Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect going into this book. The summary is just vague enough to intrigue you even more but doesn’t fully prepare you for how this book unfolds. Natural Beauty delves into the sinister world of beauty as self-care and self-worth—and what people will do to be their “perfect” selves.

Once, the unnamed narrator was a immensely talented pianist, a prodigy who had been training at the Conservatory for years. Then her parents suffer a debilitating accident, and she leaves her future behind to make money to pay for their care. At the restaurant where she works as a dishwasher, she’s discovered by Saje, who invites her to work for Holistik, her famous beauty store that people would kill to work for. There, the narrator is exposed to the extreme lengths people would go to in order to be beautiful—and the dangers underlying the price of beauty.

The way this book unfolds was fascinating; I could never look away, even when I was disturbed by the events that were happening. It’s definitely one that will stick with me for a while, and I’m definitely excited to see what this author writes next because I loved the writing. There’s something sticky about the narration that I just really enjoyed.

The character dynamics were also incredibly interesting. The narrator becomes enamored with Helen, the niece of Holistik’s owner Victor, and forms a terse bond with Lilith, Helen’s best friend and the manager of the Holistik storefront she works at. They’re the first friends she’s ever had, after years of being ridiculed and excluded at the Conservatory.

My favorite part of the book, though, was the narrator’s love for her parents and of music, particularly how the three of them bonded through the sharp emotions that music can evoke. Her parents are immigrants from China who fled in the wake of the Cultural Revolution as talented pianists. They eventually settled in the US as piano teachers, providing a frugal life for their daughter but one full of love.

I loved the passages describing her childhood, where her family didn’t have much but her parents found joy in the music they could produce and share together. Entering Holistik, a new world of mass wealth and privilege, was certainly a shock for the main character and remaining immersed in it for so long makes her forget the life she lived before, yet it’s clear that she can’t let go of the memories of love she has of her parents. The love lingers and remains, and was the strongest part of the book in my opinion.

Music itself serves as an analogy for beauty. Holistik’s whole concept of beauty is being perfect to a degree that isn’t natural yet will be shown as such. To Victor, there is no beauty in ugly things. However, the protagonist considers how there is beauty in what might not be conventionally beautiful, that dissonance and startling chords in pieces of music only enhance the beauty of the song itself.

Amidst all this, we’re introduced to the increasingly ridiculous beauty products and regimens that Holistik sells and provides. Beauty is presented as “self-care,” for the betterment of yourself. The people who work there are also required to partake in the daily supplements, and as time goes on, the protagonist is transformed into something new. It’s horrifying to see everything about her stripped away by Holistik; we’re never told the narrator’s actual name, only that it means “lotus,” and even that is taken away as Saje suggests she takes on a name that customers would feel more comfortable seeing.

To me, it was a bit ambiguous as to whether she actually enjoys this new life or even convinced by it. At times, the narration reads like she’s in a daze, just floating through her daily life. She’s certainly in love with Helen, the most beautiful person she’s ever met, and it’s stated multiple times that she’s just trying to make money to pay for her parents’ care facility. Her partaking in the Holistik felt more passive, which provides another layer to the slowly creeping-in horrors of the book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and will be haunted by it for a while longer. I loved the writing and how the character relationships were depicted, as well as the descriptions of music. I wouldn’t recommend this book if you’re not too into horror, but otherwise, if you’re intrigued by a mystical world of beauty as self-care and the gross lengths that people would go to to be beautiful, you should definitely pick up Natural Beauty.

The nameless protagonist was once a piano prodigy, until a family tragedy left her broken and broke. Landing a job at the prestigious cosmetics company Holistik might be just the break she needs to put her life back together. She can take pride in selling women bleeding-edge wellness treatments, earn a good living, and receive a personalized beauty regimen that is literally transformative. But the deeper she falls under Holistik's spell (and that of its founder's niece, Helen), the creepier it gets. Huang wraps a nauseating veneer of body horror around a cutting polemic about toxic beauty standards.

Ling Ling Huang's debut novel "Natural Beauty" has become my favorite read so far this year.

