Never Be Bored
10 January 2022
Jewel Beetle
The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Collage artwork by Maya Land; The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern; 2020 Autumn de Wilde Emma. film.
With a flight pushed back by an hour due to weather, I recently had some time to kill at Chicago's O'Hare airport. Luckily for me, ORD has several locations of Barbara's Bookstore, a surprisingly well-curated chain. I picked up The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and didn't even mind my delay.
Rotating between three points of view, we first meet Hector Auvray, a telekinetic performer who can manipulate decks of cards or spin mirrors in dizzying patterns on stage with his mind. He's back in town after years away, eager to met with the beautiful and sophisticated Valérie Beaulieu, who has married rich and married well. But first, he bumps into Valérie's husband's cousin Nina, who like him also possesses a talent for telekinesis and knows much more about beetles than Valérie would consider appropriate for a young lady of her station.
Deliciously dramatic—secrets, dreams, and fears are revealed as these three lives intertwine. I couldn't put it down, it was such a delight to read.
I think Nina would love the artwork of Maya Land. Surrealist collage, with carefully hand-cut vintage magazine images, I think she'd appreciate how Maya layers together fancy, formal architecture with flora and fauna out of place. As Nina herself often feels out of place in the parties of Loisail, when she'd much rather be out looking for bug specimens in the country at Oldhouse. Check out Maya's website or Etsy for more, these are some of my favorites.
The Beautiful Ones features gorgeous, lush, descriptive writing and also an ambitious magician love interest. If you're into that, also try The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I first read this book sometime around 2014 and it was so good it felt life changing. I didn't reread it for the longest time, scared it wouldn't be all that I remembered—but when I finally did last year—it was just as wonderful as the first time. A magical story about a magical circus and the performers and visitors that wander amongst its black and white tents.
Beneath the magic of The Beautiful Ones, it's at heart a novel of manners, beginning as Nina makes her debut in Loisail's Grand Season. Other classic examples of this genre include works by Jane Austen; I highly recommend the 2020 Autumn de Wilde film adaptation Emma. The costuming is not only beautiful but, according to fashion historians, quite accurate to the time period as well. Plus, it stars Anya Taylor-Joy as the titular busybody.