Natural Beauty

The book is about a talented pianist whose parents, also, musicians fled China's Cultural Revolution and found a home in New York City. When a sudden accident left her parents debilitated, she had to give up piano for a job at a high-end elite beauty store that paid her a good salary so she could support her parents and their medical expenses. The beauty products produced by this elite company were made from extraordinary sources; some were secretive or controversial. The longer she worked at the store, the more she got involved in trying out new beauty treatments until she discovered unethical approaches employed by the company. Her best friend, Helen, died due to the toxic experimental products she took and applied to her face and body. After that, the main character becomes suspicious and decides to find out the shocking truth.

I was shocked by the stories told in the book about the power of beauty product companies. They take advantage of people's desire to look younger, more perfect, and beautiful and sell expensive products made of exotic ingredients.  The protagonist is a talented pianist, but due to a car accident, she has to earn enough money to cover her parents' medical expenses. The book is very engaging and a page-turner. It is, at times, surreal and eerie. It felt like something terrible was going to happen to the protagonist, but she turned out to be a strong young woman who, in the end, successfully exposed the evil practices of the beauty product empire. The book also exploits social issues such as classism, racism, and sexism.