This book has the WTF-factor all the weird-lit girls, boys, and NBs are looking for in their surreal horror reads. Its surrealism comes from the high-end wellness products and procedures produced by New York City's revered beauty store Holistik. Silkie sternal cartilage grafts and spider-silk eyelash extensions are commonplace for the elite who wish to be beautiful. Meanwhile, its horror comes from the company's sinister inner workings and grotesque imagery of the aftereffects of bodies that have come to rely on these products/procedures.

Our unnamed narrator comes from a two-parent immigrant household that never had much while she was growing up — except the healing power of piano. From a young age, our narrator's undeniable talent stands out among the rest — so much so that an anonymous benefactor pays her way through a prestigious Conservatory. But when an accident leaves her parents debilitated, she no longer has the heart to put her fingers to keys.

Instead, Holistik co-owner Saje offers to take our narrator under her wing and give her a chance for a brighter, more beautiful future. The creams, serums, and pills are a mandatory part of the job. Soon, our narrator falls down a shadowy hole of western beauty standards that leads her to discover the nightmarish underbelly of this pristine industry.

Sometimes when a book tries to take on too many themes, it becomes messy and unfocused, but "Natural Beauty" perfectly weaves its connected themes of consumerism, cultural identity, race, class, and self-worth into masterful storytelling. It's hard for me not to spoil the shocking twists toward the end, so I urge you all to read this for yourselves so we can all freak out together about how Huang WENT THERE.

Natural Beauty is almost anything but beautiful. This slow burn story is a blend of literary fiction and body horror that thoroughly creeped me out while shocking me massively at the end. The journey the unnamed narrator takes through the inner workings of cutting edge beauty brand Holistik was as jarring as it was illuminating.

A Chinese American pianist takes a job working for Holistik, a popular beauty/wellness company that specializes in experimental, cutting edge procedures and products. As she becomes entangled with the business, she uncovers the disturbing nature of what’s truly going on. Literary fiction with a twinge of horror that takes the toxicity of the beauty industry to the EXTREME. I’ve never read anything quite like it.

Reading this was like watching a trainwreck: even when I wanted to, I really couldn’t look away. A very solid four stars, and I thoroughly recommend!

Our narrator — formerly a pianist, educated at a prestigious private conservatory — gets a job at an upscale beauty-and-wellness store called Holistik, a job that comes with prestige, good pay (which she desperately needs), and a regimen of products designed just for her. But the longer she works there, the stranger things get: what’s really going on at Holistik?

This was a really good, really gross, really captivating debut. It’s got it all: intrigue! queer longing! body horror! sharp and well-done commentary on race, and capitalism, and the “wellness” industry, and the ways in which all those things intersect! I wasn’t 100% on board with all of the plot beats, which is what knocked it down a star for me, but it was wildly engaging and once I got started, I think I read the whole thing in a four-hour binge.

One note: this is what I’d consider “literary horror,” and will likely appeal to anyone who enjoys the liminal space between those genres, but it is definitely, for sure, horror, and you should go in with that expectation (and having checked TWs accordingly).

All in all, an excellent read. Ling Ling Huang is a new voice to watch, and I certainly will be. My enormous thanks to Dutton and Netgalley for the advance copy!

Thank you to @violingsquared and @duttonbooks for providing me with this e-ARC via @netgalley!

Ling Ling Huang’s debut novel 𝙽𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝙱𝚎𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚢 follows an unnamed protagonist as she is plunged into an unfamiliar world of beauty and privilege, leaving behind her life as a musical prodigy.

To support her sick immigrant parents’ cost of living after a devastating accident, she begins working at Holistik, a high-end beauty and wellness store that offers her a look and lifestyle that she would have never imagined. Soon enough, she is forced to decide what risks she is willing to take for the sake of family.

This was a shorter, fast-paced read for me and I was instantly hooked; I finished in one day. Huang’s writing is perfectly eerie as it grapples with the topics of identity, consumerism, and beauty standards in today’s society. At first, I couldn’t exactly put my finger on what kind of read this would be but I quickly started to see how it falls into the body horror category. I don’t think I’ve read anything quite like this but it gave me the same creepy “WHAT IS GOING ON” vibes as 𝙼𝚎𝚡𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝙶𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚌.

This was one of my last reads of 2022 & I really enjoyed it. Bonus points for the flawless incorporation of music as an expression of love and dedication to family.

