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wordsofclover 's review for:
Meat Market
by Juno Dawson
I received a free digital copy of this book from the publishers/author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Gawky, tomboyish Jana Novak has never truly felt beautiful, and so she (and many people in her life) is surprised when she is scouted by a model agency during a school trip. Before long, 16-year-old Jana is fast becoming the UK’s new top model but the dark world of the fashion industry threatens to swallow Jana whole.
Juno Dawson honestly can’t do any wrong in my opinion. Every time she writes a novel, she manages to deliver something modern, relatable but a story that packs a punch with so many big issues. This book tackles so many brilliant things from self-love and body confidence to eating disorders, addictions and sexual assault. There’s a lot of dark in this book but there’s also a lot of fun too.
It’s obvious that Juno put a lot of thought and work into creating the world of fashion Jana enters. It feels very real from the fun, bouncy part to the shady, behind the scenes part when the the girls are fretting about wait and popping pills to stay awake. There’s times, as a reader, I felt frustrated at Jana for being so naive about certain things but she is so young in this book so I had to try and understand.
There is a sexual assault scene in this book that sparks something reminiscent (and was inspired by) the #MeToo movement and the Harvey Weinstein scandal and it’s tough and important but thankfully, for me, it wasn’t too graphic or disturbing to read. Especially with Jana’s age, I’m glad Juno was able to bring such an important issue and movement to light without having to write something extremely graphic (take lessons every TV writer who uses rape as a plot device*).
The end of this book was a little bit too much wrapped in a neat little bow, happily ever after for me that it just didn’t seem very realistic but that’s also just me being cynical. I loved this book, I couldn’t put it down. Juno Dawson is officially on my list of favourite, auto-buy authors!
Gawky, tomboyish Jana Novak has never truly felt beautiful, and so she (and many people in her life) is surprised when she is scouted by a model agency during a school trip. Before long, 16-year-old Jana is fast becoming the UK’s new top model but the dark world of the fashion industry threatens to swallow Jana whole.
Juno Dawson honestly can’t do any wrong in my opinion. Every time she writes a novel, she manages to deliver something modern, relatable but a story that packs a punch with so many big issues. This book tackles so many brilliant things from self-love and body confidence to eating disorders, addictions and sexual assault. There’s a lot of dark in this book but there’s also a lot of fun too.
It’s obvious that Juno put a lot of thought and work into creating the world of fashion Jana enters. It feels very real from the fun, bouncy part to the shady, behind the scenes part when the the girls are fretting about wait and popping pills to stay awake. There’s times, as a reader, I felt frustrated at Jana for being so naive about certain things but she is so young in this book so I had to try and understand.
There is a sexual assault scene in this book that sparks something reminiscent (and was inspired by) the #MeToo movement and the Harvey Weinstein scandal and it’s tough and important but thankfully, for me, it wasn’t too graphic or disturbing to read. Especially with Jana’s age, I’m glad Juno was able to bring such an important issue and movement to light without having to write something extremely graphic (take lessons every TV writer who uses rape as a plot device*).
The end of this book was a little bit too much wrapped in a neat little bow, happily ever after for me that it just didn’t seem very realistic but that’s also just me being cynical. I loved this book, I couldn’t put it down. Juno Dawson is officially on my list of favourite, auto-buy authors!