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Wasted Beauty
With his dark wit and corrosive dialogue, Eric Bogosian tells a powerful and emotionally wrenching tale of two lovers who form a mesmerizing and destructive bond while trying to evade the looming failure of their respective lives.
Reba runs away from her shabby and desolate rural community for the lure of New York City. Her tall and awkward frame lands her work modeling, but she is not prepared for the glamorous, drug-fueled life of a celebrated mannequin. After a series of painful relationships, she sees hope and an exit toward stability and sanity in the man who saves her brother's life.
This man is Rick, a successful SoHo general practitioner with a warm family and an idyllic life that has left him restless and hollow. He doesn't take Reba seriously until he finds himself so enmeshed in her beauty that he risks losing everything--his home, his children and his beloved wife.
Now this master monologist and author of the acclaimed Mall returns with a sprawling novel of urban desperation and desire that brings to mind the winding narratives of Tom Wolfe salted with the dark urges of Philip Roth. The New York Times hailed Eric Bogosian's fiction as "caustic, fast-paced....Adapting himself to fiction with...the same garrulous intensity he brings to plays and monologues, Mr. Bogosian sets in motion a suburban nightmare." And Entertainment Weekly has lauded his "merciless satirical vision (that) takes you deep into the dark heart of the American dream."
Wasted Beauty is Bogosian's enthralling journey through the high life of drugs and fashion celebrity, middle-class guilt and sexual obsession.
Copyright © 2005 by Simon & Schuster
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
2 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
About the author
Eric Bogosian
42 books139 followersEric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologuist, novelist, and historian. Descended from Armenian-American immigrants, he grew up in Watertown and Woburn, Massachusetts, and attended the University of Chicago and Oberlin College. His numerous plays include Talk Radio (1987) and subUrbia (1994), which were adapted to film by Oliver Stone and Richard Linklater, respectively, with Bogosian starring in the former.
Bogosian has appeared in plays, films, and television series throughout his career. His television roles include Captain Danny Ross in Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2006–2010), Lawrence Boyd on Billions (2017–2018), and Gil Eavis on Succession (since 2018). He also starred as Arno in the Safdie brothers' film Uncut Gems (2019). He has also been involved in New York City ballet production, and has written several novels as well as the historical nonfiction Operation Nemesis (2015).
Bogosian has appeared in plays, films, and television series throughout his career. His television roles include Captain Danny Ross in Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2006–2010), Lawrence Boyd on Billions (2017–2018), and Gil Eavis on Succession (since 2018). He also starred as Arno in the Safdie brothers' film Uncut Gems (2019). He has also been involved in New York City ballet production, and has written several novels as well as the historical nonfiction Operation Nemesis (2015).
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
September 12, 2024
High brow trauma porn?? Cleverly written and surprisingly existential. Nice insight into the heart of a married man, but more so, the experience of desire when you are in a committed and loving relationship…… very interesting for sure. The various arcs of the other men who were infatuated with her were bizarre but almost it a way that made the book feel other worldly and gave it another dimension ..
July 1, 2007
I was so excited when this new novel came out and it was just as good as Mall. Plus he changed it up and had a female main character this time and I still felt he was really on point. More drugs and fucked up shit.
July 13, 2018
It's funny...I read this book several years ago, then re-read it several weeks ago and didn't get around to writing about it until now. I thought it was going to be one of those books that would be easy for me to put in the "good riddance" pile, but I ended up enjoying it....except, now that a short time has passed, it's already fading to a blur in my memory.
The book is about an incredibly beautiful girl named Lena who lives a sheltered life as an orphan on a "farm." She and her brother go to NYC every weekend to sell apples, which is basically the only thing that the run-down farm produces. One day Lena escapes and miraculously gets scouted...she quickly becomes a very rich, famous, and heroin-addicted model. She also has major daddy issues and is involved in unfathomable relationships with strange men. Lena is a fucking trainwreck, but it's still hard to completely hate her. She starts as such a naive and humble person, and even when she's living the high life you can't help but feel pity for how empty she feels.
Thankfully, we don't have to follow Lena throughout the entire book. There are some parts told from the points-of-view of Lena's brother (an angry, alcoholic loser who spends his time either in a mental hospital or on the streets) as well as doctor Rick (Jewish family man in the throes of a midlife crisis). Rick coincidentally becomes involved in the lives of Lena and Rick. I liked how the story was told that way. It seemed to make the pacing faster, and each character had a well-defined voice.
