A review by bluejayreads
The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Essays on Desire and Consumption by Katy Kelleher

3.0

For an introduction that had such promise, the actual essays were less fantastic than expected. I was thrilled by an introduction that discussed the tension between desiring beauty and the cruelty and destruction that often goes into producing beautiful things. I copied down several of the quotes to save: "There are no pure things in this world: everything that lives does harm; everything that exists degrades" and "desire and repulsion exist in tandem and … the most poignant beauties are interthreaded with ugliness. There is no life without suffering. There is no way to live without causing harm." But the essays themselves and the conclusion didn't quite fulfil the promise. I learned a lot about Katy's personal thoughts on various beautiful things (porcelain, shells, flowers, diamonds, silk …) and a lot about the history of how those things are created and the suffering, pain, and damage behind them, and the writing was engaging and poetic, despite the combination of the personal and general feeling a bit discordant at times. But the whole book felt like it was missing a final point, just meandering to an end without actually saying anything. I think perhaps I just wanted Katy to explain how I can desire beauty while not supporting the cruelty behind it, or to give me permission to desire beautiful things despite the pain and destruction it takes to produce them. In which case, the "missing point" is not the fault of the book but rather the fault of me expecting more than one slim volume of essays would ever be able to give. 
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