Hi, today I’m reviewing the book Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang.
I think that’s how it’s pronounced. H U A N G. In any case, this was a really good book. It’s about a musician, I believe. She’s a Chinese-American musician, and she’s an exquisite pianist and had this remarkable future ahead of her as a pianist, but gave it up in the wake of an accident that her parents underwent and it leaves them debilitated, and she’s forced to get a job, I guess. And she gets involved with this holistic beauty and wellness company. So from there, well, things get very dark rather quickly, actually. I mean, she becomes quite hooked on this whole system that they have. And really gets into it, and without revealing any spoilers, I don’t want to talk too much about the plot, just to say that here you have this company that’s almost cult-like, and I’m trying to sit up straighter. Sorry, I have a tendency to lean to the left ever since I had a stroke, unfortunately. And of course, dystonia is not helping, and it is still Dystonia Awareness Month, so I thought I would throw that in there.
Anyway, having said that, there’s a lot in there about our obsession with beauty, with looks, with … there are cultural themes in here having to do with different ethnicities, expectations for children, all this kind of stuff. And it’s all wrapped up in this kind of a thriller where you know she’s getting sucked into something really bad and it takes her a while to figure it out. And the results are pretty devastating. I will say that it’s been a while since I’ve read this, frankly, and I have just for some reason not gotten around to reviewing it until now, but it was remarkable enough to where I felt like I had to because people should read this book. It’s really, really good. And on that note, I will just say thanks for listening, and I’ll talk to you later.
You can buy the book from various online retailers.
You can also buy it in print from my online bookstore and support indie bookstores.
