Friday, November 21, 2014

Beautiful You

Control. Jonathan Swift would love reading Chuck Palahniuk’s novel, Beautiful You, an over-the-top satire of modern life. A billionaire, C. Linus Maxwell, plans to control the behavior of women worldwide by offering irresistible products that provide stimulating personal pleasure, and then make them buy whatever he wants them to buy. Alternating as his partner and nemesis is Penny Harrigan, a twenty-five year old working in New York City for a law firm. Palahniuk riffs on porn, marketing, power, control, narcissism, and many other aspects of contemporary society. Many readers will be distracted by how extreme this novel may seem, but I think both Swift and I agree that for satire to succeed, you need to make a modest proposal that will catch the attention of wise readers. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase Beautiful You from amazon.com.

No comments:

Post a Comment