This book is pathetic from every angle. And I don't mean that in a bad way. Maybe it resonated with me because I tend to have a bleak outlook on life, and Bogosian didn't try to sugarcoat anything. Although the characters are completely fucked up, they do their best to make sense of life.
The book is about an incredibly beautiful girl named Lena who lives a sheltered life as an orphan on a "farm." She and her brother go to NYC every weekend to sell apples, which is basically the only thing that the run-down farm produces. One day Lena escapes and miraculously gets scouted...she quickly becomes a very rich, famous, and heroin-addicted model. She also has major daddy issues and is involved in unfathomable relationships with strange men. Lena is a fucking trainwreck, but it's still hard to completely hate her. She starts as such a naive and humble person, and even when she's living the high life you can't help but feel pity for how empty she feels.
Thankfully, we don't have to follow Lena throughout the entire book. There are some parts told from the points-of-view of Lena's brother (an angry, alcoholic loser who spends his time either in a mental hospital or on the streets) as well as doctor Rick (Jewish family man in the throes of a midlife crisis). Rick coincidentally becomes involved in the lives of Lena and Rick. I liked how the story was told that way. It seemed to make the pacing faster, and each character had a well-defined voice.
This book is pathetic from every angle. And I don't mean that in a bad way. Maybe it resonated with me because I tend to have a bleak outlook on life, and Bogosian didn't try to sugarcoat anything. Although the characters are completely fucked up, they do their best to make sense of life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 15, 2025
Not too much to say about this one. There were a few elements that I did enjoy such as the narrative shift from third to first person in certain paragraphs which I haven't seen before. Other than that, oof... Idk, the characters were a bit too dramatic/edgy for me and in hindsight I never got hooked by the story; I kept waiting for a part to gain my interest and it just never did. Bummerrrrr.
2/5 ⭐️
2/5 ⭐️
August 23, 2023
Thought provoking and smart novel.
November 26, 2024
I appreciated this book so much - I didn’t necessarily enjoy it however but I learned so much from it, I don’t even know if it’s 5/4 stars.
April 2, 2010
If I had to choose one word to describe "Wasted Beauty," that word would be "schizophrenic." The novel is told from the alternating perspectives of three characters: two erstwhile "lovers" and the brother of one of these lovers, who just so happens to be, wonder of wonders, schizophrenic (maybe - His actual diagnosis is a bit unclear). Within those alternating perspectives, the novel erratically flops from first person, to second person, to third person omniscient, sometimes within the same SENTENCE!
Wasted Beauty sets out to be a "romance," but reads more like a "romance" written by a man who watches a lot of hardcore porn and finds IT "romantic." In short, there is A LOT of sex in this book. And when the characters are not HAVING sex they are FANTASIZING about having sex.
And the sex described, is not the lyrical type of sex you find in literature, or even the risque, yet erotic, sex you find in "bodice busters." This is some UGLY sex - the type that makes you cringe while reading it. (Except for the last 20 or so pages, which read as if Nicholas Sparks stole the author's laptop and started tapping away. Suddenly, at around page 240, all of these heretofore nyphomaniacal characters had NO INTEREST in sex. They just wanted to "cuddle".)
When we weren't being treated to "ugly sex," we got to read a bunch of really graphic passages vividly describing drug use and abuse, and bodily functions.
That being said, believe it or not, there were parts of this book that I really liked. Despite it all, I truly believe that the author is very a smart guy, who has a lot of insightful things to say about love and happiness. It's just that most of the parts that I liked seemed as though they belonged in another book.
I was very surprised at how strong my reaction was toward the graphic nature of this book, as I am not a "light reader." Chuck Palahniuk is one of my favorite authors. And his books are not exactly "tame." I guess it was just the context of this book that threw me off. I read the inside cover, and was expecting something else entirely . . .
Wasted Beauty sets out to be a "romance," but reads more like a "romance" written by a man who watches a lot of hardcore porn and finds IT "romantic." In short, there is A LOT of sex in this book. And when the characters are not HAVING sex they are FANTASIZING about having sex.
And the sex described, is not the lyrical type of sex you find in literature, or even the risque, yet erotic, sex you find in "bodice busters." This is some UGLY sex - the type that makes you cringe while reading it. (Except for the last 20 or so pages, which read as if Nicholas Sparks stole the author's laptop and started tapping away. Suddenly, at around page 240, all of these heretofore nyphomaniacal characters had NO INTEREST in sex. They just wanted to "cuddle".)
