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booksellersdiary 's review for:
Beauty
by Bri Lee
fast-paced
I hadn’t planned on reviewing this, because frankly I didn’t love it. But I think a conversation around the finer points and missed opportunities of this essay is important, so I would like to contribute to that.
I would have appreciated if Lee had written from an acknowledgement of her immense beauty privilege. Understandably, she has her own issues to deal with in this space. But at no point is there an in-depth acknowledgement of her white, able-bodied, straight, gender representation. There are a few thoughts thrown in on African-American women and the politics of hair, but it feels like an afterthought rather than something that was in the original thought process of the essay. As an Australian writer, a perspective on Aboriginal women would have been more fitting.
I would have preferred her to be the editor of a collection of essays on Beauty, with poc, trans, fat, disabled and other diverse voices speaking for themselves. Without a thought I can name 4-5 authors who would have been excellent contributors to an anthology piece (Carly Findlay, Claire G Coleman, Nakkiah Lui among others)
Additionally, the essay is really only an exploration of thinness as beauty and not everything else.
Beauty is a broad topic, and it is difficult for one person and her experience to cover everything that comes under that topic. Lee has never lived in a fat, black, disabled, trans, gay, or other body. She can’t know that experience. But she can speak to and give platform for those who have lived that experience, and are able to share that experience.
All this said, the discussion around thinness and beauty, and the pressures or social media and wider society on women and young girls is an important discussion to have. Lee tells her experience with mental illness and disordered eating with brevity and insight beyond her years. The essay is hugely personal, brave, reflective and seemingly cathartic. I hope it gave Lee the strength I felt she was looking for at the end of Eggshell Skull.
I’d be keen to reread upon final release, in the hopes that some of this is addressed. Thanks to my lovely local indie bookshop for the ARC in exchange for my thoughts.
I would have appreciated if Lee had written from an acknowledgement of her immense beauty privilege. Understandably, she has her own issues to deal with in this space. But at no point is there an in-depth acknowledgement of her white, able-bodied, straight, gender representation. There are a few thoughts thrown in on African-American women and the politics of hair, but it feels like an afterthought rather than something that was in the original thought process of the essay. As an Australian writer, a perspective on Aboriginal women would have been more fitting.
I would have preferred her to be the editor of a collection of essays on Beauty, with poc, trans, fat, disabled and other diverse voices speaking for themselves. Without a thought I can name 4-5 authors who would have been excellent contributors to an anthology piece (Carly Findlay, Claire G Coleman, Nakkiah Lui among others)
Additionally, the essay is really only an exploration of thinness as beauty and not everything else.
Beauty is a broad topic, and it is difficult for one person and her experience to cover everything that comes under that topic. Lee has never lived in a fat, black, disabled, trans, gay, or other body. She can’t know that experience. But she can speak to and give platform for those who have lived that experience, and are able to share that experience.
All this said, the discussion around thinness and beauty, and the pressures or social media and wider society on women and young girls is an important discussion to have. Lee tells her experience with mental illness and disordered eating with brevity and insight beyond her years. The essay is hugely personal, brave, reflective and seemingly cathartic. I hope it gave Lee the strength I felt she was looking for at the end of Eggshell Skull.
I’d be keen to reread upon final release, in the hopes that some of this is addressed. Thanks to my lovely local indie bookshop for the ARC in exchange for my thoughts.