Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
It looks like I liked Bertino's 2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas (2014), though at the moment I don't remember the earlier book in any detail.
Beautyland is a strange, but poetic little story. Adina is a weird little girl who grows up to be a weird young woman.
Like many people, Adina feels like an outsider, and an observer. In fact, she is convinced she is an alien, sent to report on humans. She has vivid dreams of otherworldly interactions. And, rather uniquely, she exchanges faxes with…someone.
Adina is a nice person who tends to say exactly what she sees and thinks. Which is abnormal, and socially awkward.
But Adina is loved and gives love. And she's pretty smart; smart enough to get along an her own.
Eventually, honesty wins out over caution, and she tells her mother, her best friend, and others about her faxes (which she keeps in exquisite order). This revelation evokes a variety of responses, of course. How would you respond if your friend confessed such an unusual story.
Her best friend Tina works in publishing. When she reads Adina's collection of observations about humans, she wants to publish them. It's hard to say no to your best friend. Adina's strange book of observations is enthusiastically received, even if no two readers understands them the same way.
(I suspect that Aidena's book readings may be thinly disguised autobiography.)
Overall, it's a charming story.
Which Bertino turns into a real downer at the end.
Sigh.
This is a beautiful book, but I have to say I hated the ending.
I've got enough bad news and sadness in my own life, I don't enjoy reading about nice people coming to sad endings.
I don't like to criticize other people's writing on the grounds that I just didn't want the story to come out this way.
To be fair, though, I'm pretty sure Adina would have just said what she thought, wouldn't she?
- Marie-Helene Bertino, Beautyland, New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024.
Sunday Book Reviews
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