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Summary: autobiography of a survivor
Review: After reading this memoir, I have nothing but the utmost respect and awe for Lucy Grealy. Through her straightforward, yet eloquent descriptions of surviving cancer, she emerges as perceptive and courageous, as say Anne Frank (although I'm sure she'd be embarrassed at such a comparision). What impressed me the most, was how alone she seemed undergoing chemotherapy and the subsequent operations to rebuild her jaw. Her parents are portrayed as ill equipped to deal with her illness, the very people she should have been able to turn to for comfort and support. That she had such a rich inner world as a substitute is amazing, and though the memoir leaves us uncertain of how she went on to navigate life with a restored jaw, we are never left in any doubt that she made it.
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Summary: Understanding for the Young
Review: I am twelve. We had to read an autobiography for an assignment in literature, I don't like that kind of book. When I emersed myself in this book I never imagined I wouldn't come up for air. I guess, as a twelve year old, I never understood the effects and after effects of camcer. I thought I would just read it and do the report. But I did not expect to finish the book and to look around a different way. I hope that I don't forget the lessons sealed inside this book, and that through my adolescents I realize beauty isn't everything. I recomend this book for older readers, it was easy to read but tough to understand. Though my understanding reached further than I ever thought possible. Read this Please!
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Summary: Uncommonly Touching
Review: I have a particular sympathy and empathy for people with physical handicaps, and something in Lucy's demeanor, something akin to the prototypical English Lit major, drew me in. Unlike The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Bauby, Lucy's story is very touching.
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Summary: Must Read for Anyone over 14
Review: Excellent book - a must read for all.I was going to say "especially high school children" but the fact is, any adult would be personally impressed and improved by reading this short book. Although the subject, cancer and disfiguring surgery, is not a very common event, the result of being or being with the 'odd person out' is quite universal. Note - although this is a short book, it is not necessarily a short read - one really needs time between chapters to catch up with the emotional impact it wields.
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Summary: For anyone who has ever felt ugly.
Review: I, like most other American women, have a constant shadow over myself that I'm not pretty enough and as a result, not good enough. I have some mild disfigurements, though none of the kind that Ms. Grealy expresses. Lucy put these feelings I have had for so long into words I've never been able to put together myself. Her points of view on love, sex, and body image should be read by anyone who has ever felt anything less than beautiful. Reading a stranger's words on paper as if they are your own is better than the most supportive friend.
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Summary: and now for something completely different,
Review: So many people have written to me over the past few years, both to tell me that my book helped them in some way, and also to share though own stories, and I have to admit I haven't been perfect in responding to all of these letters, and so I just want to say, publicly, Thank You. If suffering can ever be said to be made "worth" it, then knowing my writing has affected so many has done exactly this for me. Many people have also written to ask where they might find my poetry; you can ferret it out at MightWords.com. Thanks, again and again. And again.
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Summary: This book moved me!
Review: This book gives an amazing insight to the pain and confusion a child with cancer goes through. I see it every day, and now have such a deeper understanding for things that my go overlooked wtih them. Lucy Grealy also ties in many beautifuly woven stories about family and growing up in this society disfigured. It is a wonderful book and will make you think twice about a great many things! I highly recommend it.
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Summary: A heroine for our time
Review: I ran across Grealy's "Autobiography of a Face" before I became a public librarian, but this book travelled with me and remains with me still. Oftentimes, teachers ask me to present a biography to their students. Lucy's story is a painful one, but far more important than most of the human arrogance that lines most biography shelves of many libraries. I usually choose Lucy's story to present to children who are of middle school age and older. It is an arresting and interesting read, not to mention a quick one, and what students come away with is an intimate and often uncomfortable look, not only at a facially disfigured woman, but at themselves. The only other books about real people that have left a greater impact on my own life are the Bible, Bunyan's "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners," and "The Elephant Man: a Study in Human Dignity" by Ashley Montagu.
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Summary: Inspirational
Review: This remarkable young woman was diagnosed with bone cancer at the tender age of 9. That she was less disturbed over the possibility of death than she was about her appearance (the left side of her lower jaw had to be removed), says something profound and not very pleasant about our society. This is Lucy's story of the pain of being different, being "ugly" in a world where beauty is the most prized of a woman's possessions, and how she came to terms with it. Not at all a depressing book, Ms. Grealy writes without self-pity but with a great deal of insight.
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Summary: I had Ewing's sarcoma & related to Lucy feeling all alone.
Review: I read Lucy's book several years ago, all in one day. Her words, feelings, and thoughts captured my attention, as I fully understood her battle with cancer. I had Ewing's of the pelvis when I was 15, and there weren't any books that I read back then where the person lived at the end. How utterly depressing, since we are proof that you can survive cancer! I greatly appreciated the way in which Lucy described what it felt like during chemo treatments and surgeries, because her interpretation is not glossed over. There is no real way to describe the experience except to go through it for yourself to really understand it, but Lucy's words came very close! One day, I wish to write my own novel describing my struggle with cancer as an adolescent. I'd also love to talk with Lucy, one survivor to another, if possible.
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