Thank you to TandemCollectiveGlobal, Soho Press, #partner, for a finished copy of Aesthetica in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Soho Press
Published: November 22, 2022
Summary:
In a debut novel as radiant as it is caustic, a former influencer confronts her past—and takes inventory of the damages that underpin the surface-glamour of social media.
At 19, she was an Instagram celebrity. Now, at 35, she works behind the cosmetic counter at the “black and white store,” peddling anti-aging products to women seeking physical and spiritual transformation. She too is seeking rebirth. She’s about to undergo the high-risk, elective surgery Aesthetica™, a procedure will reverse all her past plastic surgery procedures, returning her, she hopes, to a truer self. Provided she survives the knife.
But on the eve of the surgery, her traumatic past resurfaces when she is asked to participate in the public takedown of her former manager/boyfriend, who has rebranded himself as a paragon of “woke” masculinity in the post-#MeToo world. With the hours ticking down to her life-threatening surgery, she must confront the ugly truth about her experiences on and off the Instagram grid.
Propulsive, dark, and moving, Aesthetica is a Veronica for the age of “Instagram face,” delivering a fresh, nuanced examination of feminism, #metoo, and mother-daughter relationships, all while confronting our collective addiction to followers, filters, and faux realities.
My thoughts:
I was fortunate to receive this book in a holiday package from the lovely folks at Tamdem Collective Global and I’m so glad it was included. I had heard about the book but it probably wasn’t something I would have picked up if not sent to me…and I have to say this was good, but quite eye-opening!
I picked this one up today as I was organizing my office, just to take a look at it and decide what I was going to do with it. As I said, it wasn’t a book I had requested, so not only was it not on my radar, but I didn’t really know much about it. I decided to just read the first chapter and then I would figure out where I could work it in my schedule…and a few hours later, I was finished with the book. Funny how that sometimes works.
This book grabbed my attention from the get-go and never once let up. It delves into the dark side of social media, and as someone who is on the older side of the group here, I really could see how easy it is to fall into the trap of the numbers game when it comes to being an influencer – just living for those clicks and likes. It highlights the pressures that social media can put on us, most of them completely unrealistic, and when you add fame into the mix, it’s even worse.
This book is intense and thought-provoking. It really makes you think about what and how you present yourself on social media. This may be a cautionary tale for young girls out there, but it’s definitely a book I think anyone on social media should read. I also am stunned that this is a debut novel for Allie Rowbottom…she hit it out of the park with this one and I cannot wait to see what comes next for her!
