Autobiography Of A Face

Autobiography Of A Face

A New York Times Notable Book ?This is a young woman?s first book, the story of her own life, and both book and life are unforgettable.? -New York Times ?Engaging and engrossing, a story of grace as well as cruelty, and a demonstration of [Grealy's] own wit and style and class."-Washington Post Book World This powerful memoir is about the premium we put on beauty and on a woman's face in particular. It took Lucy Grealy twenty years of living with a distorted self-image and more than thirty reconstructive procedures before she could come to terms with her appearance after childhood cancer and surgery that left her jaw disfigured. As a young girl, she absorbed the searing pain of peer rejection and the paralyzing fear of never being loved.ReviewSelected as one of the best books of the year byUSA Today and theVoice Literary Supplement ANew York Times Notable Book "Despite its unblinking stare at an excrutiatingly painful subject, this is not a dour book.Autobiography of a Face is a book about image, about the tyranny of the image of a beautiful-or even pleasingly average-face. In the end, this tyranny is not so much overthrown as shrugged off."-New York Times Book Review "Written in a voice that is both compelling and insightful,Autobiography of a Face seems to mirror back to readers something relevant to their own lives. . . Despite the singular nature of her experience, Lucy Grealy manages to convince an amazing array of people that she is speaking directly to them."-Baltimore Sun "Wit, intelligence, and an unconquerable spirit. . . shine through this remarkable book."-Madmoiselle ?Though Grealy?s experience was extraordinary, it is utterly affecting, for there is no one who has not felt the shame and self-doubt of physical inadequacy.? -Elle