A review by mcresnick3
Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

i was captivated the whole time, and i really like a horror-y, culty book that starts by making you feel a little uneasy and then devolves into utter chaos. i liked the musical elements, as well as huang’s treatment of the narrator’s race and class backgrounds and their interplay with starting and continuing at holistik. i thought that some things (some of the wellness/beauty ideas, some of the descriptions of the first gen immigrant experience) were a little heavy-handed/tropey, but the world she created and the stakes and the horror were all excellent, and it was a super impressive, fun, and thought-provoking debut novel