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A review by sarahholliday
Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.75
Like other reviewers, I think the premise of Natural Beauty is brilliant, but the execution is lacking. The book starts off with somewhat awkward pacing and so-minimalist-as-to-be-problematic descriptions of what's happening, and those problems only increase as the story progresses.
Typically, if a story is vague in terms of plots you at least get deep character studies, but that's not the case here. I kept having to flip backwards to remind myself who characters were—they all sort of blended together because no one had much of a personality to begin with.
The final few chapters of the book are expected to do way too much of the heavy lifting, trying to explain (almost fully) what we've only gotten glimpses of for the first 200 pages. We finally get some self reflection on the part of "Anna," something that might have helped make her complete lack of agency throughout the story easier to understand.
Overall, I was left with the frustrating feeling that a lot of really fascinating and horrific things were happening, but we just never really got to see them. Having read interviews with Ling Ling Huang, it's obvious that she had a clear vision of what she wanted the story to accomplish. Unfortunately, clumsy execution (that should have been better shaped by an editor) keeps readers from actually being able to engage with the issues—wellness, beauty, power, racism—with any sort of nuance.
Typically, if a story is vague in terms of plots you at least get deep character studies, but that's not the case here. I kept having to flip backwards to remind myself who characters were—they all sort of blended together because no one had much of a personality to begin with.
The final few chapters of the book are expected to do way too much of the heavy lifting, trying to explain (almost fully) what we've only gotten glimpses of for the first 200 pages. We finally get some self reflection on the part of "Anna," something that might have helped make her complete lack of agency throughout the story easier to understand.
Overall, I was left with the frustrating feeling that a lot of really fascinating and horrific things were happening, but we just never really got to see them. Having read interviews with Ling Ling Huang, it's obvious that she had a clear vision of what she wanted the story to accomplish. Unfortunately, clumsy execution (that should have been better shaped by an editor) keeps readers from actually being able to engage with the issues—wellness, beauty, power, racism—with any sort of nuance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Body horror, Body shaming, Blood, Grief, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Rape
Moderate: Car accident, Animal cruelty, and Cannibalism