The New York Times Book Review - Sarah Lyall
…The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty wears its issues very lightly, helped along in this format by the sprightly reading voice of Christina Delaine. The plot is funny, surreal, absurd and charmingly preposterous. Some details seem to have meandered over from a Kelly Link story or from the children's books A Series of Unfortunate Events, which shares an echo of a title and a similarly easy, unshockable tone. Like the orphans in those stories, Filipacchi's characters never question the weirdness around them, but meet it with a delightful, practical ingenuity.
Buzzfeed
"A surreal and utterly compelling triumph."
Sarah Lyall
"Funny, surreal, absurd and charmingly preposterous."
San Francisco Chronicle - Ellis Avery
"Readers who’d like to spend a little time at the corner where a brisker Haruki Murakami meets a drier ‘30 Rock’ would do well to seek out Filipacchi’s radiantly intelligent and very funny novel."
O, The Oprah Magazine - Leigh Haber
"[A] zanily satirical, spot-on novel."
The Daily Beast
"Filipacchi’s fourth [novel], is a critique of how society’s visual valuations override the importance of character: a ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ manifesto."
Glamour - Lynsey Eidell
"Takes a fairy tale, flips it on its head, and adds an element of murder… will both make you laugh and keep you on the edge of your seat."
NPR - Maureen Corrigan
"Filipacchi's lively story reflects on the unearned power that beauty confers on its recipients… breezy with a bite."
The New Yorker
"[A] sure comic touch… smart and sweet… a tribute to the pleasures of friendship."
Jonathan Ames
"Amanda Filipacchi has crafted a delightful gem, an unusual mixture of laughter and suspense. One never knows what's going to happen next in this odd and charming universe. This is a wonderfully absurd and comedic novel that also reads like a page-turning whodunit."
starred review Booklist
"An astute, piercing look at the value society and individuals place on appearance… impossible to put down and utterly dead-on in its assessment of human nature."
Walter Kirn
"An ingeniously crafted fictional meditation on power and freedom, essence and appearance that takes the form of a philosophical farce. A delight for the mind that penetrates the heart."
Boston Globe - John Freeman
"Amanda Filipacchi is the funniest novelist you’ve never heard of… Few comic novelists get characters talking so naturally, and amusingly… There is a high art in this kind of ungentle entertainment, and in The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty Amanda Filipacchi proves she hasn’t lost her touch, not even a little."
Joanna Scutts
"Loopily entertaining."
New York Observer - Laren Stover
"Part murder mystery, part satire, part meditation, Ms. Filipacchi’s book has also been called a modern fairy tale."
New York Times T Magazine - Nathan Reese
"[A] farcical novel… riveting to read."
Slate - Alexandra Coakley
"Magic spills from the pores of Filipacchi’s story… The resulting romp is a witty and honest rendering of the unknowable distance between perception and reality, exploring the possibility that beauty is literally in the eyes of the beholder."
Neil La Bute
"Amanda Filipacchi writes with a deceptive ease, creating magic out of thin air. She makes the ordinary come alive with possibility and stuffs her pages full of laughter, sadness and characters that are unforgettable…Filipacchi is one of our best satirists."
Roxana Robinson
"Amanda Filipacchi’s untamed imagination makes the world a little more fun to live in. This witty novel shines a blacklight on beauty, to reveal its dark side, and the author’s irrepressibly zany one."
Sheila Heti
"Amanda Filipacchi is one of the most original storytelling minds I know. Here, she has written a seductively powerful fable about the ugly powers of beauty, the redemptive powers of creativity, and the nature of true love. Every page abounds in mystery, delight and surprise."
Ed Park
"The best comic novelist writing today."
The New Yorker
"[A] sure comic touch… smart and sweet… a tribute to the pleasures of friendship."
