The New York Times Book Review - Sarah Lyall
…The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty wears its issues very lightly, helped along in this format by the sprightly reading voice of Christina Delaine. The plot is funny, surreal, absurd and charmingly preposterous. Some details seem to have meandered over from a Kelly Link story or from the children's books A Series of Unfortunate Events, which shares an echo of a title and a similarly easy, unshockable tone. Like the orphans in those stories, Filipacchi's characters never question the weirdness around them, but meet it with a delightful, practical ingenuity.
Sheila Heti
"Amanda Filipacchi is one of the most original storytelling minds I know. Here, she has written a seductively powerful fable about the ugly powers of beauty, the redemptive powers of creativity, and the nature of true love. Every page abounds in mystery, delight and surprise."
Ed Park
"The best comic novelist writing today."
Buzzfeed
"A surreal and utterly compelling triumph."
Sarah Lyall
"Funny, surreal, absurd and charmingly preposterous."
San Francisco Chronicle - Ellis Avery
"Readers who’d like to spend a little time at the corner where a brisker Haruki Murakami meets a drier ‘30 Rock’ would do well to seek out Filipacchi’s radiantly intelligent and very funny novel."
The Daily Beast
"Filipacchi’s fourth [novel], is a critique of how society’s visual valuations override the importance of character: a ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ manifesto."
starred review Booklist
"An astute, piercing look at the value society and individuals place on appearance… impossible to put down and utterly dead-on in its assessment of human nature."
Slate - Alexandra Coakley
"Magic spills from the pores of Filipacchi’s story… The resulting romp is a witty and honest rendering of the unknowable distance between perception and reality, exploring the possibility that beauty is literally in the eyes of the beholder."
Joanna Scutts
"Loopily entertaining."
Neil La Bute
"Amanda Filipacchi writes with a deceptive ease, creating magic out of thin air. She makes the ordinary come alive with possibility and stuffs her pages full of laughter, sadness and characters that are unforgettable…Filipacchi is one of our best satirists."
Roxana Robinson
"Amanda Filipacchi’s untamed imagination makes the world a little more fun to live in. This witty novel shines a blacklight on beauty, to reveal its dark side, and the author’s irrepressibly zany one."
O, The Oprah Magazine - Leigh Haber
"[A] zanily satirical, spot-on novel."
Glamour - Lynsey Eidell
"Takes a fairy tale, flips it on its head, and adds an element of murder… will both make you laugh and keep you on the edge of your seat."
The New Yorker
"[A] sure comic touch… smart and sweet… a tribute to the pleasures of friendship."
NPR - Maureen Corrigan
"Filipacchi's lively story reflects on the unearned power that beauty confers on its recipients… breezy with a bite."
Jonathan Ames
"Amanda Filipacchi has crafted a delightful gem, an unusual mixture of laughter and suspense. One never knows what's going to happen next in this odd and charming universe. This is a wonderfully absurd and comedic novel that also reads like a page-turning whodunit."
Boston Globe - John Freeman
"Amanda Filipacchi is the funniest novelist you’ve never heard of… Few comic novelists get characters talking so naturally, and amusingly… There is a high art in this kind of ungentle entertainment, and in The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty Amanda Filipacchi proves she hasn’t lost her touch, not even a little."
New York Times T Magazine - Nathan Reese
"[A] farcical novel… riveting to read."
Walter Kirn
"An ingeniously crafted fictional meditation on power and freedom, essence and appearance that takes the form of a philosophical farce. A delight for the mind that penetrates the heart."
New York Observer - Laren Stover
"Part murder mystery, part satire, part meditation, Ms. Filipacchi’s book has also been called a modern fairy tale."
Library Journal - Audio
05/01/2015
Christina Delaine brings to life Filipacchi's (Love Creeps) modern fairy tale, which examines Western culture's emphasis on physical beauty. In this darkly comic story, a group of talented friends call themselves the Knights of Creation. Finding they are more creative en masse, they regularly meet and pursue their individual arts. The group includes devastatingly beautiful costume designer Barb, who, traumatized by the suicide of her friend Gabe, wears a "fat" suit and frizzy wig to fend off any shallow men making overtures; wildly successful but unattractive composer Lily, who writes advertising music to "beautify" products and is deeply unhappy because of her unrequited love for fellow musician Strad; and Penelope, who makes unattractive pots that she foists on unsuspecting customers by accusing them of breaking them. To liven things up there is a murderer among them. This story is hard to classify: it is farcical and satirical, with elements of magical realism, yet at times it feels like an Agatha Christie drawing-room mystery. Delaine's deadpan delivery is spot-on for the subtle humor. Listeners will find themselves drawn in by the fantastic story, but what they will remember are the important questions raised about beauty. VERDICT Recommended.—Judy Murray, Monroe Cty. Lib. Syst., MI
