Harare Review of Books

336 pages.

Expected publication date: Jan 16, 2024 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Fiction.

This beautiful novel left me with so many questions, and one lovely possible answer. It’s the complete life story of Adina, who thinks she is—and maybe is—an alien. Her entry into our world is unusual, and so’s her exit. Nothing about her quite fits through childhood and into adulthood; she can’t lie, she struggles with physical contact and affection, and she’s aromantic (even though she later has a full-blown and very awkward relationship). Add to this Adina’s harried and mostly single mother as she struggles to raise her, and barely has the time or energy to be emotionally present for her child—although their relationship has many tender moments, and they learn to connect with age.

What Beautyland is is a celebration of difference. We’ve all felt like aliens at some point in our lives. Adina is just all of our “things” in one loveable semi-human—with the lesson that perhaps that’s what we all truly are, in spite of our general agreement to pretend a norm. Adina is superbly executed and fiercely, almost defiantly written. I don’t think I’ll encounter many other characters this memorable, no matter how many more books I read.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for access.