RAVISHING, by Eshani Surya

When teenage Kashmira looks in the mirror, all she sees is her controlling father. He has estranged her from her culture and now her brother, doling out his affections like a privilege and recently delivering the final blow: leaving their family altogether. Kashmira will do anything to change the face in the mirror, and when a friend connects her to the coveted beauty product Evolvoir, which uses nanotechnology to give you a “second face,” Kashmira thinks this must be the miracle she needs. Nikhil, Kashmira’s brother, begins working at Evolvoir, and despite his initial hesitations about the product, finds himself believing that it can be a powerful equalizer and force for good.

Both siblings’ beliefs turn out to be devastatingly incorrect.

An unflinching perspective on beauty

Beauty is a hard topic to approach in fiction without sounding glib and trite, especially when writing about teenagers, but RAVISHING offers a truly fresh and unflinching perspective; unafraid to peel back the curtain on some of the darkest realities and consequences of beauty culture.

Kashmira’s journey of self-discovery and connection with her culture is a moving portrait of how beauty products and aesthetic alterations can in fact bring people closer to their true selves, but never without sacrifice. But Kashmira’s physical identity as a young Indian woman growing up in suburban America feels overlooked by the narrative and never quite successfully connects to the novel’s exploration of beauty and teenage insecurity.

This novel bursts at the seams, covering chronic illness, teenage insecurity, family, identity, capitalism, and the beauty industry. Though Surya struggles at times to fully explore each element, these characters, their actions, and their emotions speak powerfully for themselves. With more confidence in this fact, Surya might have avoided frequent plot digressions that spell things out too meticulously for the reader.

Unsettling and comforting

For me, the true heart of this novel is the relationship between Kashmira and her friend Roshni. The often-misguided love and understanding they have for one another while navigating their differing family conflicts and their experiences using Evolvoir make them feel like viscerally real teenage girls. Their relationship is the uniting thematic and narrative force, but also the emotional tether of this book.

The back half of the novel is really where it shines. Nikhil and Kashmira’s points of view weave together to create a horrifying and poignant portrait of what chronic illness means for not only a patient, but for everyone around them.

I saw myself in this novel in a way that was both unsettling and comforting. Kashmira’s story is raw and unapologetic, and mirrors the often-secretive experience of so many girls living with chronic illness and autoimmune conditions. As women, we betray our bodies and they betray us right back. It’s the cycle that keeps predatory billion-dollar industries alive. RAVISHING truly forces us to re-evaluate our relationship with the beauty industry, and that is its triumph.