Rating: 4/5

*All opinions in this review are 100% my own.*

Pub day: April 4, 2023. Make sure to pre-order this one! It brings to light an interesting perspective on the beauty and wellness industry and how it intersects with race and class. Also! It has already been picked up for a TV series by Constance Wu 👏🏾 Can’t wait to see how it turns out!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending this ARC in exchange for an honest review of the book.

I’m hot off finishing this book and ultimately give it a score of 2.75 stars. I think it’s entertaining, but not a must-read. Pros are that it’s a fast-paced, thrilling, thematically rich, cinematic book that creates quick-buy in. It’s really a great concept. I appreciated the incorporation of discussions of race, Western beauty standards, counterculture, and business ethics. The plot pacing was good, and it looks like this book has already gotten picked up for a screen adaptation, which I see a lot of potential in. Writing wise, I liked the egg and mirror motifs, but beyond that, I really struggled to enjoy this as a book. The execution left a lot to be desired. The surreal parts are hard to follow. A lot of the sentences are short-ish in length and stay that short length, which really affected the flow especially during pivotal horror points. The flow was off. I found the climactic scene REALLY difficult to follow. The anticipation isn’t built that well. For example, the character when the main character begins to see a lot of what’s going on and is in a room she knows she’s not supposed to be in, we don’t get any of her feeling of panic until she’s caught: “What was I thinking? I should not be in this room.” In moments like that, more of the main character’s reactions would have added to the horror and clarified the scene. Some of the scenes, even late in the book, felt conveniently timed and crafted for exposition.

Still, if you like Ottessa Moshfegh, Ling Ma, George Saunders, or the song Faceshopping by SOPHIE, you might enjoy this book. To others, I’d recommend waiting for the screen adaptation!

I wish I could give this more than five stars. Absolutely vile, grotesque, soul crushing, pitch black satire. Every reveal rips the floor out from under you and the "I wish I could tell my parents I'm a famous pianist now, that I have achieved their American dream. It only took a gimmick and cost me nearly everyone I know" line hit me like a freight train. Amazing work; you could not pay me enough to read this again.

'Natural' is the perfect way to describe Ling Ling Huang's debut novel, "Natural Beauty'. While clearly a social commentary on the beauty industry, it holds itself steady as a well written and entertaining novel. I made the mistake of eating noodles as I read the last quarter of the book. I don't think I ever want to eat noodles again, though I plan on re-reading this book many times.

Perfect for fans of the TV show Black Mirror or mysterious sci-fi books, "Natural Beauty" approaches the beauty industry with an unnerving anecdote .The storyline blends Jeff VanDermeer's hypothetical scientific horrifics with Scott Westerfield's series The Uglies, leaving the reader questioning the way beauty is perceived in modern society. This debut novel explores what could happen if society took things a bit too far in experimental treatments and will have readers wonder at their own definition of beauty.

Beauty that's natural, but make it extreme.

NATURAL (adj.) Existing in or caused by nature; not made or caused by humankind.

What is the true meaning of natural beauty? I thought I had a pretty good grasp on the concept until I read Ling Ling Huang's "Natural Beauty: A Novel". This sharp debut presents a wildly different picture of society's physical standards forcing its readers to question the ways in which we have modified ourselves to fit, and furthermore, what the beauty industry seeks to eradicate: individuality.

Eyelashes made of spider silk, jellyfish serums, various venom, a mysterious lab at headquarters known as "The Zoo", and then there's "The Gunks". Welcome to Holistik, where everything from your mood to your skin can be delicately curated for astronomical prices, unless you're an employee, of course. However, even being an employee at socially renowned Holistik comes with a price, one our trusting main character might not realize she's paying...until she does. What reads as a glamorous romp through self identity and consumerism, is hiding something much darker than any horror fiction you can get your hands on: the truth. As our narrator makes transformation after transformation into the woman she thinks she wants to be, we witness her journey begin from the point of an all natural, trained pianist with a special caretaker obligation, and end in something completely unrecognizable, bearing heavily on the realizations that physical death is only one way to accomplish modern genocide, and that gentrification is now absurdly applicable to human beings.

3.5 stars rounded down.

