Reviews and Commentary:
See the New Yorker’s review for “Beauty Junkies” at The New Yorker
See the Village Voice review at The Village Voice
The New York Observer: “You’ll want what she’s having. And if you’re going to go there, you’ll want Alex Kuczynski as your Virgil. For that matter, if you’re going anywhere, you probably do… There should be a cocktail named for this woman.” See the entire Observer review at New York Observer
The Washington Post Book World:
“The New York Times’s racy feature writer Alex Kuczynski has written Beauty Junkies, an exposé of the cosmetic surgery industry. And she really knows her stuff… .Sumptuously fact-packed.”
The New York Times Book Review: (Editor’s Choice book)
“Cosmetic surgery is now so prevalent that it could qualify as a national epidemic. And under all that Botox — the gateway procedure —as well as the face-lifts and tummy tucks, lies a sinister story, as deep as it is shallow. In exploring it, Kuczynski…has performed a real service. She gives you everything you need to know — the menu of procedures (right down to toe liposuction), the price tags, the names of doctors and dentists, the drugs, the implements and implants, the celebrity patients. she also lays out the dangers, the diasters and the death. Along with the reporting, Kuczynski provides delicious tid-bits of the cocktail-party circuit…fascinating… .”
The Seattle Times:
A “simultaneously fascinating and dismaying book…Beauty Junkies captures contemporary America quite neatly.. . Speaking for the contingent of sensibly shod and cosmetically challenged Pacific Northwest womanhood, I have this to say: Thank you, Alex Kuczynski, for being a fashion and pop-culture lifeline. Without you, I would know nothing, absolutely nothing, about high-colonic cleansing or what it’s like to move butt fat to one’s too-thin lips. I mean that as a compliment…As Kuczynski notes, there’s nothing new about adoring beauty, but our rabid cosmetic intervention reveals something darker and well worth questioning. This book does just that, with plenty of juicy stuff to keep you riveted right to the end.”
Elle:
“It’s her unique mix of in-depth reportage and unmasking of personal vulnerabilities that takes Beauty Junkies beyond shock value into something much more complex.”
The Houston Chronicle:
“A rich cautionary tale of the world of cosmetic enhancement… Kuczynski has artfully tapped into the zeitgeist, showing us that our preoccupation with looking young has become something of a Frankenstein monster. Consider a recent New Yorker magazine cartoon: Two curvy, bikinied, long-haired beauties frolic on a beach. One says to the other, ‘I never thought turning eighty would be so much fun!’ Beauty Junkies is the book to read before the Botox party.”
Publishers Weekly:
“New York Times reporter Kuczynski has attitude to spare… A canny and witty guide to the excesses of a conformist society with more money than sense.”
The Los Angeles Times:
“Thoughtfully written and reported.”
The Wall Street Journal:
” Beauty Junkies captures the sad fate that has befallen the feminine ideal: Since women can achieve an approximation of attractiveness through one procedure or another, they all end up looking vaguely like the same person: an aging porn star. In the end, the book leaves the reader not only aware of the emptiness of cosmetics surgery’s results but also conscious of the vacuity of our current concept of beauty itself.”
Phyllis Diller:
“A rippingly fast, funny read.”
Booklist (Starred Review):
“New York Times’ reporter Kuczynski’s documentary-like narrative on the U.S. cosmetic industry is at once an expose, a gripping series of related articles, and an autobiography. The author has produced harrowing tales of our denial of aging—for men and for women. She’s done her homework many times over, interviewing patients and doctors, talking to company executives who support the industry (for instance, imaging systems and pharmaceuticals), attending trade shows, and researching past news. What emerges is information about every surgery under the knife, including gastric bypass, breast augmentation, and liposuction; all are painstakingly detailed in the author’s engaging, hard-to-put down fashion. When she herself confesses to an abnormal need for Botox and other dermatological enhancements, and when her own lip re-plumping goes awry, it is a clear cry for Americans of all sizes and shapes and ages to seriously and continuously re-examine their sense of selves—via a process that’s much more than skin deep.”
The New York Post
“Kuczynski is an accurate and wicked reporter.” - Cindy Adams
Nancy Etcoff
Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital author of
Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty:
“Only a fool equates beauty with happiness and only a greater fool believes that beauty does not matter. In this brilliant book. Alex Kuczynski takes a sharp and clear eyed look at beauty lust run amok where the pursuit of beauty morphs into craving and addiction, and where an army of suppliers claim to deliver the goods with the speed and purity of unadulterated junk. She pursues human nature into its hiding places, offering a frank and fearless, a terrifying but also tender look at our quest for perfection. What is beauty? It’s a question you will think long and hard about after reading this provocative book.”
The New Republic:
“Kuczynski’s eye is keen, her wit sharp and her perfectly sculpted eyebrows perennially arched.”
Kathy Peiss
Author of Hope in a Jar: The Making of America’s Beauty Culture:
“This perceptive book shows how an age-old desire to look young and attractive has turned into a national obsession with cosmetic surgery. Alex Kuczynski explores the world of Botox, liposuction, and breast implants with the skepticism of a good journalist and the ruefulness of a former consumer. These stories of self-absorbed beauty-seekers—-and the doctors and marketers who profit handsomely from them—-are told with wit and a refreshing dose of candor. The mirror she holds up to the ‘beauty junkies’ presents a disturbing portrait of contemporary American dreams of perfection and their pursuit at all costs.”
Pamela Paul
Author of The Starter Marriage and The Future of Matrimony and Pornified: How Pornography is Destroying Our Lives, Our Relationships and Our Families:
“Sharp, witty, observant and wise, Kuczynski delves into the cosmetic surgery subculture that threatens to become our dominant culture. Even those who would never consider Botox or scalpels will be transfixed by this fascinating exploration of the nexus of consumerism, narcissism and fear.”
Arthur Caplan, Emmanuel and Robert Hart
Professor of Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania Medical School:
“There could not be a better guide to the tumultuous world of cosmetic surgery in America than Alex Kuczynski… . If you are thinking about getting something lifted, tightened, extended, augmented, suctioned or abraded this is the book to read before walking into a plastic surgeon’s office.”
Jami Bernard
Author, The Incredible Shrinking Critic, 75 Pounds & Counting: My Excellent Adventure in Weight Loss:
“A fascinating, terrifying descent to the netherworld of obsessive cosmetic improvement. It’s as eye-opening as the latest brow lift – but without nasty side effects!”
Samuel Wilson Fussell
Author of Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Body Builder:
“A fascinating look at life under the knife. When the surgically-altered, cosmetically-enhanced form becomes the norm, when movie stars to maids and even Presidential candidates exaggerate their smiles and eliminate their frowns through ‘correction,’ what does that say about who we are and what we value? Beauty Junkies addresses the why’s and the wherefore’s, the amazing wartime history of plastic surgeries and so much more. Hold on to your implants and enjoy the ride.”