by Lucy Grealy
I noticed I'd skipped reading this book in my Atlas Shrugged haze, so I decided to catch up. And there was really nothing there in this book for me. I do realise that this is a book about a face, and a young woman who survived a childhood cancer only to have her the rest of her life dictated by th...
4 stars
4 stars
At nine her face is changed forever by cancer, as her life goes on she faces the trauma and stupidity of people from doctors to fellow school students, and learns about herself and life. Inspiring.
Read Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett after this. It will give you both sides of the friendship. I read this book first so I was more sympathetic towards Lucy. It would be interesting if people are biased towards the first book read.
I read Autobiography of a Face out of order. Originally published in 1993, I read Lucy Grealy's memoir only after reading her friend Ann Patchett's Truth and Beauty: A Friendship. I read Autobiography of a Face knowing that in the end, Lucy's face, and not Lucy triumphed, and I read Autobiography of...
At an early age, Lucy Grealy was found to have a rare form of cancer. It would define the rest of her life. A third of her jawbone was removed to try to stem the spread of this cancer. She endured two and a half years of chemotherapy and many subsequent years of radiation treatments. In addition, s...
Mamma mia, this book for me was primarily about cancer. About being a child and having to suffer chemotherapy. I'm surprised this person survived all that, and the facial deformity, although, of course, she didn't. Sad, and also interesting story.
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