Die Hot with a Vengeance: Essays on Vanity

In this confused debut collection, Yong, a former beauty editor at Allure magazine, sends mixed messages about the societal premium placed on good looks. A sharp critic of beauty culture, Yong laments in “No Fun in the Fun House” how Dove’s ostensibly progressive ads suggesting “you’re beautiful as you are” reinforce the notion that one’s appearance is “the central defining characteristic of our identity.” However, Yong espouses that same outlook later in the essay, writing that “beauty is... how I play with identity, how I visually communicate who I am.” This contradiction is indicative of Yong’s unsuccessful efforts to redeem the social obsession with beauty while recognizing its harms. In “No Gore, No Gorgeous,” she recounts the painful procedures she’s undertaken to change her looks (including a wince-inducing description of a botched bikini wax), but appears to regard the discomfort they caused as the price one pays for glamour. Attempting to reconcile such incongruities, Yong asserts that “a pleasant experience with beauty is possible when you engage with it on your own terms,” but this pat explanation fails to acknowledge the ways in which notions of what constitutes beauty are reliant on social and aesthetic values that individuals have little power to change. Candid but conflicted, this will leave readers scratching their heads. Agent: Kate Childs, CAA. (July)