Look, I’m not over health, I’m over wellness. I’m over the Insta-influencers hawking green juice or bath salts or whatever else removes “toxins” today, and I’m double over anything that promises looking and feeling younger. Sometimes the whole cure-yourself vibe mixed with conspicuous consumption gives me involuntary eyerolls… there’s probably a supplement or a crystal to cure that.
Today’s list is books to read when you’re feeling a little over wellness.
Happy and You Know It, by Laura Hankin, is a funny, twisted story about class, motherhood, and the ever-present wellness industry for women. Read this one if you’ve heard someone praising vague supplements as the key to solving vague low-energy problems. (Bonus points if that praise was on Instagram or Facebook, and triple if there’s an affiliate code for those supplements. )This novel is a mommygroup drama with a group of developed characters, trying to do what’s best for their babies in a sea on conflicting ideas. There’s also some snark about shwing class, wellness and mommyhood on social media. This book includes a massive twist, which plays on wellness themes and performative motherhood. (Full review of Happy and You Know It)
At Least You Have Your Health, by Madi Sinha, is a warm, character-driven story, with funny and a terrifying look at the whole wellness industry. This novel is about a gyno, Dr Maya Rao, who leaves her exhausting hospital job for a well-paid dream job in a women’s collective, where she actually has time for patients, even if there are some zany house calls and ridiculous anatomical questions. Read this one if you’ve seen some highly questionable Goop crystals.
Of course, all is not quite as it seems for Maya, and the reveal in this one is both a bit upsetting and darkly believable. (Full review of At Least You Have Your Health)
The Goddess Effect, by Sheila Yasmin Marikar, is about Anita struggling to make it in LA, and discovering a special fitness class for wildly successful, incredibly beautiful women. Of course, there’s so much more to these secret beauty rituals than at first sight. The dedication of the other members seems almost cultish, and although I knew something was just not right with this group, I was stunned by the reveal. It’s a perfect conclusion to Anita’s LA story and a dark look at the idea of beauty at any price. The book also skewers Anita’s LA home in a creative incubator, which made me laugh.
These are three wildly different stories, with different settings and three unique protagonists, but these novels share the overall vibes of the dark side of wellness trends.
