Natural Beauty: A Novel
£12.10£15.20 (-20%)
In this sly, surprising, and razor-sharp debut novel, a virtuoso pianist gives up her future as a musician to work at a high-end wellness store in New York City where the pursuit of beauty comes at a staggering cost.
Our narrator is the youngest student at the Conservatory. She produces a sound from the piano no one else does, employing a special technique she learned from her parents – also stunningly talented musicians – who fled China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. But when an accident leaves her parents debilitated, she abandons her future as a pianist and accepts a job at a high-end beauty and wellness store in New York City.
Holistik is known for its remarkable products and outrageous procedures: remoras that suck cheap Botox from the body, eyelash extensions made of spider silk, emotional support ducklings bred to imprint on their owners. Every product is ethically sourced and made with nothing but the highest quality ingredients.
Our narrator’s new job is a coveted one among New York’s beauty-obsessed, and it affords her entry into a new world of privilege. She becomes transfixed by Helen – a model, and the niece of Holistik’s charismatic owner – and the two strike up a close friendship that hazily veers into more. All the while, Holistik plies our narrator with products that slim her thighs, smooth her skin, lighten her hair, and change her eye color.
But beneath these fancy creams and tinctures lies a terrible truth that threatens to consume her. After all, beauty is nothing without ugliness.
Natural Beauty is a piercing, terrifying, and darkly funny debut that eviscerates the beauty and wellness industry, exploring questions of consumerism, self-worth, race, and identity. This propulsive novel takes a world that feels familiar and pushes it to a conclusion that at first might seem jarring, but when we inch closer, settles on us as truth.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Dutton (4 April 2023) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 272 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0593473817 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0593473818 |
| Dimensions | 14 x 1.7 x 21 cm |
by Antonia
After her parents are incapacitated in a car accident, our narrator—the daughter of Chinese immigrants and a pianist of prodigious talent—is forced to give up playing and get a job to cover the hospital bills. When she’s offered work at Holistik, a famous cutting-edge beauty store, she’s quick to accept. But beneath the luxurious facade of Holistik lies something much darker. Is there a price too high to pay for beauty?
I really enjoyed this dark, at times surreal, wryly humorous look beneath the skin of the beauty industry. It is satirical but also deeply moving, examining the experience of being a second-generation immigrant and the conflict between wanting to assimilate whilst still retaining some connection with one’s family and culture. The author’s love for the arts, especially music, shines through, bringing depth and warmth to the narrative.
Read it if you liked: the dark surrealism of Bunny by Mona Awad, the wry satire of My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Mossfegh.