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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a tricky one. The events of the novel are predicated on a gender apocalypse -- all of the women die, leaving a small community of men living the last days of humanity; sporror ensues. Gender apocalypses are almost always problematic and messy, because they're based on a rigid binary view of the sexes. Out here in the real world, every time gender essentialists attempt to pen in one sex or the other, it all falls apart rapidly due to the fact that sex cannot be defined narrowly.
Biology is complicated. There are people who present female with y-chromosomes, and or present as male with no y-chromosome, or people who do not present as either sex, or both, etc. And that's just if you're trying to define sex, not gender. Defining gender rigidly is pointless, Joanne, as it is a social construct with no objective reality. Something something, imaginary gardens with real toads in them.
So. I get why I read a review that called The Beauty "a whole lot of TERF bullshit." Because gender apocalypses mostly have an essentialist view baked right in, you can read that out pretty easily. Like sometimes I think I should reread Frank Herbert's The White Plague just to get my blood up. Even younger Ceridwen, who liked Herbert very much, was uncomfortable with his take on gender. I don't think that kind of nonsense is happening here, but I think it's a valid interpretation.
I think The Beauty is more like a fairy tale about gender, not the nice ones with lucky sons, but the ones that happen deep in the forest. The story is told by Nathan, a young man who is himself the storyteller of his small community, charged with retaining the memory of women and modernity and the origins of their community. Before the death of the women, the town was some kind of separatist community, and Nate's stories about the modern world are all secondhand. We also do not know how the plague played out in the larger world, which functionally doesn't exist. Nate might as well have a flashing neon sign over his head that reads "Unreliable Narrator," with occasional klaxons so you get the point.
When the group becomes entangled with the Beauty (I'm keeping it vague) there is a sort of role reversal: (some of) the men begin acting like women: wearing dresses, cooking, etc. I mean, moreso than they were already, because most if not all of the younger men in the community, the ones who couldn't remember women, were already enthusiastically homosexual. But that itself is another binary, as the older men who remember women eschew sex with their peers.
Every distinction or division made by the narrator ends up being messier than a rigid duality. The untidy binary is a concept Whiteley plays with throughout the novella, setting up oppositional pairs -- men/women, old/young, human/Beauty, etc -- and then disordering or rearranging the divisions. I think one could even successfully argue that Nate's story is a sort of trans allegory, coming at the social story of gender from a third way, or an other way.
Anyway, no one wants to hear my bullshit about how impossible assigning stars is, but I suspect I'll be coming back and changing my rating a couple times depending on how I'm feeling about ... some things that happened. A lot going on here.
Biology is complicated. There are people who present female with y-chromosomes, and or present as male with no y-chromosome, or people who do not present as either sex, or both, etc. And that's just if you're trying to define sex, not gender. Defining gender rigidly is pointless, Joanne, as it is a social construct with no objective reality. Something something, imaginary gardens with real toads in them.
So. I get why I read a review that called The Beauty "a whole lot of TERF bullshit." Because gender apocalypses mostly have an essentialist view baked right in, you can read that out pretty easily. Like sometimes I think I should reread Frank Herbert's The White Plague just to get my blood up. Even younger Ceridwen, who liked Herbert very much, was uncomfortable with his take on gender. I don't think that kind of nonsense is happening here, but I think it's a valid interpretation.
I think The Beauty is more like a fairy tale about gender, not the nice ones with lucky sons, but the ones that happen deep in the forest. The story is told by Nathan, a young man who is himself the storyteller of his small community, charged with retaining the memory of women and modernity and the origins of their community. Before the death of the women, the town was some kind of separatist community, and Nate's stories about the modern world are all secondhand. We also do not know how the plague played out in the larger world, which functionally doesn't exist. Nate might as well have a flashing neon sign over his head that reads "Unreliable Narrator," with occasional klaxons so you get the point.
When the group becomes entangled with the Beauty (I'm keeping it vague) there is a sort of role reversal: (some of) the men begin acting like women: wearing dresses, cooking, etc. I mean, moreso than they were already, because most if not all of the younger men in the community, the ones who couldn't remember women, were already enthusiastically homosexual. But that itself is another binary, as the older men who remember women eschew sex with their peers.
Every distinction or division made by the narrator ends up being messier than a rigid duality. The untidy binary is a concept Whiteley plays with throughout the novella, setting up oppositional pairs -- men/women, old/young, human/Beauty, etc -- and then disordering or rearranging the divisions. I think one could even successfully argue that Nate's story is a sort of trans allegory, coming at the social story of gender from a third way, or an other way.
Anyway, no one wants to hear my bullshit about how impossible assigning stars is, but I suspect I'll be coming back and changing my rating a couple times depending on how I'm feeling about ... some things that happened. A lot going on here.
Quiet and intense at the same time, this is the story of a small, isolated post-apocalyotic society, in a world where all women are gone, and eventually replaced by... something.
It definetly challenges gender norms. There is a sort of flip - the roles have been inverted, but not in an angry "let's see how you like it!" kind of way, atleast that's not all, there's more depth too it than that. It's rather something that changes your identity, and not everyone manages to adapt to the new order.
It's also sparse, and although we do learn some things, the central mystery is preserved, which makes the story more powerful in my opinion.
It definetly challenges gender norms. There is a sort of flip - the roles have been inverted, but not in an angry "let's see how you like it!" kind of way, atleast that's not all, there's more depth too it than that. It's rather something that changes your identity, and not everyone manages to adapt to the new order.
It's also sparse, and although we do learn some things, the central mystery is preserved, which makes the story more powerful in my opinion.
“The past, the present and the future—none of those are set. They change as we change.”
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a rollercoaster to say the least. The writing is excellent but the story itself was disturbing (it’s supposed to be that way but still). I do appreciate how the ending isn’t definite. A lot of dystopians will either end with everyone dying or the world being saved (which isn’t realistic). So I do appreciate the realistic aspect of the ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Sexual content
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
fast-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oh, Aliya Whitely, you just gained yourself a new fan.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
So... wow. I've read A LOT of books with disturbing content and body horror and this has some of the most intense body horror I've ever read. It was actually stomach turning at times.
Whiteley's exploration into ideas of social/gender roles is pretty straightforwardly a swap between traditional male/female roles. I wouldn't say it ends by actually saying anything new or particularly interesting about those roles, but the bodies were a HELL of a ride.
I'd recommend it as horror but not as something particularly socially smart.
Whiteley's exploration into ideas of social/gender roles is pretty straightforwardly a swap between traditional male/female roles. I wouldn't say it ends by actually saying anything new or particularly interesting about those roles, but the bodies were a HELL of a ride.
I'd recommend it as horror but not as something particularly socially smart.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Rape, Sexual content
Moderate: Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
challenging
dark
fast-paced
i’m just confused- this was the weirdest and most disturbing book ever and I hated every second of it but for some unexplainable reason I couldn’t stop reading