Natural Beauty
Ratings31
Average rating3.9
Sly, surprising, and razor-sharp, Natural Beauty follows a young musician into an elite, beauty-obsessed world where perfection comes at a staggering cost. Our narrator produces a sound from the piano no one else at the Conservatory can. She employs a technique she learned from her parents—also talented musicians—who fled China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. But when an accident leaves her parents debilitated, she abandons her future for a job at a high-end beauty and wellness store in New York City. Holistik is known for its remarkable products and procedures—from remoras that suck out cheap Botox to eyelash extensions made of spider silk—and her new job affords her entry into a world of privilege and gives her a long-awaited sense of belonging. She becomes transfixed by Helen, the niece of Holistik’s charismatic owner, and the two strike up a friendship that hazily veers into more. All the while, our narrator is plied with products that slim her thighs, smooth her skin, and lighten her hair. But beneath these creams and tinctures lies something sinister. A piercing, darkly funny debut, Natural Beauty explores questions of consumerism, self-worth, race, and identity—and leaves readers with a shocking and unsettling truth.
Tags
Reviews
Popular Reviews
Reviews with the most likes.
I started this a while back and put it down because it wasn't the right time, but I could t stop thinking about it. So I picked it up again. I liked that the horror was related to an obsession with beauty, bodies, and organic ingredients. The body horror and capitalism to an extreme were really well done. Some of the sexual stuff was weird and didn't add anything to the story to me. The ending visuals of the narrator will stay with me. I'm glad I came back to this one.
Contains spoilers
What, and I say this with all the intensity and fervor I can, the fuck.
If it wasn't so late in the year, if I weren't just barely keeping up with my Goodreads goal, this would've been a DNF almost immediately. Instead I said fuck it, let's see where this goes.
A weird body horror sex cult/human testing facility posing as a holistic makeup brand owned by a pedophile and managed by a woman nursing a monkey and who replaces her eyes with diamonds, is where it went.
The sacrifices I make for my Goodreads goal.
2.5/5
I was pretty disappointed by this one. The writing was weird in that so many times sentences would hop so quickly from one thing happening at one moment to something happening literally the next day. I'm just also not really into the kind of horror that makes up this book, which I really didn't know the specifics before reading. Not a bad book, just not for me.
