A review by emilyinherhead
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino

emotional funny informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Adina is an alien. She arrives to Earth, born to a single mother in Philadelphia who almost dies giving birth, the same day the Voyager 1 is launched. Her job is to observe humanity, and she takes constant notes which she then transmits to her supervisors via an old fax machine. On the surface, it’s a wacky premise. There is indeed a lot of humor in this book! But it’s so much less wacky than it sounds. And so much deeper, too.

If she believed the T-shirts sold on the boardwalk, a woman was a ball or chain, someone stupid you’re with, someone to lie to so a man can work out or drink beer. If she believed fathers on television shows, women were a constant pain, wanting red roses or a nice dinner out. If she learned how to be a girl from songs, it was worse. If she learned from other girls, worse still.

The observations Adina sends through her fax machine are all so straightforward, but somehow in their simplicity they take on a poignancy and profundity that I didn’t expect. Her description of a friend moving away reminded me a little of a particular Mountain Goats lyric (“an astronaut could have seen the hunger in my eyes from space”) that always knocks me flat:

The car is one of many chugging toward the boulevard, but it contains one of the only humans Adina loves. It is a family moment. She wonders if Hubble can see them with its powerful eye. Five people waving toward a retreating car.

Just like the humans she encounters in her day-to-day life, Adina feels lonely, sad, and sometimes homesick, more so as her life continues and she experiences loss and begins to question her purpose. She is such a relatable character, and Marie-Helene Bertino portrays her so tenderly—the writing is truly gorgeous.

The human lifespan was perfectly designed to be brief but to at times feel endless. A set of years that pass in a minute, eternity in an afternoon.

By the end of Adina’s story, I was sobbing, feeling seen and less alone, overcome by life’s brevity and beauty. It feels impossible to do it justice in a short review, so I will just say: what a special book. I can’t recommend it highly enough.