Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy

[sasha_feather]

I'm just so excited to have read a book this week. Because of my headaches and facial pain, etc, I've had a hard time reading, and it makes me sad becuase I love reading. it's not that I love "having read", I love reading itself, the quiet of it, the way time stretches pleasantly and I can immerse myself into a narrative. Sometimes when I finish a book I'm just so happy with the experience that I'm like, "5 stars! Excellent book!" Then later I think more critically and temper my opinion.

Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy

Some of this is copied from my Goodreads:

Intense, absorbing, and beautifully written. This memoir details the author's experience with childhood cancer in her jaw. Unsurprisingly if you know me at all, I especially enjoyed the horse parts: as a teenager, Grealy works at a couple of stables and finds solace in the horses. I appreciated the meditations about how one's face can be a stand-in for one's self.

Contains: harrowing descriptions of medical procedures including surgeries, radiation and chemo, dental procedures, plastic surgery, hospital stays;
Human and animal death;
Descriptions of bullying.

Several times the author uses "blind" as a pejorative.
---

The flaw of this book, if there is one, is that the beginning parts are intensely detailed, making you feel as if you are there with Grealy, but then the last third of the book is not very detailed at all. Suddenly she's in college, then grad school, then living in Europe. This is the part where she's getting a lot of reconstructive surgery, none of which she's very happy with. I'm not sure how I feel about this part, or about the book as a whole. Sadly Grealy did not live very long, so couldn't reflect more upon this stage of her life. She died of an overdose.

She seemed to have a very interesting and complex inner life, with a fierce intelligence.

This book does not get into disability politics or culture at all, except perhaps in a few scenes where she finds community with fellow patients in hospitals.

Comments

[rydra_wong]

Maybe of interest: there's a book by Ann Patchett, Truth and Beauty: A Friendship, which is the story of her passionate friendship with Grealy. I haven't read it but it got great reviews and might help fill in some of the details of Grealy's later life.

[sasha_feather]

Interesting, thanks!

PB&J

[jesse_the_k]

...or more like tart grapefruit marmalade and peanut butter. Ann Patchett is a super-sunny person, and her perspective on Lucy is fascinating--because she survived her, and also because their temperaments are so different.

MPL has the Patchett book on disk, and she does an excellent job of narrating it. Perfect(ly) sad for your next car trip.

Re: PB&J

[sasha_feather]

I did see that Grealy's sister disputed the book. I think I'll just sidestep all that drama and read something else!

[bibliofile]

> I love reading itself, the quiet of it, the way time stretches pleasantly and I can immerse myself into a narrative.

I know, right?! Reading can be such a joy, and it helps keep me sane too.

I've heard about Grealy's book, and it's good to hear about it from a current perspective.