Synopsis
American Psycho meets The Devil Wears Prada: outrageous body horror for the goop generation
A 29-year-old copywriter realizes that beauty is possible—at a terrible cost—in this surreal, satirical send-up of NYC It-girl culture.
From Sophia Bannion’s first day on the Storytelling team at HEBE (hee-bee), a luxury skincare/wellness company based in New York’s trendy SoHo neighborhood and named after the Greek goddess of youth, it’s clear something is deeply amiss. But Sophia, pushing thirty, has plenty of skeletons in her closet next to the designer knockoffs and doesn’t care. Though she leads an outwardly charmed life, she aches for a deeper meaning to her flat existence—and a cure for her brutal nail-biting habit. She finds it all and more at HEBE, and with Tree Whitestone, HEBE’s charismatic founder and CEO.
Soon, Sophia is addicted to her HEBE lifestyle—especially youthjuice, the fatty, soothing moisturizer Tree has asked Sophia to test. But when cracks in HEBE’s infrastructure start to worsen—and Sophia learns the gruesome secret ingredient at the heart of youthjuice—she has to decide how far she’s willing to go to stay beautiful forever.
Glittering with ominous flashes of Sophia’s coming-of-rage story, former beauty editor E.K. Sathue’s horror debut is as incisive as it is stomach-churning in its portrayal of all-consuming female friendship and the beauty industry’s short attention span. youthjuice does to skincare influencers what Bret Easton Ellis did to yuppies. You’ll never moisturize the same way again.
Review
A huge thank you to the publisher for the ARC!
American Psycho meets Bunny meets Lord of the Flies meets The Devil Wears Prada. E.K. Sathue’s youthjuice is a ferocious novel delivering commentary on the long-desired idea of eternal youth through the lens of unhealthy femininity and the killer beauty industry. Sophia begins her career at HEBE, a titan of a company specializing in luxurious skincare and beauty products. This job also comes with a certain level of status that rivals Sophia’s inner struggles based on past trauma and her idea of beauty. Taken under the wing of CEO Tree Whitestone, Sophia discovers what really sets HEBE apart from other companies, a secret that may cost the ultimate price.
Horrors of the beauty industry grow in intensity and relevance with every passing day, especially in a culture so inundated with influencers. Sathue’s examination of this specific brand of horror is nothing short of violent and gory, detailing the lengths to which one will go to maintain a façade of youth. Sophia’s character feels morally ambiguous at the beginning of the novel, but as events transpire, it’s very clear to see just how alluring the promise of beauty can be. This is a gruesome book that doesn’t shy away from the most violent of actions and darkest of corners.
In some ways, youthjuice feels like a cult novel with Sophia getting sucked into the culture of HEBE while in many other ways, this book feels like a vampire novel. Of course, I’m not referencing the typical creatures of the night, but rather the overall intensity of HEBE and its employees. Many of the women Sophia works with feel inherently like vampires, relying on the energy of others to thrive. There’s an unhealthy competitiveness that flourishes at HEBE, one that feels representative of the toxic relationships found at times between women. Sathue’s commentary on this narcissistic, unhealthy brand of feminism rings true in today’s world, bringing the horrors occurring behind closed doors at HEBE to life.
And may I just say these horrors are a-plenty. Body horror, psychological tension, and a descent into what some would consider madness, there is no shortage of reminders that HEBE’s brand of beauty comes at a steep price. Sophia’s inner struggle to view herself in something outside of a damaged light is fueled by the external influence of HEBE, exacerbating her degraded image of self. Beyond this, youthjuice more than earns its American Psycho comp especially in the second half of the novel when it’s time to cash in on this promise of youth.
Soaked in blood and rage, E.K. Sathue’s debut novel exposes a culture of toxic femininity against a backdrop of grisly body horror. Youthjuice exposes the predatory nature of the beauty industry and the lengths many will go to in order to achieve their idea of perfection. This is a cut-throat novel that mirrors Sophia’s own journey to reckon with her own self-loathing in the face of perceived beauty.
youthjuice by E.K. Sathue releases on June 4th from Soho Press.
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