
Unfortunate Importance of Beauty
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Narrated by:
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Christina Delaine
About this listen
Meet the Knights of Creation, a group of artistic friends struggling with society's standards of beauty. Barb, a stunningly beautiful costume designer, chooses to don a fat suit in hopes that it will help her meet the man of her dreams - a man who can see beyond her looks. Lily, Barb's brilliantly talented, unfortunate-looking musician friend, goes to fantastic lengths to attract the shallow man she loves. Penelope, neither beautiful nor talented, makes her living by selling hideous clay pots after convincing customers they’ve broken them. To complicate matters, the friends discover they may have a murderer in their midst, that Barb's calm disposition is more dangerously provocative than her beauty ever was, and that Lily's musical talents are more powerful than anyone could have imagined.
Imbued with Amanda Filipacchi's characteristic twisted charm and absurdist, satiric wit, The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty is touching, whimsical, and gorgeously strange.
©2015 Published by arrangement with W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. (P)2015 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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The story is amazing
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Interesting, but character issues
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Wasn't amazing. But I didn't hate it.
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I hung in to the end, but wished I hadn't
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A modern day fairy tale
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What did you love best about Unfortunate Importance of Beauty?
The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty blew my mind. The title is catchy, and you know what the story will be about just from those five words. But there is so much more, and absolutely nothing you are expecting.What did you like best about this story?
The things I liked best about The Unfortunate Importance of beauty was that, by the time the narrator read "The End", I was cheering and couldn't wait to write this review. The characters are creative people who are all deeply and sometimes permanently flawed. However, their gifts are great. their hearts greater. The friendship between them is more of a family than 10,000 relatives could provide. The varied mysteries, the magical abilities, the weird supernatural elements that just made sense - - - did I just write that? I adored this story. Though I did find the narration a little clumsy at the beginning of the story, by the end of the story, I completely got it.Which character – as performed by Christina Delaine – was your favorite?
Choosing a favorite character is difficult. They were all so richly written that it would be like sitting with all of my weird friends looking at me and said "which one of us is your bestie?" Barb was hard to understand as a person, at first. But very early in the story, I thought "Okay, I think I get it." But then there's Lily, the complete opposite of Barb in every way. And Penelope, and Jack, and Peter. . . and and. Nope. Can't do it.Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Where my world stopped and nothing else mattered in my life but "The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty" was when Lily mastered the art of beautification through music. I wish I could say more without giving anything away, but let me just say I forgot all about Barb's problems and was 100% about Lily. Practically to the end of the story - Lily.Any additional comments?
If you're reading this review, spend the credit. It's a great story. Sometimes completely weird, quirky and incredible - it's still a great story.May Your Eyes Always See True Beauty
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This Is The Worst Book I Have EVER Read! It was so bad I had to finish it just to see if it was as bad as it was! Extremely unsympathetic characters, combined with amateurish writing and a convoluted storyline, made for agonizing, torturous reading.
The author stole/combined plots from Cinderella, Cyrano De Bergerac, Phantom of the Opera, Terminator 2, any Michael Connelly/Harry Bosch novel, Frozen, et al, and kludged together something best used as a script for a very bad Lifetime For Woman movie.
I found myself wanting to stab the lead character in the throat with a chard of glass (You'll get the reference if you read this book...WHICH I DON"T RECOMMEND)
As I was reading, I thought maybe the author was trying for the absurd...the tongue and cheek... but, no, she was serious. I won't get into the main premise of the book, because other reviewers have done so, other than to say the commentary is faulty, banal, and hypocritical.
My fellow Audiblers, this book was so bad that I am not even going to try and get my credit back. I am willing to take the hit...to sacrifice my own hard earned dollars...just to warn you all to save your credit! That is just how giving, loving, beautiful, self-sacrificing, and wonderful I am.... (another nod to the book...LOL)
Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful...
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Shockingly bad - I could not finish
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If you could sum up Unfortunate Importance of Beauty in three words, what would they be?
insightful, thought-provoking, beautifulWhat other book might you compare Unfortunate Importance of Beauty to and why?
I have never read a book like it. It is unique just like it's characters. It has a genera formula for problem, love, solution, but the story is not like one I have read before.What does Christina Delaine bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
A gentleness to Lilly's character and depth of feeling to the others in the group.Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
After the first hour, yes. It took me a bit to get through the history.Any additional comments?
To me the identity of the 'murder' was predicable, but the story behind it was not. I would have liked to know what kay stood for.A must read!
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Terrible...finished it so I could hate it More.
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Narrator was good.
Free was too expensive
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