2 out of 4 stars
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Pretty Ugly is a novel by Sean Hillen. At the center of the story is a model by the name of Patricia. After a sudden onset of temporary blindness, she causes a car crash that puts her friend Christine in a coma. This blindness was not caused by some disease, but by nanoparticles in her makeup.
Colm is an Irish-born journalist for an American newspaper who wants to tell Patricia’s story to the world and expose Bellus, the company behind the unsafe product. Beyond the two of them, there is a bigger story in Pretty Ugly about large corporations living by their own rules in an unregulated industry, the politicians trying to stop them, and newspapers trying to stand against corporate influences in a time of dwindling readership.
The biggest flaw of the book was that it seemed that what the author really wanted to write was a non-fiction story. The book is more concerned with the science and educating the reader rather than the characters and plot. Sometimes it just regurgitates data and complicated scientific terms, which gave me the impression that the author is not familiar with them enough to explain things to the reader in a simple way. Oftentimes the book seemed to steer into downright Ludditism with its opposition to nanoparticles in favor of cosmetics made from natural ingredients. It seemed that the author had an important message, but couldn’t write a story around it.
Then there is the rough start. I felt I was drowning in a sea of characters at the beginning of the book. They were quickly introduced one after the other with not enough time to really get to know them. It made the book confusing and hard to get into.
I also didn’t like how the book treated some of its characters. Patricia was treated like a weak woman by everyone. She was a damsel in distress that was in need of saving and protecting. Then there are the story’s bad guys. It is an often repeated fact that villains don’t see themselves as villains. Instead, they think they are the true heroes of the story. In Pretty Ugly the story’s bad guys are well aware of their role. They’re just one step away from twirling their mustaches. They behaved exactly as you would expect evil businessmen to act. It was like something out of a cartoon and made the story feel unrealistic.
One of the book’s positives was an interesting portrait of Ireland. Patricia moves to a remote Irish island to hide from the press. As Colm tries to find her there, we get a glimpse of the local landscape and mythology. The book paints a really vivid picture of the place.
Despite it not being delivered in the best way, the book had some interesting things to teach its readers about science and the makeup industry. If there’s one thing I would recommend it for it’s this. It is definitely not a book for people who don’t like stories with a lot of science in them.
I feel that Pretty Ugly had an interesting premise, but a sloppy execution. It was readable once it actually got started, so I give the book 2 out of 4 stars.
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Pretty Ugly
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