sees how living in the "fast lane" can destroy one's life. Samantha's journal shows how powerful denial, addiction, and depression can be on one's life.
This is a wonderful book that touches on reality, while teaching the reader about different emotional and drug related situations. This book would be a great wake up call for students who are in the 8th grade and above. The realness of Beauty Queen may hit home for the students, as well as the parents. Teachers and parents could incorporate this book into a variety of subjects, including comprehensive health, social studies, science, and language arts.
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Summary: book is sooooo disturbing its good
Review: omg! my name is samantha (like the character in the book) and my best friend's name is Nicole...(like the best friend in the book.) anyway, i think that if Samantha had a lot more people who DIDN'T do drug around her maybe things would of been different. i kinda feel sorry for her because no one really loved her the way she wanted to be loved.
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Summary: A Deadly Addiction
Review: A Review by Kelsey A nineteen year old girl, Sam, was told by her counselor, Dr. K, to keep a journal and write in it what is going on in her life at that time. Sam had just recently moved out of her mother's apartment. Her mother lives with her boyfriend and she is a huge alcoholic. Sam is sick of a go now where job at Chicken and Ribs. Her best friend Nicole and she decide to start a cleaning business. It goes well for a few weeks until they clean a very rich lady's house before she has a party. Sam curiously asks her how she made her fortune and the lady said that she was a topless dancer at The Web for almost 20 years. She gave Sam and Nicole the Web's number if they were interested in getting a job. At first Nicole and Sam are hesitating, but once they tried out they decided that this was what they wanted to do. Nicole became a bartender and Sam took the open dancer job. This decision of Sam's leads her down a path that is deadly. Beauty Queen is a dramatic and true story. The story is written in the form of Sam's journal. I like how the "author" didn't change any of Sam's true stories. Linda may have revised grammar, but besides that everything that Sam writes is true. This book easily someone leading a good life can suddenly go down the wrong path. The language in this book is easy to follow. At times you seem as if you really know Sam and completely understand her pain. As you read along you can tell that Sam's addiction with heroin is ruining her relationships with other people. Nicole finds out and stops talking to her. Everyone else who knows and still associates with her doesn't realize how much heroin is ruining her physically and emotionally. I would give this book a 4 out of five. This is because I like the idea of the author trying to keep Sam's diary, but at times you want to wonder what's going on in the other character's lives. The length of this book was perfect but at times I wanted it to go on. I think this is because in a way I wanted to know more about the problem or event. The ending is realistic and a little alarming. I strongly recommended this book to teenage readers who enjoy real life situation stories. It is pretty easy to read and is an all around good book.
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