I loved this funny, insightful exploration of beauty culture from a former beauty editor with complicated feelings on the subject. Yong is optimistic about aesthetics as creative expression but critical of the pitfalls of vanity and oppressive beauty standards. In a series of personal essays spanning her late bloomer origins, the capitalist ideas fueling the concept of a “revenge bod”, and the power of blue hair, Yong unravels her messy beauty history with analysis that is accessible without being shallow. As products and procedures become more obtainable to the masses than ever, Yong asks the question: what is beauty for?
Die Hot with a Vengeance by Sable Yong, (List Price: $29.99, Dey Street Books, 9780063236486, July 2024)
Reviewed by Julia Lewis, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia