I have already recommended this to so many people who like weird stories about weird things they've never heard of. I can't tell you how many fun anecdotes and fun facts it's given me.

Though-provoking, informative, and relatable collection of essays on the topics of consumption, beauty, and the role of the self.

A lovely and wide-ranging essay collection. This whole book was a pleasure to read and taught me new things! Each chapter was well-written and made for a calm zen like space to sit back and read some beautiful writing.

Interesting and well written I just personally couldn’t get into the story. Difficult to follow at times and a little slow. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a great book for those of us who love finding the little stories around things. Some of these are deeply depressing, others moving, all eye-opening. A very nice read.

Wanted to vibe with this book way more than I did. Unfortunately, I DNFed it around the 20% mark, so I won’t be reviewing it on other sites. Appreciate the ARC and opportunity!

The Ugly History of Beautiful Things is a thought provoking exploration of our obsession with things that are "beautiful" or make us "beautiful". This is deeply researched and presented in a way that is easy to receive and digest - I learned so much from this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC - The Ugly History of Beautiful Things is out now!

The Ugly History of Beautiful Things by Katy Kelleher is a thoughtful and thought-provoking collection of essays examining the reality that “There are no pure things in this world; everything that lives does harm” and how that reality clashes with our individual desires to own items of rare beauty. As with nearly any collection, some essays are stronger than others or, these being essays woven of parts, some parts are stronger than other, but the one doesn’t wait long for the weaker moments to give way to better ones.

Kelleher opens with a brief discussion of her own struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts and her epiphany when her therapist asked her what gets her out of bed: “I get up because I might see or hold something beautiful.” The problem as she says is “I’ve never found an object that was untouched by the depravity of human greed or unblemished by the chemical undoings of time.” And so in “order of when I began to desire them” she explores a number of “beautiful things”, both their hold on her and the ugliness attached to them historically and/or currently. Those things include: mirrors, flowers, gemstones (especially diamonds), shells, makeup, perfume, silk, porcelain, marble. Each of them with their own issues — child labor, environmental despoilation, animal cruelty, ill health effects on miners/craftspeople, forced labor, associations with Nazis. Of these, my personal favorite was the essay on silk, while the one on makeup was perhaps my least favorite.

Each essay moves back and forth amongst several narrative lines/styles: the personal/memoiristic, more journalistic writing, historical research, science writing, social/political/pop culture criticism. While there’s some variation in the success of each in any given segment, as well as in how smooth transitions are, generally each essay is a pleasure to stroll through as Kelleher makes connections between her own life and the background of the objects she’s discussing. Sometimes she may tip over the line into a moment or two where the writing turns a little preachy or self-congratulatory, where the personal feels a bit flat/trivial, but that line will shift depending on the individual reader’s own views/tastes. I found those moments relatively rare and always short-lived.

I read a lot of non-fiction, personal essays and science-based, so some of what was here was familiar to me such as the properties of glass, history of mirrors or the phantasmagoria, but I still highlighted a good number of points, always a sign to me of a good non-fiction work. Stylistically, Kelleher is never anything but crystal clear and easy to follow and is almost always an engaging voice. I can’t say I highlighted any lines for their lyricism or startlement factor, but there’s a lot to be said for smooth prose that remains invisible.

Recommended.

Thank you to Net Galley and Simon & Schuster for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed the thoughtful writing filled with the many beautiful things we cherish - mirrors, flowers, pearls, gems, perfume, makeup to name a few - that also have significant downsides. These are separated into chapters and include the history of the item, how they were used and the detrimental effects they caused whether they be harm to animals or the environment, the use of the foul to create a beautiful scent, to causing one’s death in the pursuit of beauty. It still has me noticing and thinking.

𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙩 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨.