When we weren't being treated to "ugly sex," we got to read a bunch of really graphic passages vividly describing drug use and abuse, and bodily functions.
That being said, believe it or not, there were parts of this book that I really liked. Despite it all, I truly believe that the author is very a smart guy, who has a lot of insightful things to say about love and happiness. It's just that most of the parts that I liked seemed as though they belonged in another book.
I was very surprised at how strong my reaction was toward the graphic nature of this book, as I am not a "light reader." Chuck Palahniuk is one of my favorite authors. And his books are not exactly "tame." I guess it was just the context of this book that threw me off. I read the inside cover, and was expecting something else entirely . . .
January 25, 2009
The first thing I have to say about Eric Bogosian is he is amazing with words. With that said....this was not a light book. I don't think of the things I read as shallow, or drivel, or meaningless, though I do admit to reading some things merely because I know they'll be fun and aren't all heavy and weighted. But they're still meaningful in their own way. I've only read one book, Kevin Brooks' Lucas, that was so true and well written that part of me wished, when I had done, that I hadn't read it because it hit me so hard. Wasted Beauty reminds me of that.
This is an interweaving story, in which often times it seems like things are hopeless. I was actually stealing myself for a horrible end, because after a time it seemed like it was coming. The optimist in me held out though, knowing they could make it through. Those left alive that is.
Most of this tale takes place in the City, and not its brightest side. This is life in the shadows where the light never shown, but maybe peaks through when you're not looking. These are the big questions and battles and demons we fight, with their own faces and names and strategies. Innocence lost and dreams misled. But for all that, it isn't to no end. The prices all seem too high...but a waste? I can only hope that everyone would walk away not thinking so.
The whole time I was reading this book I felt a certain sense of ineptness for not being able to fly through it. But how do you fly through life and not miss it? How do you cross paths repeatedly with the same people and take it in if you're not spending time and giving attention? More than most, Wasted Beauty is the world in your hands. By no means all of it, but a part, a sizeable part, close to home. People's lives for you to flip through. And by all means worth the time.
This is an interweaving story, in which often times it seems like things are hopeless. I was actually stealing myself for a horrible end, because after a time it seemed like it was coming. The optimist in me held out though, knowing they could make it through. Those left alive that is.
Most of this tale takes place in the City, and not its brightest side. This is life in the shadows where the light never shown, but maybe peaks through when you're not looking. These are the big questions and battles and demons we fight, with their own faces and names and strategies. Innocence lost and dreams misled. But for all that, it isn't to no end. The prices all seem too high...but a waste? I can only hope that everyone would walk away not thinking so.
The whole time I was reading this book I felt a certain sense of ineptness for not being able to fly through it. But how do you fly through life and not miss it? How do you cross paths repeatedly with the same people and take it in if you're not spending time and giving attention? More than most, Wasted Beauty is the world in your hands. By no means all of it, but a part, a sizeable part, close to home. People's lives for you to flip through. And by all means worth the time.
August 5, 2009
The question for a man is what is the difference between lust and love and when does a man think with his brain and use his brain to also feel love instead of just using his dick? This seems to be the pivotal point in this story for Rick. He is finally able to turn away from his obsession with Reba when he realizes he loves his wife and children and the dissatisfaction he feels toward life is within himself and isn't rooted in them or his relationship with them. He must simply change his attitude and the dissatisfaction will change. Easier said than done but apparently Rick is able to do this; or we are left to hope he does for a time.
Reba on the other hand is a question of will she ever be truly happy. She certainly wasn't given the goods for a solid base of self esteem and happiness in her childhood and her early adulthood was veiled with too much emphasis on her beauty being her value. One can only hope.
The air of this story was depressing and dark and I didn't really care for the characters and found myself losing interest with the story as a result of this lack of connection due to the lack of caring. I needed some pull to draw me in and it wasn't there except to see if Rick's mind would get out of his dick in the end.
A quote that caught me and I listened to over and over again:
"She was a flower but a flower that thrives in the wrong place is a weed. She was a weed with roots wrapped round my heart, strangling it."
Reba on the other hand is a question of will she ever be truly happy. She certainly wasn't given the goods for a solid base of self esteem and happiness in her childhood and her early adulthood was veiled with too much emphasis on her beauty being her value. One can only hope.
