The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty: A Novel

In the heart of New York City, a group of artistic friends struggles with society's standards of beauty. At the center are Barb and Lily, two women at opposite ends of the beauty spectrum, but with the same problem: each fears she will never find a love that can overcome her looks. Barb, a stunningly beautiful costume designer, makes herself ugly in hopes of finding true love. Meanwhile, her friend Lily, a brilliantly talented but plain-looking musician, goes to fantastic lengths to attract the man who has rejected her—with results that are as touching as they are transformative.
To complicate matters, Barb and Lily discover that 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. Part literary whodunit, part surrealist farce, The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty serves as a smart, modern-day fairy tale. With biting wit and offbeat charm, Amanda Filipacchi illuminates the labyrinthine relationship between beauty, desire, and identity, asking at every turn: what does it truly mean to allow oneself to be seen?
Review«Filipacchi's fourth novel blithely upends the social constructs of beauty, desire, and art in her signature brisk, darkly comic style… with sharp surreal turns and layers of subversive meaning… While looks can kill, they're no match for Filipacchi's rapier wit.» --Publishers Weekly
«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.» --Roxana Robinson
“[A] sure comic touch… smart and sweet… a tribute to the pleasures of friendship.” (The New Yorker)
“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 Filipacchi proves she hasn’t lost her touch, not even a little.” (John Freeman – Boston Globe)
“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.” (Ellis Avery – San Francisco Chronicle)
“A surreal and utterly compelling triumph.” (Buzzfeed)
“[A] farcical novel… riveting to read.” (Nathan Reese – T Magazine)
“[A] zanily satirical, spot-on novel.” (O, The Oprah Magazine)
“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.” (Alexandra Coakley – Slate)
“Filipacchi's lively story reflects on the unearned power that beauty confers on its recipients… breezy with a bite.” (Maureen Corrigan – NPR Books)
“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.” (Booklist, starred review)
“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.” (Walter Kirn)
“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.” (Neil La Bute)
“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.” (Sheila Heti)
“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.” (Roxana Robinson)
“The best comic novelist writing today.” (Ed Park)
“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.” (Jonathan Ames)
About the AuthorAmanda Filipacchi is the author of three previous novels: Nude Men, Vapor, and Love Creeps. Her fiction has appeared in Best American Humor and elsewhere. Her nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic. She earned an MFA in fiction writing from Columbia University. She lives in New York.