Reviews - The Beauty | The StoryGraph

575 reviews for:

The Beauty

Aliya Whiteley

3.51 AVERAGE

dongu's review

3.5

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

izgabo's review against another edition

2.25

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

It was very short and though it had both story and character development, both did not reach the depth I was hoping for. It felt like the beginning of a bigger story though! Overall, the content was uncomfortable, which I like! but I would’ve appreciated more in depth exploration (or history?) of the uncomfortable situations and topics.
There was a short story about the length of this book at the end of my book which was fantastic “Peace, Pipe”

Content Warnings

quietabyss's review against another edition

4.0

dark reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

vanxjs's review against another edition

3.0

This book is really short, only about 100 pages. The rest of the edition that I got contains an unrelated short story that I liked almost better than the main story (Peace, Pipe). I am torn about "The Beauty" because while it is beautifully written, it felt unfinished, not only because it ends without any grand conclusions, but because the ending is the beginning of a journey. So the whole book felt like more of an intro. But maybe that's a trend with novellas these days? Either way, it is very poetic and a quick read, and the short story included is creative. Deep thoughts in both.

alyonang's review against another edition

1.0

read this on a recommendation from a friend who hated it and i hate it too fr. this was straight disgusting and not in an interesting way

emerrick's review against another edition

3.0

3.8 stars

I genuinely do not know how to rate this book. I loved the writing. It was haunting and beautiful and I really vibed with it, but I am so confused by the whole point of this book.

This book is only about 100 pages, and it clearly is trying to say something about gender and gender roles, but I don't know what it's trying to say. It also only focuses on the binary system of male versus female, and doesn't at all include queerness, trans people or nonbinary people. Again, this book is only a 100 pages and isn't really long enough to cover the more nuanced parts of gender and gender identity.

In the end, the writing was amazing. This book was haunting and disturbing, a great inclusion to any horror library. However, I have no idea what it was trying to say and I think that really defeats the purpose of even tackling the gender system-so I can't give it a full 4 stars.

meganium's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Discussions of gender, society, grief; how we attempt to fill the holes left by those who are lost; how change is constant and yet we attempt to reconstruct our pasts. Very creepy and disturbing at times, but also has a lot to say.