Beautyland - Marie-Helene Bertino

This was widely acclaimed, won numerous prizes, made NYT lists and has rave reviews. The premise intrigued me. It follows a young woman who was an alien born as a human and tasked with observing and reporting on humans to her home planet. The writing is clever and sometimes feels abstract; like interpreting a piece of modern art, with both keen insights and humor. The communication between our protagonist, Adina, and her alien supervisors is done via fax machine. Using the premise of viewing humanity through the eyes of an outsider allows Bertino to poke fun at our quirky nature. " Every human dies. But the bad news is that every day they act like they don’t know they’re alive. They lie or behave inconsiderately or cheat. Each one is a little death. Humans experience many little deaths before the final one." Or "If when I explain human behavior you insist on logic, we won’t get far." I was especially amused and impressed with Bertino's use/reuse of words in creative ways.

I'd recommend as a great work and fine writing. But it's probably not for everyone. My wife put it down after the first few chapters. Stick it out, though, and it's a rewarding premise and touching story.