This was a very readable page-turner that ultimately left me wanting a little bit more. I never really connected emotionally with any of the characters, so I found it hard to care about their ultimate fate. I was fascinated by the grotesque nature of this book, both in detail and generally speaking, and I feel like it's making some good statements/points about the pursuit of youth and beauty. However, they were almost too obvious to be meaningful to me as a reader. In addition, the more out-there descriptions of many of the procedures seemed to be aiming for shock value and were almost too silly to take seriously, which took away much of the impact I think the author was waiting for.

"Natural Beauty" wasn't a bad book, and it's one that I actually enjoyed reading. However, it ultimately didn't do a good enough job of selling me characters or a plot that will stick in my memory for very long.

Thanks to NetGalley as per for the ARC.

This novel Is completely banana pants, in the best possible way. A weird satirical take on the objectification of women, the white beauty ideal, and the wellness and beauty industry. Could not put it down.

This book gets all the stars! It's a provocative, haunting, thought-provoking story that dissects beauty culture.

Huang takes readers on a proactive ride through the dark side of the beauty. The protagonist is the daughter of Chinese immigrants who fled China during the Cultural Revolution. She's a pianist, learning her skill from both of her parents who sacrificed their own dreams in order for her to live out her own. But life pivots, and she finds herself in need of a job. Enter Holistik, a renowned beauty company on the cutting edge of youth and glamor. While catering to the elite, the protagonist gets to sample as many products as she wants and is even placed on a strict beauty regime which has profound effects. Now, she finds herself in the middle of a world she only ever dreamed about, but what will she be willing to do to stay there?

Race, family, and power are explored as Huang peels back the toxic layers of the beauty world. Readers will quickly connect to the protagonist who struggles with her identity. Her parents are pillars in her life, and her childhood growing up in poverty heavily influence her path. The pacing keeps the tension moving and the story turns in unexpected ways certain to thrill horror fans. Huang's poignant writing style captivates from start to finish. This debut novel is incredible and will surely thrill a wide range of readers!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This is hauntingly beautiful and chilling. It really showcases this otherwordly experience the main character goes through at the expense of her health and beauty, and how damaging it all can be. It was bleak, but really atmospheric and almost luminous in a weird way. How things were described was really interesting and continued to draw me in further and further. A definite mind bender I plowed through in a day or two!

First off, let me say this is just slightly unhinged, but in a very interesting way? If you take a look at the development of beauty standards in recent years, there's not a lot that people won't try to look beautiful forever. Along that same vein, there's not a lot that Asian children won't do to make their parents proud. As an Asian American, I am very familiar with that aspect. As a woman, I'm also very familiar with the pressures of of staying picture perfect.it reminded me a bit of the "ugly" series, where complete extremes were taken in the name of beauty. The story is a bit more horror than I usually reach for, but its also full of the immigrant experience and the terrors of trying to fit in to a certain mold in this country.

This felt like a really great followup read to Aesthetica, if that title circulated well for your collection.

Holy motherfucking wellness pyramid scheme cult; that was a wild ride. I am SO thankful to Ling Ling Huang and Dutton for sending me a physical advanced reader's copy of Natural Beauty before it publishes on April 4, 2023. I finished this one last night and am still gasping for air as I try to process the WTF nature of what I read.

Our unnamed narrator is stuck in a rut, working at a going nowhere diner and washing dishes, after her prodigy-like piano career comes to a striking halt following her parents' freak car accident. As she's working overtime to pay the dues for their rehab facility and keep herself afloat, she gets visited by a beautiful stranger one evening at work who offers her a job at a state-of-the-art wellness retail shop, Holistik.

Holistik and its parent companies cater to the rich and famous who are open and willing to undergo strange and quite experimental procedures and purchase serums that are projected to do monumental things like doubling the length of your lashes overnight and altering your brain chemistry with a few supplements. As life-altering as these treatments seem, there's something off happening in the depths of this shop, including not-so-consensual animal testing, weird run-ins with ages-old occult worship, and a sense of customer service too friendly to be sincere.

This complex horror book is layered with twists and connections that will leave you utterly shocked, just as I was, page after page.

The body horror in this was too much for me but that's obviously a personal preference and your milage may vary. The writing is beautiful and cutting.