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gracie_goose's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
However, I did find it intriguing. It's difficult to say you "enjoy" a book like this. It's more like when you drive past an accident and can't look away. The commentary made makes sense, but some things are kind of confusing, perhaps intentionally so. Beauty here is commented on with a particular focus on the exploitation women--especially women of colour--face.
Good for:
If you want to be horrified
If you love skin care but also are outraged by capitalism
Bad for:
People who get queasy
People who like answers at the end
Graphic: Gore, Animal death, and Sexual assault
Minor: Rape
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Medical trauma, Medical content, Gore, Death, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Body shaming, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Death of parent, Eating disorder, Drug use, Pregnancy, Grief, Violence, Cultural appropriation, Misogyny, Racism, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Blood, Vomit, and Sexism
Minor: Animal death, Car accident, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Cannibalism, and Child abuse
Various levels of questionable/lack of consent, including outside of a solely sexual context. General exploitation and manipulation. Lots of themes around beauty standards and "healthy" lifestyles, including unhealthy levels of adherence thereto.livlamentloathe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was a grotesque dissection of beauty, marginalization, and the dangers of the male gaze. It was more than that too, I can’t exactly summarize this book into a sentence. The ending felt akin to Carrie Narby’s “Indescribable,” in It Came From the Closet. The nonexistence of beauty, of perception, grants a form of freedom. There is a queerness to ugliness.
Natural Beauty captured the dangers of beauty well. It spoke to the “feminism” of beauty and the cage that surrounds conformity. Reading this was an experience I can’t truly describe in words. But I enjoyed this a great deal. Another example of how the greatest horror stems from reality.
Graphic: Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Death, Dysphoria, Excrement, Fatphobia, Grief, Medical content, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, and Stalking
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Vomit, Terminal illness, and Sexual violence
Minor: Animal death, Cannibalism, Murder, Vomit, and Excrement
jaiari12's review
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
Graphic: Cannibalism, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Animal death, Grief, Body horror, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Racism, Rape, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Gore, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
mermaidsherbet's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Body horror and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Violence, Gaslighting, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual assault
Minor: Infertility, Murder, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Animal death, Bullying, Cannibalism, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Classism, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Stalking, Drug use, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
susheela's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Medical trauma, Body horror, and Body shaming
Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Racism, and Eating disorder
Minor: Cannibalism
mrsboomreads's review
4.0
That being said, horror is not my genre and some of the events and descriptions were…horrifying.
Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Confinement, Gore, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Medical content, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Car accident, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, and Death of parent