Review: Meat Market

Meat Market by Juno Dawson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jana is scouted by a modeling agency at Thorpe park. Surprised and suspicious at first, she's soon pulled into the fast paced world of high fashion, earning thousands just for walking while wearing clothes. Modeling is not a kind industry, though, and she soon finds herself caught up in the seedy side of things, alone and unprotected.

Juno Dawson has a way of cutting straight to the heart of things. Surprisingly, I found this easier to read than Clean, which was desperately distressing: this one is upsetting, but in smaller doses, so it was easier to keep going. I enjoyed it very much and felt great satissfaction at the end. I was also pleasently surprised when Jana's narration turned out to be entirely innocent; I'd been expecting a magazine exposé or a police interview, but it was much more benign than that.

A fantastic read, I really enjoyed it.




(Note that curses are not hidden in the novel.)

By the end of the shoot, I don't feel quite so ridiculous. No matter how mad I feel pretending to walk on the spot, at least I can see the pictures popping up on Ro's laptop and they do look pretty cool. 'You can't take a bad picture, babes,' Ro tells me. I guess that's why Tom is good at his job - he knows who's gonna look good in pictures, however weird they look in real life. 'I think we're good, Layla. We have so many choices.'

'Yeah? Wicked.' She comes over and gives me a big hug. 'You're a trooper, babe. I wanna shoot you again. I'm serious.'

'Really?'

'Abso-f***ing-lutely. You got it, babe.'

'Thank you.' I sense Arabella is waiting for the same feedback, but Layla doesn't seem to notice she's still here.

'You're a sweet kid. Hang on to that for as long as you can. Don't become a c**t, even if you can get away with it.'

Layla's assistant starts taking the backdrop down and it all wraps up in a flurry of air kisses. I mostly want the shoes off. As I change into my vest and jeans again, I can't help but feel a bit less special, like Clark Kent putting the tie and glasses back on.

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