Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

41 reviews

jensch's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

Moderate: Body horror

wiitchycats's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The first 2/3 of this book were amazing, but the final 1/3 felt like it didn’t contain the same depth. Nonetheless this was a novel I couldn’t put down! 

This story had so much to say about the beauty world, homogenization, white supremacy, and capitalism. It was such a devastating read and the ending was too real. The writing and craft of this was artfully done and absolutely beautiful.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Racism and Xenophobia

Minor: Suicide and Pedophilia

caroisreading's review

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What a wild ride. And what a hell of a debut novel by Ling Ling Huang. I'm still processing the many layers that the author has sliced open, with all its grotesque detail, what it means to be a woman stripped of her own nature, power, choice, financial security, fertility, ethnicity, family and body. Essentially, the reality we live today, only digestible as a work of dystopian fiction. 

Our narrator is a Chinese-American daughter of immigrants, two pianists who escaped the Cultural Revolution. She's absorbed their passion for the instrument and art, and rises as a talented young prodigy, enduring bullying for being praised, different, and poor. After tragedy, she has to give up piano for odd jobs to survive, and finds herself working in retail at Holistik, a beauty shop that feels surreal with its elite clientele, innovative services and beautiful staff of women. As she literally drinks the Kool-aid, she mentally and physically becomes the same brand of beauty, at a huge cost. 

This is a disturbing story, a little too real in its descriptions of an unrelenting capitalist society, with beauty and youth reserved only for the 1%, and a dismissive eye toward the basic healthcare and wellness of the lower and middle class. It sarcastically mimics the marketing extremes of what it means to be "organic" and "zero waste" to the point of nauseating realism. It serves up, very simply, the erasure of ethnic beauty and backgrounds in favor of a homogenous Nordic-type everygirl. It shows us nature's brutality and retaliation when man tries to bend it to his will. It explores the relationship between art and pain, and the sacrifice of self for something to be considered beautiful.

This is a must-read, for a reality check on many of the rights we see ourselves being stripped of, and issues our society are grappling with today. Definitely check the content warnings.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Sexism, Vomit, Fatphobia, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Gore, Racism, Body shaming, Xenophobia, Animal death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Bullying, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Rape

emilywemily6's review

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

In some ways, this book gave more than I expected, and in other ways, it didn’t quite fulfill what I was hoping for while I was reading. I really liked the conversations on the cosmetic industry, European standards of beauty, the privileges afforded to the privileged, etc. However, there is a lot jammed into this book, and by the end I felt a little unfulfilled in these discussions and plot points that could have gone farther than they did. Also, the main character’s lack of awareness/acceptance of the changes she went through was irksome. If I was suddenly 6 inches taller I would have been startled and run away from Holistik, for one thing, let alone all the other things that happened. She also felt so bad about her relationship with her parents but did nothing to truly fix it or come to terms with it. So I wasn’t a huge fan of the main character. I also felt like the book was over-sexualized. While this novel gave me a lot to think about, it won’t be quite a favorite.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Alcohol, Grief, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Bullying, Death, Cursing, Medical content, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Drug use, Gore, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Miscarriage, Infertility, Pregnancy, Cannibalism, Car accident, and Animal cruelty

mudlizard's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

perfectly meh. I was somewhat interested in its surrealness and I am a fan of literary horror, but I feel like the explorations of beauty and ugliness and 'wellness' were hit and miss. how that intersects with race and class being quite well executed, but the ending left me conflicted (along with other aspects throughout the book) on how other characteristics are being perceived. characters were kinda dull and indistinct. still I can see its appeal and am curious to see what else the author writes!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Racism, and Medical content

Moderate: Body shaming and Body horror

Minor: Cannibalism

bt_wannabe's review

dark fast-paced

4.0

I can’t stop thinking about it!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Body shaming, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Car accident

mfrisk's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book is equal parts a reflection on living up to the standards of parents and navigating our relationships with family as it is a critique on predatory business practices and people in the beauty industry and spaces which prey on those with insecurities or areas of perceived weakness. 

There were so many quotable moments related to beauty, grief, and art and we really get into the head of our unnamed narrator through her experience which with time becomes gradually more horrific. That aspect I liked but I do wish there had been less characters to keep track of besides our main narrator. That to me got confusing though I can understand why they may have made that choice. The book really goes off the rails with its ending which in some ways I enjoyed but in other ways left me feeling confused/wanting more. 

A few things that made me unsure how I feel about this book. I genuinely may have missed this but the book alluded that our narrator had something to do with her parents’ car accident however I’m still confused about that part. I’m also a bit stumped by the implication of who is writing the weird letters at the end and wish more had been wrapped up about Connor and hers experiences at the conservatory. They didn’t need to spell everything out but I do feel like I needed slightly more spelled out for me to fully get all that was being alluded to.  

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual violence, Vomit, Rape, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Car accident, and Body horror

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Torture, and Animal cruelty

jemiddleton7's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Car accident, Body horror, Rape, and Sexual assault

spicyspookypotato's review

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Drug use, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Body horror, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Dementia, Death of parent, Death, Car accident, Animal cruelty, Violence, Toxic relationship, Dysphoria, Sexual violence, Classism, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury

goatsrsexy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was a fantastic read! I absolutely loved the writing/narrative style, how it starts off running and feels super confusing and almost surreal but as the book goes on it actually starts to make more sense and feel more realistic despite the insane subject matter. There is definitely some scathing commentary on western beauty standards and the beauty industry, but the story stands on its own, I was totally riveted. Will definitely be looking to see what this author does next.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Rape, Cannibalism, Torture, Death, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, and Death of parent