Book review: Ugly As Sin
“I am ugly”
This is how Toni Raiten-D’Antoinio starts her book Ugly As Sin.
“And you are ugly too.”
Okay, now she’s pushing it, eh?
Only she’s not, because when you read on, you find out that based on the constantly sliding definition of beauty that society places upon us, none of us could possibly ever be truly beautiful.
Ugly As Sin was one of those Got Me Thinking books. Just ask Mr. Very Right who had to listen to me, every morning for a week during our commute, rant about how ridiculous and impossible our pursuit of beauty is.
Part history lesson, part anthropological study, part clinical study, part personal experience, Ugly As Sin looks at our attitudes to appearance from all sides. Not just how we view our own appearance, but how we treat others based on theirs.
I am a total sucker for books on human behaviour. From the day my parents left a copy of Desmond Morris’ The Naked Ape lying around, I have been fascinated with how humans behave and why. And when it comes to appearance, we behave very oddly and generally not in our best interests physically nor psychologically.
Did you know that women are amputating parts of their toes to fit into certain designer shoes? Who does that? And more shockingly, who designs shoes that require toe amputation?
We all struggle with our appearance. Some of us just on bad hair days, others to the point they are afraid to even venture outside. And we all judge others based on their appearance. Malcolm Gladwell turned this aspect of appearance alone into an entire book, Blink.
Wouldn’t it be a wonderful relief to just be able to say “You know what? I am ugly. I am also incredibly beautiful.” Then we could simply get on with living our lives … with all our toes intact.
In Ugly As Sin, Toni Raiten-D’Antonio helps point us in this direction. And that makes her one hell of a beautiful woman.
Silver & Grace Approved Books
Ugly as Sin has the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as an excellent resource for women. It can be purchased through Amazon by clicking here: Ugly as Sin: The Truth About How We Look and Finding Freedom From Self-Hatred
Excellent review!! I know I have ‘ugly days’ when I don’t want to be seen. This is generally the day I’ll run into an ex-boyfriend in a grocery store, LOL. Thanks so much for being on the tour!
TOE AMPUTATION – good LORD! And I thought boob jobs were bad!
Whatever happened to “beauty is as beauty does”?
@Lisa – ah yes, I’ll just nip out to the grocery store looking all shlumpy … “Oh, hello Person I Haven’t Seen In Forever.”
Really loved this book, and I know it is going to spark some future articles from me.
@Canadian Army Wife – I know! I was horrified when I read that. The modern day equivalent of foot binding.
Oh this is an interesting read…and a good review…I see I am following you for another tour book soon…
One of the exercises in my course work on money I am doing is to do 10 things during the day or week that you would not normally do….so I have been happy dancing after every hour on the computer or reading for about 2 minutes…
But my favorite is I decided to say “Hello Beautiful” every time I pass a mirror – out loud and with a bit of truthy passion in the voice….I did it at the Farmer’s Market this weekend and at the bike shop and my husband was horrified…I just laughed out loud and said…”Well someone needs to say it!”
A little girl at the bike shop after that followed up to the mirror and said out loud ” You are just precious!”
better than amputating your toes and delighted the other shoppers in the store…
@Patricia – that’s great! I make a practice of complimenting myself when I look in the mirror as well. It really does go along way to putting one in a positive frame of mind.
Great review, Eliza! Isn’t sad how we view ourselves. I have four beautiful daughters. I made a point of raising them to know they were beautiful inside and out, yet, they have all struggled in one way or another with the idea of their own beauty. I think the media has a great deal to do with it.
Thanks for bring such a great book to our attention.
Peace, Linda
@Linda – four daughters? Wow. I have two daughters, and I certainly hope I have relayed that message to them. They certainly are beautiful inside and out, but it’s interesting that your daughters still struggled with this. I don’t think appearance was even a topic when I was growing up, but I sure struggled with it. BIG TIME! Interestingly, I don’t think I was influenced by media, as I was not exposed to it very much. I was too busy running free on 50 acres of beautiful countryside. Hard, therefore, to say what caused my struggles … hmmm … now you have me pondering.