[1] The book follows Adina, who is sent by aliens before birth to find out if they could live on earth and reports to them via a fax machine.
[2] The book starts with Adina's birth, which takes place in 1977 when Voyager 1 was launched.
The magazine's critical summary reads: "In sum: Beautyland is "a very funny and empathetic book that unravels the contradictions, complexities, and weirdness of this thing we call life" (Locus)".
[2] Michael Schaub writing for The Boston Globe called the piece a "shimmering masterpiece from an author with talent to spare".
[3] In Bomb, author Hilary Leichter said "Bertino taps into a particular nostalgic awe familiar to a generation of kids raised on Carl Sagan and inflatable lunchroom planetariums" and called the protagonist's observations "breathtaking, mundane, and sometimes both.