Such entitlement doesn’t fade, many of us desire prettiness and more of our precious objects, not because we carry some evil intent to destroy nature or other people. We like things that emanate beauty, that make us feel good, it’s a part of our humanity. In fact, even our most harmless objects can have a pretty gruesome or mean past. It’s easy to think, these days, what difference does it make anymore, even the clothes I wear is likely made from slave labor, do I go naked? It’s nothing new either, there has always been a dark history attached to our consumption. This is a fascinating, engaging read that makes me look at flowers, mirrors, and hell, even seashells differently. It’s not all depressing but it is a loaded history. Consumerism is molded by our culture, we are manipulated by it, to be sure. Doubt me? Read about diamonds.Why do we claw to obtain things that generally aren’t worth a damn? There is no shame in beauty, and we could run out of breath arguing what beauty is, but it seems there is a price to pay for our desires, whatever they may be. Slave labor is alive today, just how responsible are we when the things we crave maim, harm, abuse other human beings, creatures, and the very earth itself? It’s not an easy question to weigh particularly when children enter the equation.

In striving to be beautiful, we do damaging things to our health too. Yes, beauty can be quite destructive. Women, it’s no surprise, have always been first in line to torture themselves based on the desires of others, the current fad and popular images. Is it better to bury our heads in the sand and not know how things are made? Katy Kelleher admits in her introduction that she believes beauty is a necessary part of life, and she isn’t shaming the reader, it’s meant more to expand how we consume and experience objects. None of us will live in this world without having a negative impact, but it is positive too. There is a very heavy history within these pages, but it humored too thinking about human beings and things we have gone wild for throughout time. The heated passions over orchids, the risks we take to secure the objects we covet and the business ventures created to milk us for all we are worth. In fact, I delighted in the writing about turquoise and our ridiculous beliefs about native culture. I sank into this book learning things I didn’t know and have ended the read thinking heavily about this endless wanting, especially as I reach for a plate wondering if it’s bone china or spray some perfume on my skin, checking the ingredients for toxicity.

To be noted, it’s not all about money, those of us who struggle with finances and have to buy things on the cheap (not by choice) are inherently a part of the problem too. We are all trapped in this damning web.

Her career isn’t going to make her enough money to afford the lavish dwellings, the beautiful marble counters in the homes she visits for work but beauty and happiness can still be secured. There will still be ‘private luxuries’ and beauty is an important part of that. Intelligent and provocative, a great read!

Published April 25, 2023

Simon & Schuster

I genuinely enjoyed the essays contained within this collection; each one focuses on objects, which highlights beauty and ugliness. I found I could connect with this book well, which isn't typical for essay collections, and tha tit had a lot of insight to offer the reader.

I’m so torn on this book. I think I desperately want to like it more than I did, but I don’t hate it and enjoyed reading it more than I didn’t.

The positives - this is a collection of essays that muses on some of the beautiful things people love. It looks at the history, often full of oppression and death, of those beautiful things and the modern problems associated with the creation and consumption of beautiful things. I really enjoyed this part and even learned some interesting things about objects I teach that I didn’t know. I liked the variety of things - from flowers to perfume to glass - and I thought the author’s opening personal remarks in each section added to the overall essay every time.

The bad - toward the end of each essay these got *really* preachy. I understand the ugly parts that need to be pointed out - like child labor in silk manufacturing - but this preachy bit went on for way too long. It also almost always ended with how the author wasn’t fully participating in the consumption anymore and that made each essay feel like a way she was patting herself on the back for being better than the rest of us. Without this preachy bit, this book would have been over 4 stars for me.

Overall, I liked this collection of essays more than I didn’t like it and I’m always down to learn more, so if the preachy parts won’t get to you or you can skip them, you may enjoy this collection which comes out later this month!

