3.5
Natural Beauty
ByPublisher Description
Winner of the Lambda Literary Award in Bisexual Fiction
Longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
Sly, surprising, and razor-sharp, Natural Beauty follows a young musician into an elite, beauty-obsessed world where perfection comes at a staggering cost.
Our narrator produces a sound from the piano no one else at the Conservatory can. She employs a technique she learned from her parents—also talented musicians—who fled China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. But when an accident leaves her parents debilitated, she abandons her future for a job at a high-end beauty and wellness store in New York City.
Holistik is known for its remarkable products and procedures—from remoras that suck out cheap Botox to eyelash extensions made of spider silk—and her new job affords her entry into a world of privilege and gives her a long-awaited sense of belonging. She becomes transfixed by Helen, the niece of Holistik’s charismatic owner, and the two strike up a friendship that hazily veers into more. All the while, our narrator is plied with products that slim her thighs, smooth her skin, and lighten her hair. But beneath these creams and tinctures lies something sinister.
A piercing, darkly funny debut, Natural Beauty explores questions of consumerism, self-worth, race, and identity—and leaves readers with a shocking and unsettling truth.
Longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
Sly, surprising, and razor-sharp, Natural Beauty follows a young musician into an elite, beauty-obsessed world where perfection comes at a staggering cost.
Our narrator produces a sound from the piano no one else at the Conservatory can. She employs a technique she learned from her parents—also talented musicians—who fled China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. But when an accident leaves her parents debilitated, she abandons her future for a job at a high-end beauty and wellness store in New York City.
Holistik is known for its remarkable products and procedures—from remoras that suck out cheap Botox to eyelash extensions made of spider silk—and her new job affords her entry into a world of privilege and gives her a long-awaited sense of belonging. She becomes transfixed by Helen, the niece of Holistik’s charismatic owner, and the two strike up a friendship that hazily veers into more. All the while, our narrator is plied with products that slim her thighs, smooth her skin, and lighten her hair. But beneath these creams and tinctures lies something sinister.
A piercing, darkly funny debut, Natural Beauty explores questions of consumerism, self-worth, race, and identity—and leaves readers with a shocking and unsettling truth.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesNatural Beauty Reviews
3.5
TRG
Created about 3 hours agoShare
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Jas
Created about 15 hours agoShare
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Kaitlyn <3
Created about 20 hours agoShare
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““My father’s flat feet have turned into Helen’s high arches. Without them, how can I be sure of following in his footsteps?”
Natural Beauty is gripping and terrifying. It took a minute to win me over, as it does seem like a trend in books right now to write about a weird, creepy cult hidden under the guise of wellness and girl power. It wasn’t until I hit the 50% mark that I realized the deeper implications of assimilation into western, white culture. Ling Ling Huang makes the deliberate choice to never reveal our protagonist’s real name. This is the first step of stripping her identity as a person, in turn stripping her of her culture, and her connection to her parents. The main character is treated as a commodity throughout the book, being no different to the creams and serums being sold by Holistik. And while I was initially dissatisfied with the ending, the more I think on it, the more I like it. Ling Ling Huang writes beautiful, heartbreaking prose, and I’m so excited to see what she releases next.”
Maddi M
Created about 20 hours agoShare
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About Ling Ling Huang
Ling Ling Huang is a writer and violinist. She plays with several ensembles, including the Oregon Symphony, Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, ProMusica, Chamber Orchestra, and the Experiential Orchestra, with whom she won a Grammy Award in 2021. Natural Beauty is her first novel.
Other books by Ling Ling Huang
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