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juliwi 's review for:
The Beauty
by Aliya Whiteley
For me, good books have to make me think, make me question and leave me slightly unsatisfied. A book that gives me all the answers may be satisfactory, but it is also immediately over after the last page and easily forgotten. Not so The Beauty. There is genuinely no way that this novel will not make you question your own surroundings. Before I launch into the, incredible, work this novel does I will make some more general comments. Nate, our main character, is a storyteller and in and of itself that is a fascinating character to choose. They are, often, the most observant people and those who see things in a cultural and social context. Nate, then, carries a lot of responsibility as the one who needs to keep the old traditions alive while living in a world that is slowly dying. He is not always likeable, but then how can someone grow up in that kind of world without, at times, being questionable. Survival sharpens the edges rather than softens them. Initially I wasn't too sure about spending a whole novel with an all-male society but then Whiteley's genius struck and I couldn't have been happier.
The idea behind this novel is utterly fascinating. What Whiteley manages to do is deconstruct gender roles down to the very core of what we consider masculine and feminine and then twist it around until the reader finds himself questioning everything. This means that halfway through the novel you find yourself wondering what it is you're reading. It's not until realization hits that you know there is no stopping now. The Beauty plays in to a lot of different debates, nature vs. nurture for example, or whether gender is performative or innate. As such, it is both interesting for men and women, rather than just one. I don't want to give away too much because this novel is definitely at its best when you go into it unknowing. What I am desperately waiting for now is some academic writing on this novel! Maybe I should start...
Whiteley's writing is captivating. It lulls you into a sense of security with its normalcy before hitting you with the strangeness of the events. It is definitely important, then, that Whiteley didn't lose herself in adjectives and grotesque descriptions because all the hard work this story does would have been lost. If she had presented the narrative in a way that was incredulous it would lose all of its power and just be another sci-fi book. But instead the power lies in the simplicity and easy with which it seems that the world changes irrevocably. There are some amazing images and some really powerful scenes within this relatively small novel and they're timed very well, making sure the reader is has a sense of time while also being completely lost.
The idea behind this novel is utterly fascinating. What Whiteley manages to do is deconstruct gender roles down to the very core of what we consider masculine and feminine and then twist it around until the reader finds himself questioning everything. This means that halfway through the novel you find yourself wondering what it is you're reading. It's not until realization hits that you know there is no stopping now. The Beauty plays in to a lot of different debates, nature vs. nurture for example, or whether gender is performative or innate. As such, it is both interesting for men and women, rather than just one. I don't want to give away too much because this novel is definitely at its best when you go into it unknowing. What I am desperately waiting for now is some academic writing on this novel! Maybe I should start...
Whiteley's writing is captivating. It lulls you into a sense of security with its normalcy before hitting you with the strangeness of the events. It is definitely important, then, that Whiteley didn't lose herself in adjectives and grotesque descriptions because all the hard work this story does would have been lost. If she had presented the narrative in a way that was incredulous it would lose all of its power and just be another sci-fi book. But instead the power lies in the simplicity and easy with which it seems that the world changes irrevocably. There are some amazing images and some really powerful scenes within this relatively small novel and they're timed very well, making sure the reader is has a sense of time while also being completely lost.