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A review by hayleyjames24
Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
This was so solid, what a debut!! The writing was atmospheric and unsettling and almost clincial that kept you slightly at arms length from our MC
I picked this off the shelf of the library not realising it was classified as horror and also not knowing anything about it and honestly I recommend going in as blind as you possibly can so I'll try make this review as vague as poss.
It talks deeply about family, and support especially with the immigrant experience, the child feeling the need to grow up and do what their parents couldnt, the cost of assimilation in a new country, capitalism and the price and standard of beauty.
I felt like this was an older (and more horrifying) version of uglies by scott westerfeld.
Was not prepared for it to get quite sci-fi/body horror on me but it was a welcome surprise which kept me flipping pages and ignoring responsibilites. Felt as if it was the perfect length for the story it was telling which is a welcome change from the few books ive read recently.
It was weird and disconcerting but had depth and knew exactly what it wanted to do.
Would 10000% read more from this author
I picked this off the shelf of the library not realising it was classified as horror and also not knowing anything about it and honestly I recommend going in as blind as you possibly can so I'll try make this review as vague as poss.
It talks deeply about family, and support especially with the immigrant experience, the child feeling the need to grow up and do what their parents couldnt, the cost of assimilation in a new country, capitalism and the price and standard of beauty.
I felt like this was an older (and more horrifying) version of uglies by scott westerfeld.
Was not prepared for it to get quite sci-fi/body horror on me but it was a welcome surprise which kept me flipping pages and ignoring responsibilites. Felt as if it was the perfect length for the story it was telling which is a welcome change from the few books ive read recently.
It was weird and disconcerting but had depth and knew exactly what it wanted to do.
Would 10000% read more from this author