Customer Reviews

Beauty Junkies: Inside Our $15 Billion Obsession With Cosmetic Surgery

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This book has generated great buzz as written by a noted NY Times writer who becomes obsessed with plastic surgery at the age of 28 and have various procedures over the next ten years. It's an interesting story but it only occupies 15% of the book and is the closing.

Prior to that the book is an exhaustive summary of the history of plastic surgery dating back to the 1800s and sorted by the various body types being transposed, i.e., face,[..] botox, etc. Therefore the book is written somewhat as a clinical history until she closes with her personal story which is quite interesting. She uses herself as the new American who obsesses with not growing old and builds a compelling case that Americans will use more and more plastic surgery as some South American countries are currently experiencing.

Overall, a quality book on the subject. Personally, I preferred the recent "Confessions of a Park Avenue Plastic Surgeon" for a summary of the issue and more in depth personal stories from the perspective of doctor and patient.

I'm not much interested in cosmetic surgery (which is not the same as plastic surgery, one of the things I learned from the book), but I am a HUGE fan of Alex Kuczynski's work so will read anything she writes. For instance, I don't like shopping, but I always read her NYT column, Critical Shopper, just for the fun of it.

As I expected, I found this a fascinating book and whizzed through it in two days. Lots of great information. As the title indicates, this isn't a guide for people who are considering cosmetic surgery, but an analysis of the industry and the trends behind it. She throws in some of her own experiences, which are just as (or perhaps more) intriguing as the reportorial sections.

There is a boom in the cosmetic surgery business, in part because the boomers are tipping sixty and want to remain young forever. Alex Kuczynski chronicles her own personal adventures in the world of Botox, chin tucks, eyebrow lifts etc etc. She tells the story of an Industry which is increasingly introducing new products to answer the demands of an appearance obsessed America. A tone of criticism, also self- criticism and ridicule is a fair and natural part of the work. And the tales of the mess-ups caused by certain procedures , and the money wasted on them is also a big part of the story.
The book is an informative guide to a subject which obsesses a lot of people.
Thinking of all this stuff in relation to myself I know I am simply not the type to go for, or want anyone close to me to go for such procedures. On the other hand as the white accumulates in the beard, and the hair becomes sparser on the head I sometimes look at the old old with a certain dread and simply fear the day when my very appearance may want to make others head for the exit. So I understand a certain kind of obsession with the subject.
I would only say I consider another American obsession, that with 'health' a far healthier one.

This book names names: from revealing the names of celebrities who've had work done, to revealing the names of doctors (and one particularly horrible New York cosmetic dentist) who rip off their patients and leave their patients scarred or worse while flouting the law, the truth, and their patients' safety.

In other words, it has all of the pleasure of celebrity gossip, with none of the guilt. That's because this book is, at its core, a well-written, serious work of journalism that publicly shames some very bad doctors and a very bad dentist. It shows how the system is failing patients, and why it needs to be reformed.

I LOVED this fun book. It is a true page-turner that left me laughing whenever it didn't make me gasp in disbelief. I highly recommend this book!

This was a personalized psychological study into the history of cosmetic surgery through its earliest beginnings with plastic and corrective surgery beginning back in the 1400's to today, or at least the today of 2006. The historical parts were quite interesting without getting as technical and boring as a medical book would. The author speaks from first hand experience of the mental and physical anguish that women [and it IS primarily women] go through to maintain an aura of youth and beauty, which are for all of us [males and females] a diminishing commodity whether we want to admit it or not. The photos of the author on the jacket and website show her to be a very attractive woman herself, so it is somewhat heart-wrenching to think she didn't see herself as such. I found the book to be easily readable, funny at times, poignant in places, somewhat sarcastic in others, and also a little long winded as some other reviewers have noted. But all in all it was enjoyable to find the honesty and pathos in book written for an audience I assume somewhat different from my own. Try it, I think you'll like it.

Kuczynski's tale of her own and others obsession with cosmetic surgery underlines the more important question of what is the role of beauty in our society. Who sets the 'beauty standard' and why are so many people,, especialy women, obsessed with the pursuit of such a subjective and ultimataly unrealizeable goal. Superbly researched and well written.

