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    Pretty Ugly
    Pretty Ugly
    Pretty Ugly
    Audiobook8 hours

    Pretty Ugly

    Written by Kirker Butler

    Narrated by Johanna Parker

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    After eight-and-a-half years and three hundred and twenty-three pageants, Miranda Miller has become the ultimate stage mother. Her mission in life is to see that her nine-year-old daughter, Bailey, continues to be one of the most successful child pageant contestants in the southern United States. Lately, though, that mission has become increasingly difficult. Bailey wants to retire and has been secretly binge eating to make herself "unpageantable." But Miranda has a plan. She's seven months pregnant with her fourth child, a girl (thank God), and she is going to make damn sure this one is even more successful than Bailey.


    Miranda's husband, Ray, however, doesn't have time for pageants. A full-time nurse, Ray spends his days at the hospital where he has developed a habit of taking whatever pills happen to be lying around. His nights are spent working hospice and dealing with Courtney, the seventeen-year-old orphan granddaughter of one of his hospice patients who he has, regrettably, knocked up.


    A bright new voice in satirical literature, Kirker Butler pulls no punches as he dissects our culture's current state of affairs. It's really funny, but it's also pretty ugly.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateDec 22, 2015
    ISBN9781494582012
    Pretty Ugly

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    Reviews for Pretty Ugly

    3.5/5

    28 ratings7 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I was immediately hooked on this fun book, life is full of unexpected situations, this was just like watching a movie!!
    • 3/5
      Funny. The characters are oddly likable. By the end your kind of rooting for them.
    • 5/5
      A really light, fun read centered in part in the cutthroat world of beauty pageants for little girls and the extremes the contestant's mothers go to for their little princesses. This novel is much more than this as a side story develops as the father in the family has an affair with a slightly under aged girl and the complications this brings to the mix, This book speaks volumes about American's passion to get their moment of celebrity no matter what they have to do to get it. This would make a very funny movie with the right casting.
    • 2/5
      Pretty Ugly is a very apt name for this novel. If you like reality shows like Honey BooBoo or movies like Drop Dead Gorgeous, this may be a book that is right up your alley. It is claimed to be a satirical look into pageants, but I have a feeling that there is more truth to these observations of childrens pageants than there is satire.Sometimes this book was captivating in a ‘if you can’t say something nice about someone come sit by me’ sort of way and other times it was just horrid. Ray and his drugs. What was the author thinking of when he made Ray an indiscriminant drug addict? I found this to be almost too much and at times I was almost hoping that Ray would just OD and leave the world a better place.If you do manage to read this book long enough there is a HEA of sorts and frankly it made the whole thing worth reading. Ray and Miranda are having a baby and they know it is a girl. This is Miranda’s second chance at having a pageant Princess and she is thrilled…until the baby is born (if I say anything more about the baby I will spoil the book for you). Luckily at this point in the book (the ending) makes up for everything that was annoying earlier.Unfortunately, you will find that there are too many threads in this book that are never tied up; just left unfinished, and that may leave you wondering…or maybe like me, you just won’t care.I did manage to finish this though if that says anything!
    • 4/5
      I received a paperback ARC copy of this book on February 6, 2015 through a giveaway on GoodReads.com and I’ve waited until today to post my honest opinion of the book.For anyone who has watched “Family Guy” often this is something you would expect coming from the writer and producer of this show, who is also the author of this book.To understand this book better one needs to know the highly satirical nature of the author’s Emmy nominated animated television show. There is no topic in it which hasn’t been gone after such as the American south, gross religious fanaticism, etc.Having been raised in Kentucky, where this story takes place, the author has probably remembered the all the fuss which had occurred regarding beauty pageants as he was growing up coupled with the documentaries we’ve seen on cable, and decided to write a book about it. If one looks hard enough some of individuals in the story shared some of characteristics of those in “Family Guy.”Satire is a highly individualistic genre of writing, while some individuals who read this book will laugh out loud, others might find the stereotypes in the book overly exaggerated and the writing at times devoid of any humor.The title of the book, “Pretty Ugly”, is, in my opinion, the oxymoronic personification of the story itself. And given my level of satirical understanding and appreciation, I’m happy to this book 4 STARS.
    • 5/5
      Do you love reality tv shows like Dance Moms, Toddlers & Tiaras and pretty much any other reality show on TLC? Do you tend to laugh at inappropriate times or at inappropriate things? Do you like irreverent humor? Can you find humor in stereotypes and general political incorrectness? If you answered "Yes!" to any of the above questions, I highly recommend Pretty Ugly. Like a train wreck, this book is so wrong but I just couldn't look away. It's filled with horrible people doing and saying even more horrible things, and I loved every minute of it. In fact, throughout the book, I found myself gasping and covering my mouth in horror while trying very hard not to laugh. This book is filled with moments that will cause you to burst out laughing while at the same time feeling guilty that you find it so humorous. No topic is off limits here: pageants, eating disorders, pregnancy, Jesus, race, drug abuse, adultery, reality television. You name it, it gets skewered. Overall, I highly enjoyed this and recommend to anyone who enjoys this type of humor. The author has written for shows like Family Guy, The Cleveland Show and Galavant. That should give you an idea of the type of irreverent humor and satire that Kirker Butler is known for. If you don't like those shows, you probably won't like this book. However, if you love that kind of tongue-in-cheek humor like I do, I think you'll find that Pretty Ugly is the best type of guilty pleasure. Note: I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
    • 4/5
      This novel about children's beauty pageants in the South is an over-the-top spoof, full of cartoonish characters, stereotypes, and silliness. And it is a little bit one-note. Given all that, I was certainly entertained by it.Of course, some may take offense. In addition to the stereotypes, there is a woman who holds casual conversations with Jesus and does whatever she's told, common sense never an issue. We're not talking prayer here. There is an adult who has sex with a teen. Sure, she comes on to him, but still...an adult having sex with a teen. And there is some rather crude language. This book will not be everyone's cuppa.Like many stereotypes, there is sadly a kernel of truth in them, but blown way out of proportion. The beauty queen industry, the trophies, Baily – a little girl whose mother thinks she will be more successful if her photos were sexier, there is desperation and sorrow hidden under the humor.“If she'd overlooked something as fundamental as her nine-year-old daughter's sex appeal, what else had she missed?”One of the characters who loses front teeth lives some of the stereotyping first hand, and benefits by it, at least in that person's mind. Pretty funny stuff, again with some truth hidden in it.While these characters never quite became real to me, I could still appreciate them. I even was touched when Ray, a indiscriminate pill popper, and not coincidentally the one who had sex with a teen, met his child Brixton for the first time – a very touching moment in this silly book.This funny novel can be quite sad if you look too closely.I was given an advance copy of this book for review. The quote may have changed in the published edition.