
I have just finished reading Hope Donahue‘s book entitled Beautiful Stranger: A Memoir of an Obsession with Perfection. I decided to write a short blog post about it because I don’t want to forget the insightful words of Hope Donahue. I am not going to talk much about it but I’m just going to direct you to this site where you can see a summary of the novel. I recommend this book to everyone!
But let me share my favorite part of the book:
The young, beautiful models in fashion magazines do not represent the norm. In fact, these freakishly beautiful women make up less than one percent of the population. Their looks are the result of a genetic gift. And yet, they are the standard against which we are told to measure ourselves. The magazines tell us that we, too, can be as lovely and desirable as they are if only we have the right beauty regimen, exercise program, or plastic surgery. And despite the bold claims of anti-aging treatments, there is no way to recapture youth. It’s a profoundly unfair ideal that leads women on an impossible quest.