YOUTHJUICE rating: 3 stars ⭐⭐⭐.
HEBE was supposed to give me the heebie-jeebies, but the novel stole its own thunder almost immediately. A slow horror buildup would have been ideal in the gothic horror novel youthjuice by E.K. Sathue (Penguin Random House, June 4, 2024).
Sophia is the new Creative Director for HEBE, a cosmetics company with products that work a bit too well at erasing wrinkles and scars, and a cultish, ageless CEO named Tree who says things like “Call me your True North.” Narcissist much? A motif of Hebe is that looking young and gorgeous and being a good and moral person are one and the same.
Thanks to Edelweiss Plus Above the Treeline and Penguin Random House for sending this book to me for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Besides spoiling its own shocker, the novel suffers from overwriting with tortured metaphors, and a clumsy dual timeline. Would editors please stop insisting upon dual timelines when they are not working and just add to the readers’ confusion?
The novel nevertheless has a certain propulsion as Sophia is lured into the inner circle of the company and changes herself utterly to fit in, Devil-Wears-Prada style.1“The Devil Wears Prada” is both a 2003 novel by Lauren Weisberger and a 2006 movie starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway that I’ve probably seen five times. Sophia’s characterization could have been stronger, but I did keep reading.
I was satisfied by the ending, with comeuppance for the baddies and a thought-provoking message. Fashion horror and cosmetic horror have enormous potential as a subgenre, to say nothing of cosmetic surgery horror combined with an age-positive and body-positive message. youthjuice felt relevant personally: while I want to be Jamie Lee Curtis and be cool about aging, I found a crepe-y little fold above my right eye last week and flipped out. Despite my best intentions, I don’t wanna go there.
Reading in context:
STARDUST by Neil Gaiman (1999) is the obvious read-alike, with malicious witches who are determined to stay young.
WOMEN ROWING NORTH: NAVIGATING LIFE’S CURRENTS AND FLOURISHING AS WE AGE by Mary Pipher (Bloomsbury, 2019) is a five-star read.
Pretty much anything by Anne Lamott on aging and what she calls the “third third of life” is stellar; you can start with this essay.
What I’m reading right now:
THE DJINN WAITS A HUNDRED YEARS by Shubhnum Khan (Penguin Random House, January 9, 2024).
#youthjuice #EKSathue #horror #gothic #aging #fashion #TheDevilWearsPrada #LaurenWeisberger #Stardust #NeilGaiman #WomenRowingNorth #MaryPipher #AnneLamott