NATURAL BEAUTY is a weird fucking book. It definitely feels like a debut, but not necessarily in a bad way. Sometimes debut books are brave experiments, where the author takes a risk and tells the story the way they envisioned it, even if it takes you to dark and twisted places. This is a timely, almost darkly satirical piece about women's bodily autonomy, the sadism of the beauty industry, and the very real danger of unregulated beauty and pseudo-medical supplements.
The unnamed protagonist used to be a piano prodigy until a terrible tragedy made her lose her heart in playing. She's working a minimum wage job at a restaurant when she's scouted by a beautiful woman who recognizes her from her piano playing days, who works at a business called Holistik. She offers the FMC a job.
Right away, Holistik feels a little... off. All of their medical treatments and products have bizarre ingredients and they are adamant that employees try the supplements and products-- as many as possible. Including the experimental ones, although they won't force you to do that. Probably. Probably, right?
Half of this book is very slow and more unsettling than horrifying. The last half is a rollercoaster of body horror and gore. I'm a wuss, and several scenes had me turning away and going, "Oh my god, EW." You'll definitely want to check the triggers on this one if animal cruelty and SA are triggers for you. Ultimately, I thought that this was more interesting than good. V.J. Chambers has a similar Stepford Wives-by-way-of-the-beauty-industry book that I enjoyed a little more called PERFECT. This book felt like that, if it were written in one of Mona Awad's surreal fever dreams.
2.5 out of 5 stars
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