What happens when you can't recognize your mom anymore? For Linli, the protagonist of the book New Skin, this is her reality: her mom Fanny has gone through so many back-alley plastic surgery procedures, Fanny’s face barely looks human anymore. When Fanny gets the opportunity to go on a reality TV show for the chance to fix her botched face, she jumps at it – and Linli tags along. But what happens when you can’t recognize your parent anymore? And what would achieving the perfect face really help? Brittany chats with author <a href="https://barnard.edu/profiles/sarah-wang"target="_blank" >Sarah Wang</a> about New Skin, immigration and intergenerational trauma, and our botched quests for beauty. For more episodes about parent relationships or beauty culture, check out:<a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/11/28/nx-s1-5613912/why-some-families-stop-speaking"target="_blank" >Why some families stop speaking</a><a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/03/25/nx-s1-5759733/the-morbid-lifelessness-of-modern-beauty"target="_blank" >The morbid lifelessness of modern beauty</a><a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/03/17/nx-s1-5749440/the-beauty-industry-has-an-epstein-problem"target="_blank" >The beauty industry has an Epstein problem</a> Support Public Media.<a href="https://plus.npr.org/"target="_blank" > Join NPR Plus.</a> Follow Brittany on Instagram:<a href="https://www.instagram.com/bmluse/?hl=en"target="_blank" > @bmluse</a> For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at<a href="http://npr.org/podclub"target="_blank" > npr.org/podclub</a>. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

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