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A review by annmariereads
Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom
4.0
What a wonderful, thoughtful, ORIGINAL, little book. Plus with a gorgeous cover like that, you know I’m picking it up!
Heads up: see the very bottom for trigger warnings that are also spoilers.
When Anna was 19, she became a super popular Instagram influenced and became caught up in everything that went with it, including the “look.” After going under the knife and having tons of procedures done in her youth, she’s now 35 and having a new treatment done called Aesthetica that erases all the cosmetic work you’ve ever had done. Right before the surgery she’s asked to help take down her abusive ex-boyfriend who was her manager and “made her” who she was.
Needless to say, Anna is working on some DEMONS as she prepares to find herself by seeing her face as it would have been and hopefully in turn, seeing herself spiritually and mentally as she would have been before the trauma of her young adulthood.
Oooh, this book still has me thinking - about obsession with youth, who is Anna’s truest self, would I ever have cosmetic work, why is influencer culture so enticing to us as a society, is getting work done feminist or anti-feminist or does it depend on your attitude about it?
One of my favorite things about this book is how well our author portrayed the seductive nature of social media - dopamine high of refreshing and getting likes, the uptick in followers, the careful caption consideration, the filters, the formulaic influencer approach. I’m still in awe of how raw and cringe-y those parts were.
Like, I’m ready to have a full-on book club discussion about this read. This is Rowbottom’s debut book and man, did she hit it out of the park with this one.
Thank you to @soho_press for sending me a copy of this fantastic book!
Heads up: see the very bottom for trigger warnings that are also spoilers.
When Anna was 19, she became a super popular Instagram influenced and became caught up in everything that went with it, including the “look.” After going under the knife and having tons of procedures done in her youth, she’s now 35 and having a new treatment done called Aesthetica that erases all the cosmetic work you’ve ever had done. Right before the surgery she’s asked to help take down her abusive ex-boyfriend who was her manager and “made her” who she was.
Needless to say, Anna is working on some DEMONS as she prepares to find herself by seeing her face as it would have been and hopefully in turn, seeing herself spiritually and mentally as she would have been before the trauma of her young adulthood.
Oooh, this book still has me thinking - about obsession with youth, who is Anna’s truest self, would I ever have cosmetic work, why is influencer culture so enticing to us as a society, is getting work done feminist or anti-feminist or does it depend on your attitude about it?
One of my favorite things about this book is how well our author portrayed the seductive nature of social media - dopamine high of refreshing and getting likes, the uptick in followers, the careful caption consideration, the filters, the formulaic influencer approach. I’m still in awe of how raw and cringe-y those parts were.
Like, I’m ready to have a full-on book club discussion about this read. This is Rowbottom’s debut book and man, did she hit it out of the park with this one.
Thank you to @soho_press for sending me a copy of this fantastic book!