I just finished Aliya Whiteley's The Beauty after it was recommended for being a short body horror book with feminine rage. However, upon finishing it, I'm confused about where this feminist rage is.
In the story, the men are resigned to their fate after all the women in the world die. Then, these strange mushroom-women come into their lives to provide them with comfort and endless sex, while remaining silent and faceless.
Then, when the men start getting impregnated, their bodies feminize while the "Beauties" are the protective ones. Any of the men resistant to this change are killed.
Unless I'm just way off the mark and missed something entirely, nothing about this reads as a feminist horror book, despite that clearly being the author's goal. Instead, I'm left with the impression that the men were better off without these "shroom women" stirring things up. I also found the men's feminization a little offensive – they start becoming irrational and needy.
Every review I come across mentions how brilliant this story is and mentions the buzzwords "feminist rage" without talking about where in the story that takes place. It feels like the author had good intentions but missed the point entirely.
Sorry for the long post, I've been quietly seething over this story since I finished it a couple of hours ago. One good thing I'll say though – the body horror scenes are very well done!
by penny_loves_books