THE UNFORTUNATE IMPORTANCE OF BEAUTY

A magical and comedic take on modern love, the power of friendship, and the allure of disguise.

The author of Nude Men returns with a witty, feminist fable that examines the thrills and pitfalls of beauty from the perspective of two polar opposites: a stunningly attractive and talented costume designer named Barb whose beauty has become a handicap to finding true love and a pianist named Lily whose musical gift and depth of character are overshadowed only by her breathtaking ugliness. Barb, blonde and so gorgeous she can barely walk in public without being courted by perfect strangers, is forced to don a fat suit in her hopes of finding a man who can love her for her personality. Lily, continuously rejected by the superficial man she is in love with, dreams up a scheme no less than magical in order to win his heart with results that are as touching as they are transformative. Filipacchi crafts a surreal yet believable fairy tale in modern-day New York City that satirizes society's obsession with beauty and its "unfortunate importance" in the aspects of life that should be least superficial: friendship and love. Born in Paris, Amanda Filipacchi was educated in both France and the United States and has lived in New York since the age of seventeen. She earned an MFA from Columbia University and is the author of Nude Men, Vapor, and Love Creeps. Described by the New York Times Book Review as a "lovely comic surrealist", Amanda Filipacchi's fiction has been translated into thirteen languages and her nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic. Her novels have been called "“hilarious and thought provoking" by Tama Janowitz and "whimsical and subversive" by Edmund White. "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 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