Autobiography of a Face | 
pickA great memoir. This has vaguely been on my TBR for ages and something pushed me to finally read it alongside Ann Patchett's Truth and Beauty. It is difficult to review on its own, as Grealy's memoir finds a hopeful lightness in tragedy and hardship, but having read Patchett's work, I know where things end. Grealy's sad fate does not detract from the work though - this great memoir of honest reckoning and overcoming.
#WomensHistoryMonth #Recommendations
9of31 Nonfiction
I don't see this book recommended enough. It is gorgeous and heartbreaking. Lucy was a poet, and a best friend of Ann Patchett. She was born with a facial deformity and spent most of her life in pain going through surgery to correct it. This is her autobiography that talks about this process, how people treated her, and how she turned to horses for relief and joy. A gorgeous amazing book.
The cover of this book made me pick it up to browse. It sounded interesting so I started reading it yesterday. It‘s the story of a nine-year-old girl who needed jaw surgery for cancer. This sounds pretty awful, but the beginning of the book is surprisingly upbeat and nice to read. The book itself was written by that child survivor of Ewing‘s Sarcoma. I like books that promote hope and have those who actually survive a catastrophe.
pick1. Currently reading print Truth & Beauty by Ann Pachett, a companion read to the tagged book which I just finished yesterday.
2. Current #audiobook is The Slow March of Light by Heather B Moore, for the speed category of #WiaN #WhatsinaName.
3. Last book read tagged: So good. Just read in T&B that Lucy Grealy won the Whiting Award in 1995 for this, her debut.
(didn‘t read that right! LOL.)Last audio: Parnassus on Wheels. 😍
@rachelsbrittain
I am participating in a Buddy Read (not Litsy - but feel free to join with me) of this AND Ann Patchett‘s Truth & Beauty. I am going to try reading a chapter here then there etc, even if I doubt the texts relate in that manner. Will be interesting, I‘m sure, either way! If the spirit catches on either, will devote focus there. #Memoir #Nonfiction #Debut #ReadICT
“Language supplies us with way to express ever subtler levels of meaning, but does that imply language GIVES meaning, or robs us of it when we are at a loss to name things“ (33).
Sometimes real life is the most heartbreaking story of all…
#heartbreak #ithadtobeyou @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
I feel like Lucy Grealy died multiple deaths before the one that took her life - cancer and the treatments, surgery after surgery (that had to be redone frequently, and she was alone for most of them), cruelty from humans, always feeling the loss of normalcy and conventional beauty...
#death #conflictedworlds @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
pickIt would be so much easier to write a review of this book on its own merits if my own story and my mom‘s story weren‘t tied up in childhood/teen hospitalizations and surgeries.
Lucy had cancer of the jaw as a child, had half her jaw removed, and then went through a series of semi-successful reconstructive procedures as a teen and young adult. I was heartened that Lucy‘s love of animals helped in childhood. Lucy‘s candor, sheer endurance, ⬇️
pick“My face was my face and it was stupid to wish it any other way.”
As a society we put so much value into physical beauty when it‘s actually something that no-one has earned. For Lucy Grealy, a brilliant mind wasn‘t enough to stop the taunts, jeers and cruel stares from both her peers & strangers as she idles through adolescence with severe facial disfigurement from childhood cancer. 👇🏼
Having just read Ann Patchett‘s gorgeous tribute to her beloved friend, Lucy Grealy, I felt I needed to read Lucy‘s journey in her own words. At the age of 9 Lucy was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a type of cancer that effects the soft tissue in bones. In Lucy‘s case it was her jaw bone, leaving 1/3 of her face “missing”. This leads to a lifetime of feeling, looking different a life full of stares and insecurities. #Hoopla #Audio
I could not put this book down. Lucy Grealy tells her story of cancer, disfigurement, and coming to terms with self with extraordinary candor and thoughtfulness. Her emotional reasoning throughout her illness about her appearance and her morality is interesting, sometimes flawed, but so absolutely human. Probably the best memoir of illness I have ever read.
Beautiful and thought-provoking but not always easy to read. Most poignant passage: “As I sat there in the cafe, it suddenly occurred to me that it is no mistake when sometimes in films and literature the dead know they are dead after being offered that most irrefutable proof: they can no longer see themselves in the mirror.“
Inspired by @monalyisha I decided to take the leap and change my profile pic too! 😅 new one on the left!
#7books7days this book made me realize that every story is Important, no matter how small or self-contained.
so-soLucy Grealy is truly an inspiration to those who have ever felt self conscience. This amazing woman went through multiple years of cancer, over thirty surgeries, and countless years of stares and mockery from those around her. And through it all, she kept her head up and kept fighting. This book was truly a piece of art, even though I had a rough time getting through a few chapters. I did like this book.
pickAt age 9, Lucy Grealy was diagnosed with Ewing‘s sarcoma, a typically fatal bone cancer. Here, she tells her story of many operations and treatments, her changing understanding of her cancer, and her grapples with identity and appearance (much of her jaw was removed). The ending is a bit abrupt, but it‘s quite good. She doesn‘t hold back from some medical descriptions, so be aware if you are squeamish.
📕Autobiography of a Face
💾Ilona Andrews
📽The Apartment
🥑Avocado
#manicmonday - getting caught up today
My haul from a stop at a used bookstore today. All memoirs! I'm apparently on a memoir kick.
so-soI think the title of this book should be Autobiography of Pain. Grealy does talk a lot about her face, but most of it is about the amount of pain her face causes her. Diagnosed with cancer at age nine...
For full review: http://www.amyyuki.com/books/2018/01/20/autobiography-of-a-face-by-lucy-grealy/
K - The Kraken King
A - Autobiography of a Face
T - Tiny Beautiful Things
E - Eleanor and Park
A few books about #scarstoyourbeautiful. I️ quite liked the Israeli cover of Eleanor Oliphant. I️ haven‘t read autobiography of a face, but have read the Patchett which tells the story of her friendship with Lucy. #tuneintonovember
Grealy's autobiography discusses the cancer that caused disfigurement of her face and the greater battle she fought in coming to terms with her appearance. This is an excellent companion to Ann Patchett's Truth and Beauty, her memoir of her friendship with Grealy. #readjanuary
I wanted to show off my handsome feline companion Mr. Atticus Finch! #catsoflitsy #thebengallife #catmom #mylove
Also I absolutely recommend this book! It was a very intense emotional roller coaster memoir of child cancer. Very good read. #rorygilmorereadingchallenge
#readathon had to end early for me yesterday so I could come tailgate today for the KC Chiefs/Saints game today. The readathon was fun, and I look forward to completing all 24 hours in April!
I'm feeling like another memoir. This has been on my bookshelf for awhile. Let's do this #readathon
This singularity of meaning--I was my face, I was ugliness--though sometimes unbearable, also offered a possible point of escape. It became the launching pad from which to lift off, the one immediately recognizable place to point to when asked what was wrong with my life. Everything led to it, everything receded from it--my face as personal vanishing point.
pickSo many operations. So much pain. This quote "Society is no help. It tells us again and again that we can most be ourselves by acting and looking like someone else.." This truth is priceless.
