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A review by torts
The Flawless Skin of Ugly People by Doug Crandell
2.0
Not what I thought it would be, but still amusing and a little perplexing. Given the title and what synopses I'd read, I expected this to be a quirky romance about ugly people (with flawless skin, naturally). But it wasn't really any of those things. It was a pretty sweet story, and kind of realistic for the amount of goodness and true love that it had. But the narrator-protagonist has the opposite of flawless skin (and is in fact *not* ugly) and is *already* in a relationship...So there's not really any romancing going on. The book starts out with him alone, yes, but he's alone because the woman he's been with for thirty years is away at fat-camp (and she's not ugly either, just kind of obese).
The thing that was *most* misleading about this title, though, and what went most against my preconceptions, was that these people in their idyllic little romance world are NOT representative of Real Life or Romance For The Rest Of Us or whatever else its title/reviews seem to purport. Most annoyingly (SPOILER), by the end of the book neither the protagonist-narrator nor his love interest (commonlaw wife, who is pretty much absent and pined-for throughout the novel) are ugly or even unhappy. They move on from their sexual abuse, reconcile with their pasts, come out of their isolation (to meet wonderful and well-meaning people who help fix their lives, of course), and (in what I guess is supposed to be the most symbolic/meaningful bit but just felt kind of cheap) lose the physical unattractiveness that had been so fundamental in how they defined themselves and their relationship.
Like, okay I get that they can improve their lives and stop being so cowardly or whatever but isn't it wrong for this to be accompanied by their no longer having anything to hide? He's getting rid of his zit-face, she's just come back from fat camp returned to her beautiful slenderness...This isn't a revolutionary take on anything. This is more of the same disappointing superficiality that you'd expect from the "romance literature" genre.
I was going to give this more stars because it has its sweet moments and there's a bear attack and it's clearly an effort to write about moving on from abuse with its symbolism and simple everyday heroes. But too many aspects of this novel left me feeling like I'd been tricked into reading something preachy** and facile*, which was exactly what I'd been led to believe that I was avoiding.
Neat cover art, though.
*Pretentious word alert. I mean it as in this book kept to the conventions of uplifting-story and aint-love-grand triteness. The fundamental goodness of these characters, their willingness to love and the way that this love is effortless and unquestioned, makes this book ridiculously simplistic.
**Preachy as in inundated with religion and love and a woman who wants nothing more than to be reunited with her rape-baby.
The thing that was *most* misleading about this title, though, and what went most against my preconceptions, was that these people in their idyllic little romance world are NOT representative of Real Life or Romance For The Rest Of Us or whatever else its title/reviews seem to purport. Most annoyingly (SPOILER), by the end of the book neither the protagonist-narrator nor his love interest (commonlaw wife, who is pretty much absent and pined-for throughout the novel) are ugly or even unhappy. They move on from their sexual abuse, reconcile with their pasts, come out of their isolation (to meet wonderful and well-meaning people who help fix their lives, of course), and (in what I guess is supposed to be the most symbolic/meaningful bit but just felt kind of cheap) lose the physical unattractiveness that had been so fundamental in how they defined themselves and their relationship.
Like, okay I get that they can improve their lives and stop being so cowardly or whatever but isn't it wrong for this to be accompanied by their no longer having anything to hide? He's getting rid of his zit-face, she's just come back from fat camp returned to her beautiful slenderness...This isn't a revolutionary take on anything. This is more of the same disappointing superficiality that you'd expect from the "romance literature" genre.
I was going to give this more stars because it has its sweet moments and there's a bear attack and it's clearly an effort to write about moving on from abuse with its symbolism and simple everyday heroes. But too many aspects of this novel left me feeling like I'd been tricked into reading something preachy** and facile*, which was exactly what I'd been led to believe that I was avoiding.
Neat cover art, though.
*Pretentious word alert. I mean it as in this book kept to the conventions of uplifting-story and aint-love-grand triteness. The fundamental goodness of these characters, their willingness to love and the way that this love is effortless and unquestioned, makes this book ridiculously simplistic.
**Preachy as in inundated with religion and love and a woman who wants nothing more than to be reunited with her rape-baby.