The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty: A Novel - Softcover

Filipacchi, Amanda

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393352307 ISBN 13: 9780393352306

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2016

Synopsis

"A sure comic touch . . . smart and sweet . . . a tribute to the pleasures of friendship." ―The New Yorker

In the heart of New York City, a group of artistic friends struggles with society's standards of beauty. At the center are Barb and Lily, two women at opposite ends of the beauty spectrum, but with the same problem: each fears she will never find a love that can overcome her looks. Barb, a stunningly beautiful costume designer, makes herself ugly in hopes of finding true love. Meanwhile, her friend Lily, a brilliantly talented but plain-looking musician, goes to fantastic lengths to attract the man who has rejected her―with results that are as touching as they are transformative.

To complicate matters, Barb and Lily discover that they may have a murderer in their midst, that Barb’s calm disposition is more dangerously provocative than her beauty ever was, and that Lily's musical talents are more powerful than anyone could have imagined. Part literary whodunit, part surrealist farce, The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty is a smart, modern-day fairy tale. With biting wit and offbeat charm, Amanda Filipacchi illuminates the labyrinthine relationship between beauty, desire, and identity, asking at every turn: what does it truly mean to allow oneself to be seen?

About this title

About the Author:

Amanda Filipacchi is the author of three previous novels, Nude Men, Vapor, and, most recently, Love Creeps. Her writing has appeared in Best American Humor and elsewhere. She lives in New York City.

Review:

“Funny, surreal, absurd and charmingly preposterous.”
- Sarah Lyall, New York Times Book Review

“The funniest novelist you’ve never heard of. . . .  Few comic novelists get characters talking so naturally, and amusingly.”
- John Freeman, Boston Globe

“Readers who’d like to spend a little time at the corner where a brisker Haruki Murakami meets a drier ‘30 Rock’ would do well to seek out Filipacchi’s radiantly intelligent and very funny novel.”
- Ellis Avery, San Francisco Chronicle

“A surreal and utterly compelling triumph.”
- Buzzfeed

“[A] farcical novel . . . riveting to read.”
- Nathan Reese, New York Times T Magazine

“[A] zanily satirical, spot-on novel.”
- Leigh Haber, O, The Oprah Magazine

“Magic spills from the pores of Filipacchi’s story. . . .  The resulting romp is a witty and honest rendering of the unknowable distance between perception and reality, exploring the possibility that beauty is literally in the eyes of the beholder.”
- Alexandra Coakley, Slate

“A delight for the mind that penetrates the heart.”
- Walter Kirn

“Amanda Filipacchi writes with a deceptive ease, creating magic out of thin air. She makes the ordinary come alive with possibility and stuffs her pages full of laughter, sadness and characters that are unforgettable.”
- Neil La Bute

“A seductively powerful fable about the ugly powers of beauty, the redemptive powers of creativity, and the nature of true love. Every page abounds in mystery, delight and surprise.”
- Sheila Heti

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0393352307
• ISBN 13: 9780393352306
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336