Beauty is only skin deep

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Aura. It was not a difficult read and the imagery was very vivid without being overzealous. It was easy to picture each seen, and I felt as though I was there through the second person narration. Strangely, this story reminded me a little bit of the novel 1984, when the protagonist goes to a brothel, and discovers at the end of his visit that the woman he was with is actually extremely old and has no teeth. Both Fillipe and Winston do not see reality as it is, however Winston does come to see who he really was with, while Fillipe will forever be under the influence Casuelo's witchcraft. Another interesting element of this story was Casuelo's need for eternal youth and beauty. This reminded me of the recent retelling of Snow White, starring Kirsten Stewert and Charlize Theoron,  where Charlene Theoron's character sucks the life out of beautiful young women in order to forever remain the most beautiful and lively women. All of these works demonstrate the importance of youth and beauty to society, whether it is a fantastic world or a dystopian one.