Beauty Junkies, by Alex Kuczynski, gives us the history of plastic and cosmetic surgery, the charlatans, the risks, the popularity especially in the U.S. and its ridiculous extremes. The story is told deftly, with humor and a sense of veritas: the author herself had undergone several procedures, including one that had the unintended effect of swelling her mouth to grotesque proportions (a severe response and fortunately for her, a temporary one). This last experience compelled her to wean herself from her growing obsession with cosmetic surgery and procedures.

Now, although the trend of excessive surgical change doesn't only apply to females, it's with the females that it is most prevalent and to me, most offensive: to change oneself into the porn star mold (i.e., sexual object), to reduce one's features so the result is a person indistinguishable form scores of other blandly appealing "beauties" (i.e., loss of that which makes us unique) or to chase youth as if it were the only thing worth having. It's sad that the inner selves of these people - intellect, creativity, personality, achievement - is so neglected and disparaged - in order to maintain a superficial and ultimately impermanent illusion. Ms. Kuczynski, in fact, discusses a woman for whom her appearance - and all the supporting procedures - is ALL she does with her time and money. This book is a cautionary tale, and an honest and entertaining - if disheartening - read.

The endless struggle against looking old or inadequate, the inability to accept the changing or imperfect body and face, coupled with the relentless promotion of the technology to reverse the aging process, spawned a $15 billion industry in America. This book discusses the moral, ethical and socio-economic implications of readily available services like liposuction, breast augmentation, face lifts and botox injections.

Kuczynski's reporting is by no means ground-breaking. The book is certainly not an outright condemnation of cosmetic procedures and vanity, but don't expect anything balanced or objective. Its tone is definitely negative and very much against cosmetic surgery.

After throwing a lot of stunning figures (numbers) and highlighting the extreme extent to which some American women go to make themselves look younger or more beautiful. She talks about "surgery safari"s in South Africa. This is followed by a chapter on the "rise and fall of botox". A very concise history of this "magic bullet" against aging, but it would be hard to convince the public that the cases which ended up in disaster/death are representative of the huge number of satisfied botox patients.

Next, Kuczynski goes into the history of reconstructive surgery. This branch of medicine has, over the years, shifted from rehabilitating disfigured soldiers to perfecting the faces of vain people.

The link between HMO hassles and the flourishing of cosmetic surgery industry is an interesting one. But the author goes further than that. The media fixes our notions on what is beautiful. The herd behaviour influences people to improve themselves both inside and outside. The result - nobody is plain anymore. Evolution won't take its course! The author is actually worried that women who can play the role of grandmothers are getting fewer in numbers. Then, she goes on to expose juicy details on the disunity of the medical community, the unflattering ways in which cosmetic surgeons market themselves.

Finally, we get an inkling into why the author takes her stand. She recounts a traumatic experience with a Restylane injection in her lip. Another chapter on "the fatal quest for beauty" and a very interesting experiment (and results) in which the author begs for breast augmentation funds online.

Beauty Junkies is a a very well-organised, well-reserached and well-written book. But like some of the unnecessary surgeries she mentions, I think that Kuczynski's views are a bit on the extreme side. A good read for those obsessed with cosmetic surgery, but don't forget to put matters in proper perspective.

Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty

I rarely have a burning desire to learn about the jeans, bags or bras Alex Kuczynski writes about in the New York Times every Thursday. But I do have a desire to read whatever Kuczynski writes. No one is more insightful about how we live under the guise of writing about how we shop.

And now she has written a book about another subject I thought might be limited to prospective cosmetic surgery patients but is actually about so much more. Non-fiction rarely keeps the reader up at night, but you won't want to turn the light out until you find out what happens when an routine Botox injection leaves a movie producer's wife with debilitating headaches. Or whether Kuczynski herself is able to squeeze in a drive-by lip-plumbing injection between the funeral of a friend and the lunch after.

There is masive research to back up little known phenomenon. Who knew the health care system would create an army of nippers and tuckers determined to circumvent the insurance indsutry and slice and dice for cash? Who knew that the person at the next desk was slipping off at lunch time to lose ten years and gain a promotion? Studies show that success goes not to those who feel good but those who look good.

Someone pumped up here, shrunk there, the triumphs, failures and excesses of an industry gone wild. Butchers and addicts alike are named. Whether or not you are a shopper in the beauty industrial complex, you will be richer for having read this book.

As a mother of three I was ready to get a tummy tuck and other things done... until I read this book. This clear view into the world of cosmetic surgery really made me think about it a new way. I learned things I am sure my doctor never would have told me. I am glad that this book was written.