In The Ugly History Of Beautiful Things by Katie Kelleher I was excited and couldn’t wait to read this book as I thought it was history and nonfiction it turns out it is more like an autobiography and I almost stopped reading in the first chapter reading about her love for mirrors of all things but as the book goes on and we hear about her eating flowers her love of perfumes and digging for rocks every chapter is about her with tidbits from history thrown in almost every senates started with call or my or some other possessive starter I’m not a big fan of biographies and for some reason don’t care to hear people talk about their self it’s just not something I am into and so I really can’t say I like this book or that it went itself to any kind of history I did enjoy the chapter called bone white and paperthin is that was the only one that started off about someone else and although it quickly came back to her I still enjoyed the beginning. I know a lot of people like this book and that’s great I did not. I love history but don’t care to read about peoples favorite things and not only that I didn’t see what this was even called the ugly history of beautiful things because the only thing visible in this book was her love of mirrors. I received this book from NetGalley and a publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

For me there was too much memoir/ personal opinion and too little history/ facts. I love history, but dislike naval-gazing memoirs, so this wasn’t my sort of book. Other readers may enjoy it more than I did.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC for my review.

I found The Ugly History of Beautiful Things by Katy Kelleher absorbing and disturbing. I enjoyed every single essay and learned more about things I knew only a little about. It was beautifully written and intriguing. Even if I wanted to forget some of the details about topics Kelleher wrote about I don't think I'll be able to.

I love random niche history and this really fed that hunger. I appreciate the authors well rounded opinions and storytelling. The Diamond chapter was really eye opening! All in all, a really interesting read.

This is a wonderful look into our need for things. For all kinds of things. Why we consume. Why we need. Kate’s writings bring us to the place where we ask ourselves why do we want this or that? What compels us to love shiny things. It was a good read. Recommend as a gift too for others.

The book description drew me in right away, but the book itself couldn't hold my attention. The chapters were too long, too monotonous, and I found I never wanted to pick it back up. Made it 1/3 of the way and stopped.

Wanted to love this one! I felt that the mix of memoir and research weren't woven tightly enough, or maybe more of one or the other would have worked better for me. It was strongest when it veered fully into memoir (e.g. the intro) or firmly into historical account. I wish there was more space for Kelleher to expand upon her clearly deep research and passion, as to tip the scales further into analysis vs. facts on facts on facts. Still glad I checked it out though!

The best literature feels like you’re swimming around in someone’s mind for a few hours and this collection of exquisite essays floating Katy Kelleher’s curiosity in the name beauty, is precisely that.

Kelleher is masterful at what she does — personal essay writing (just make sure you’re in the mood for this type of prose before you jump in!) — where an author takes a throughly researched topic and applies their opinion, juxtaposing a dollop of their personal history into the mixing pot of recorded facts/figures/falsities. The chapter on glass is glorious — the reader is taken on a journey from the glass blowers of Murano (Venice) to mercury reflection of Kelleher’s family heirlooms. Like many before her, Kelleher deftly recalls how mirrors reveal more about society than just our own facades — but that journey is all her own (and an absolutely worthwhile chapter to devour). Other missives about growing up & the aesthetics of American traditions & their false histories (from finding Prom dresses, with a tangent for the silk worms who created them — to turquoise found surreptitiously in the playground sand pit) are worth your time.

While writing this review, every time I typed the word “aesthetics” it autocorrected to “as ethics,” which in conversation with this collection of essays feels increasingly apt. Regardless of my own words (and the Apple predictive Dictionary), Katy Kelleher’s words, thoughts, opinions & stories truly shine. The only critique I can give for the next book (she deserves it!), is that some of the chapters or tangents could be broken up with subheadings. However, this is a definitive add to the cannon of millennial culture.

Additionally, I broke up reading this book with another collection of thoughts that’s about to come out & pairs well — Alexandra Petri’s U.S. History, a satirical history of the U.S. by the equally talented Alexandra Petri (don’t you dare pit these women against each other — they both introduce readers to different worlds that are just as creative & just as warranted). Not sure if this could happen, but as writers with the same parent publishing house, both authors should absolutely have a joint signing/discussion. I would love to see how their opinions on breaking down the lines between what’s real & what’s fake; the history and present state of satire & lies — and how misconstrued opinions can turn into falsely held facts. Both books delved into the aesthetics & realities of history and how that diversion has impacted modern thought & current culture — who wouldn’t want to delve more into that!