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sundaydutro's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
A slow-paced and emotional memoir about a girl who grows up with a disfigured face after a battle with cancer. A truly fascinating accounting not only of the medical industry at the time but of strength of character. Loved this so much I went out and immediately devoured Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett.
hmgelo02's review against another edition
3.0
Although this book is only a few hundred pages long, it took me almost a year to finish reading. I found myself reading a chapter here and there when I had nothing else in the house, but ultimately, every time, I put it down in favor of something else.
I don't know why. This was not a difficult book to read, nor was it uninteresting, or poorly written. On the contrary; this is the story of a young girl who was diagnosed with cancer of her jaw at a very young age, and grew up spending more time in the hospital and in recovery than she did in school or with friends. This is the story of a young girl who could not build an identity based on her looks because those looks were changing with every surgery and chemotherapy and radiation treatment. This is the story of a young girl's ostracism from the world because of health obstacles that were fully out of her hands.
My sister passed this book on to me; I assume that it had been assigned reading for her in one of her special education college courses due to the 'used textbooks' sticker on its spine. If this had been required reading for a class I was taking, I probably could have knocked it out in a day or less. For me, a book of this length and style of writing would certainly be finished that quickly. I guess it just didn't hold my attention the way other books do.
I don't know why. This was not a difficult book to read, nor was it uninteresting, or poorly written. On the contrary; this is the story of a young girl who was diagnosed with cancer of her jaw at a very young age, and grew up spending more time in the hospital and in recovery than she did in school or with friends. This is the story of a young girl who could not build an identity based on her looks because those looks were changing with every surgery and chemotherapy and radiation treatment. This is the story of a young girl's ostracism from the world because of health obstacles that were fully out of her hands.
My sister passed this book on to me; I assume that it had been assigned reading for her in one of her special education college courses due to the 'used textbooks' sticker on its spine. If this had been required reading for a class I was taking, I probably could have knocked it out in a day or less. For me, a book of this length and style of writing would certainly be finished that quickly. I guess it just didn't hold my attention the way other books do.
mindfulbanter's review against another edition
4.0
I read this for a psych class, but I was still pretty interested in it as a whole. A very quick read for someone like me, which made me even more appreciative. I like the "hindsight perspective" as I think if done well makes a memoir complete.
gertrude314's review against another edition
2.0
I read half of it. I just can't get into the writing because there's been a lot of emphasis on her hospital and chemo experiences. There's only so many times I can read about vomiting while I'm trying to eat my lunch before I put the book down.
margaretmechinus's review against another edition
4.0
I like Ann Patchett as an author and I wouldn’t have known about Lucy Grealy without reading Patchett’s Truth and Beauty memoir of Grealy. But I am very glad to have finally gotten to Grealy’s own book about her life, written with much more insight. I found it fascinating. While reading Patchett’s book, I felt sorry for Grealy. While listening to Autobiography of a Face, I felt great admiration.
maryehavens's review against another edition
2.0
I really struggled with reading this book, mostly in that I think the size of font made me fall asleep (Yay 40s!). The low score is explained below and has everything to do with me as a reader and not Grealy's work.
Grealy's writing is very good but it took the Afterward from Ann Patchett to explain why I was struggling. Grealy wrote this as a piece of literature, not a straight up memoir and it took Patchett explaining that for me to understand a bit about why I was struggling. Patchett also said that it was a circular book and I really struggle with circular writing. Once I read that, I completely understood my difficulties.
I read this book originally because Grealy and Patchett were very close friends and I read Patchett's "Truth and Beauty" last year. I appreciated getting Grealy's take but I definitely felt like the Grealy in Patchett's book was not the Grealy here. This Grealy was so incredibly vulnerable but always a bit hidden whereas Patchett's Grealy was the life of the party. But, Grealy was detailing her experience from 9 years old to probably mid 20s (?) where Patchett had only met her when she was in her 20s and maybe after the book's timeline ended.
I picked this book for the Reading Challenge category "author/character with a disability" and I questioned the entire time if it qualified for that category. Grealy never mentions trouble talking/eating or any other physical disabilities but mental disability is very much a thing and I can't help but think that her lifetime of self-doubt and quest for truth and beauty because of her face doesn't qualify her as having a disability. The scope of the what the Americans with Disabilities Act covers is much expanded from Grealy's days.
I don't think I can get over her treatment in the hospital and with medical professionals. It was terrible and I hope that treatment today is better.
While I appreciate this book and I'm glad I read it, I will not be taking Patchett's advice and reading it again. I'm glad Patchett included her take on Grealy's book readings and the invitation that audience gave themselves to share their own cancer stories. Grealy was definitely not about that in her book rather she was more interested in processing her experience as literature.
Grealy's writing is very good but it took the Afterward from Ann Patchett to explain why I was struggling. Grealy wrote this as a piece of literature, not a straight up memoir and it took Patchett explaining that for me to understand a bit about why I was struggling. Patchett also said that it was a circular book and I really struggle with circular writing. Once I read that, I completely understood my difficulties.
I read this book originally because Grealy and Patchett were very close friends and I read Patchett's "Truth and Beauty" last year. I appreciated getting Grealy's take but I definitely felt like the Grealy in Patchett's book was not the Grealy here. This Grealy was so incredibly vulnerable but always a bit hidden whereas Patchett's Grealy was the life of the party. But, Grealy was detailing her experience from 9 years old to probably mid 20s (?) where Patchett had only met her when she was in her 20s and maybe after the book's timeline ended.
I picked this book for the Reading Challenge category "author/character with a disability" and I questioned the entire time if it qualified for that category. Grealy never mentions trouble talking/eating or any other physical disabilities but mental disability is very much a thing and I can't help but think that her lifetime of self-doubt and quest for truth and beauty because of her face doesn't qualify her as having a disability. The scope of the what the Americans with Disabilities Act covers is much expanded from Grealy's days.
I don't think I can get over her treatment in the hospital and with medical professionals. It was terrible and I hope that treatment today is better.
While I appreciate this book and I'm glad I read it, I will not be taking Patchett's advice and reading it again. I'm glad Patchett included her take on Grealy's book readings and the invitation that audience gave themselves to share their own cancer stories. Grealy was definitely not about that in her book rather she was more interested in processing her experience as literature.