The air of this story was depressing and dark and I didn't really care for the characters and found myself losing interest with the story as a result of this lack of connection due to the lack of caring. I needed some pull to draw me in and it wasn't there except to see if Rick's mind would get out of his dick in the end.
A quote that caught me and I listened to over and over again:
"She was a flower but a flower that thrives in the wrong place is a weed. She was a weed with roots wrapped round my heart, strangling it."
February 2, 2019
If one were to equate Bogosian's first novel, Mall: A Novel, to his play subUrbia, then one could also draw a similar parallel between 'Wasted Beauty' and his recent play 'Red Angel.' The Jeff of both Mall and subUrbia were two closely related characters, much like the leading men in Wasted Beauty and Red Angel. In print, however, Bogosian is able to delve deeper into the characters' inner thoughts. When reading his work, one can just tell that Bogosian is an actor -- he often follows dialogue directly with subtext, which I liked. Rick, the main character in 'Beauty', actually has roots that go much further back in Bogosian's work than 'Angel'. He is reminiscent of the peeping-tom in Mall, who was a descendent of Bogosian's Recovering Male character from his solos. If you've been following his work, I would say you will definitely appreciate this book.
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November 30, 2014Gone. Her face's threadbare version in the hours between morphine...He'd seen her not really recognizing him, not really, when it came down to it, caring who he was. It was disgusting, that pain could do that. God should never have allowed pain with the power to do that. What was the point of it, except to shame and disgust everyone? To make a mockery of love? If that was God, then fuck God, whether there was a reason for it or not. If there was a reason then fuck the reason.
Men look for a reason outside themselves to be any good. They're taught to be insufficient to themselves...No wonder women feel sorry for them. They could bash you and you'd still feel sorry for them because they were so comprehensively insufficient to themselves.
I like my life, it's just living my life that makes me unhappy.
Men look for a reason outside themselves to be any good. They're taught to be insufficient to themselves...No wonder women feel sorry for them. They could bash you and you'd still feel sorry for them because they were so comprehensively insufficient to themselves.
I like my life, it's just living my life that makes me unhappy.
March 29, 2010
Stupid Goodreads didn't save my review the first time - so here's the retyped version. Btw, has anybody noticed how difficult it is to access one's own reviews in this badly-designed website? I'm tempted to go back to LibraryThing.
So, Bogosian is a better writer than I'd thought he was but this book is a light read, I'm getting the sense he didnt push himself harder to go beyond the surface concerns of his characters (which have been taken up by numerous other writers - one of them being the author of "the corrections" that joyless opus that seemed to be on every bookclub back in 2003-04 for reasons I never understood.
So, Bogosian is a better writer than I'd thought he was but this book is a light read, I'm getting the sense he didnt push himself harder to go beyond the surface concerns of his characters (which have been taken up by numerous other writers - one of them being the author of "the corrections" that joyless opus that seemed to be on every bookclub back in 2003-04 for reasons I never understood.
July 2, 2008
An interested threading of three characters at the beginning of their respective and overlapping downward spirals. The twists are often predictable, but often by design. (The preface describes a character's drug use, so it's not a surprise when she tries drugs later on.) The appeal of this book is it's exploration of the things that can make us insane: drugs, love/lust, as well as mental illness. Do any of these characters find balance again? I'm not telling.
March 23, 2016
Gritty, realistic, and also at times very philosophical. My favorite character was Rick, because of the struggle he was going through. He's very human as opposed to Rena, the other protagonist. She is like an angel on earth, untouchable, perfect. Their affair gives them both what they think they need: for him it is another chance at love and passion. For her it is to be loved and comforted for more than just her beauty. I would definitely read more by this author.
September 9, 2007
This could make a great companion to _Fast Girls_! Bogosian does a great "reveal" about the protagonist. It explains why her life was so horrible in her small town, and why it had the potential to be so great once she hit the big city.
December 14, 2012
This was the September 2012 book for the Denver/Boulder Oberlin book club.
While there is some interesting writing, I found this to be an ugly book, unpleasant to read and with no enlightenment or lesson to make that journey worth it.
While there is some interesting writing, I found this to be an ugly book, unpleasant to read and with no enlightenment or lesson to make that journey worth it.
May 9, 2009
Worst book ever. Only reason I finished it was that I had to for my book club. Terrible, terrible and more terrible.
June 26, 2012
Engaging read.
August 6, 2015
With Bogosian, it always seems to be more about the writing itself than ever about the plot. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews