Customer Reviews

Flesh Wounds: The Culture of Cosmetic Surgery

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I was stunned to find there are no reviews of this book here at Amazon. This book is a great read. I had trouble putting it down! The author is a professor of literature and makes an apology for stepping outside her field (of literature) to write a book about plastic surgery, but it is PRECISELY her background that makes this book so wonderful.

The topic is well-researched and yet presented in layman's terms and the stats and facts are nothing but mind blowing. She makes references to Frankenstein, which prompted me to go read THAT classic and she's right; we're now formed by society's impressions of our physical appearance (which is the link to Victor Frankenstein's monster).

If you think about this, it's rather insane. When people's appearance is improved, they're treated better by society and that gives them more self-confidence and inner peace. How bass-ackwards is that?

I don't know when I've read a more thought-provoking book than "Flesh Wounds." I find myself quoting from it to friends again and again. And it's also proving INVALUABLE in writing my own book about internet dating. (Available August 2005).

Rose Thornton

The book Flesh Wounds: The Culture of Cosmetic Surgery by Virginia L. Blum takes the reader into the minds of the individuals influenced by cosmetic surgery. Blum is an English Professor at the University of Kentucky and she became a victim of the cosmetic surgery craze when she was a teenager. Blum writes a very intriguing book about how cosmetic surgery captivates the interests of patients. She points out that society has taken to the fascination of cosmetic surgery, due to the fixation on celebrities. Celebrities stand as a two-dimensional image, where society looks to celebrities for body images. Celebrities are also looking elsewhere for body images too. Society is slowly turning into a unified body mold. Basically society is going to one day be seperated by groups of body types. Society is losing the individual identity that has supported our cultures for years. Flesh Wounds contributes to an understanding of why society is so focused on the outter appearences. Today, society is based on two negative aspects, that is whether a person is attractive or unattractive. Beauty does not make a person more intelligent, nor does not being beautify make a person less intelligent. I liked this book, because Blum does an impressive job providing the evidence of how cosmetic surgery is destroying individualism.

Here's a real-review:

*The first 100 pages are about how her mother made her get a nose job that when wrong.
*The second 100 pages are about the Frankenstein movie.
*The last 90 pages are about every movie-star that's ever gotten cosmetic surgery.

And the whole thing is stitched together with an English teacher's weekend theory on how a mix of "Simulations and Simulacra" + "The Ego and the Id" explain why people get cosmetic surgery. If you're someone who orders books online based on catchy titles, then do yourself a favor and skip this one. How can a book on cosmetic surgery not even talk about the golden ratio?

There are alot of payoffs for physical perfection ... it can easily be the quick-fix for a better life and a step up. The one thing though is that behind it all is a mask and cover up of self-rejection and a drug of choice to run away from one's true personality. Even when beauty gets you what you want ... it may not take away the inner strife that causes the behavior in the first place. Pursuing beauty can be an ugly experience.

Before you go ahead and part with hard-earned money ... go read The Hoffman Process by Tim Laurence.

Virginia L. Blum examines the topic of cosmetic surgery in her research-based informational book Flesh Wounds: The Culture of Cosmetic Surgery. The book, written by the English professor at the University of Kentucky, appeals to many audiences, is informative in many subjects, and is greatly influenced by her background with cosmetic surgery. Flesh Wounds can be widely used because she uses the book to inform the public on the basics and the inside