Autobiography of a Face | 
| Author: Lucy Grealy
Publisher: Harper Perennial
List Price: $12.95
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Rating:  102 reviews
Sales Rank: 8353
Media: Paperback
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0060569662
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.1969947160092
EAN: 9780060569662
ASIN: 0060569662
Publication Date: March 18, 2003
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Amazon.com Review
At age nine, Lucy Grealy was diagnosed with a potentially terminal cancer. When she returned to school with a third of her jaw removed, she faced the cruel taunts of classmates. In this strikingly candid memoir, Grealy tells her story of great suffering and remarkable strength without sentimentality and with considerable wit. Vividly portraying the pain of peer rejection and the guilty pleasure of wanting to be special, Grealy captures with unique insight what it is like as a child and young adult to be torn between two warring impulses: to feel that more than anything else we want to be loved for who we are, while wishing desperately and secretly to be perfect
Product Description
"I spent five years of my life being treated for cancer, but since then I've spent fifteen years being treated for nothing other than looking different from everyone else. It was the pain from that, from feeling ugly, that I always viewed as the great tragedy of my life. The fact that I had cancer seemed minor in comparison." At age nine, Lucy Grealy was diagnosed with a potentially terminal cancer. When she returned to school with a third of her jaw removed, she faced the cruel taunts of classmates. In this strikingly candid memoir, Grealy tells her story of great suffering and remarkable strength without sentimentality and with considerable wit. Vividly portraying the pain of peer rejection and the guilty pleasures of wanting to be special, Grealy captures with unique insight what it is like as a child and young adult to be torn between two warring impulses: to feel that more than anything else we want to be loved for who we are, while wishing desperately and secretly to be perfect.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 97 more reviews...
 Hard to process it all July 28, 2004
Peggy Vincent (Oakland, CA)
53 out of 57 found this review helpful
When this book came out, it created a sensation, not just for the raw facts of Lucy Grealy's ordeal but even more for the lyrical, insightful point of view from which it was written. Diagnosed at 9 years of age with Ewing's sarcoma, a potentially fatal cancer that attacked her lower jaw, she underwent disfiguring surgery and horrific chemo and radiation that further distorted her appearance. She used, in this memoir, her experience as a springboard from which to soar into passionate examinations of the meaning of truth, beauty, genius, love - all those biggies - and she did it with stunning success. Her background as a poet shines through each paragraph of this seminal book.
But.
Then she died, and although her death was ruled accidental, it's clear she had been on a steady downward spiral through the last couple of years of her life. Ann Patchett's stunning and conflicted story of her 20-year friendship with Grealy (Truth and Beauty) uncovers the raw underbelly of Lucy Grealy's personality, her unending quest to be special, first, best, and most of all, lovable.
To get a fuller picture, one that I feel still isn't quite complete, of this quixotic individual, it's imperative that readers of Grealy's book also read Patchett's.
 Some Self-Insight But Not Enough August 6, 2004
TawnTawn (Texas)
21 out of 33 found this review helpful
I wasn't carried away by her writing, nor the content particularly. I kept reading in the hopes that things would get better, that someone would finally realize Lucy's worth (perhaps herself) or that one single doctor would come up with a cure-all for her facial disfigurement. However, I was disappointed. Ms. Grealy left a lot of questions unanswered. Her mother "had" to leave her job that she had had for many years. Why? Her father died of pancreatitis - how did he develop that? Did he drink? Ms. Grealy admits that she was very detached about her father's death - and so too, it seemed was her twin sister. Was the sister identical? We are not told. Ms. Grealy may discuss things once (such as her relationship to school friends after her operation), then never mention these friends again. She states that her brother later developed schizophrenia, but doesn't talk about him, or any of her family members in any depth. They are not important characters. Basically, this book is all about her feelings about her face and how other people judge her (so she thinks)on her looks. Why does she care what they think? She seems not to worry about packing up and moving anywhere, so she is confident enough for that. She is given a generous scholarship to Sarah Lawrence, although she previously mentioned that she was a "mediocre" student. She moves to Iowa, she moves to Germany, she moves to England, she moves to Scotland. She receives many free reconstructive surgeries(or so she says), all the while not working a full-time job, or even a part-time job most of the time. She partied, she had friends. Ms. Grealy does not seem thankful for any of this, she is too busy wallowing in her self-pity.
Ms. Grealy seemed to pick and choose what she wanted the reader to know. I'm now reading Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett. I'm only on the third chapter, but already know more than this book let on.
Ms. Grealy did suffer through awful surgeries, 2 1/2 years of radiation and chemotherapy (Although Truth and Beauty says 5 years - that would be a bit much), many horrible experiences in the hospital by nurses and butchering doctors who just didn't give a damn, and immature bozos in her school. They should be shot - and where in the world was her twin sister during all of this? Lucy speaks as if she were completely alone in school, so alone that she had to eat her lunch in the counselor's office so that these cruel boys couldn't attack her.
I hate that she felt so badly about herself. But she just couldn't let it go. I wish that Lucy Greely had found a good therapist and increased her self-esteem, taken her focus off her face and decided to concentrate on others who needed her. Her book really leaves me wondering what kind of person she would have been had she not had the disfigurement. I really get the feeling that she wanted others to care about her, but she didn't really care too much for anyone else.
This book could have been fleshed out quite a bit more to explain Lucy's experiences in life. As it is written, it seems very one-dimensional. The only thing I can say is perhaps this book will be a lesson to us to be grateful for what we have, and to have more compassion and empathy for others and ourselves.
I had Ewing's sarcoma & related to Lucy feeling all alone. July 11, 1999
carrianne@hotmail.com (New York City)
20 out of 21 found this review helpful
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.
Inspirational May 26, 2003
Zeina Bader S. Issa (Kuwait)
20 out of 25 found this review helpful
Lucy Grealy will be missed, she successfuly drove me - and I believe every reader - thouroughly into her journey of self recognition, sharing her feelings and thoughts through out her journey of multiple treatments and surgeries. Do you feel bad about your life, your looks, or someone you love is having a hard life, read this book, you'll learn a lot from this fragile lady.
the news of her leaving our world made me sad hoping she rests in peace.
Lovely, Courageous, Wise Woman Who Will Me Missed January 16, 2003
19 out of 21 found this review helpful
January 15, 2003
I was devastated to hear of Lucy's recent passing. I hope she knew about the many fans that she had out there in readingland. I was one of them, and I also live with a severe disfigurement and have gone through numerous plastic surgeries and grew up going to the hospital every year and being tortured by peers for being "ugly". I read the book in my mid twenties and not only did this book teach and entertain me with the tons of wisdom she passed on to the reader, Lucy enchanted me with her wonderful sense of humor and sincere sweetness that comes through in the book. Lucy's deep insight into her pain and isolation is expresesd without cold detachment or over indulgence. I think those of us who actually live with cosmetic deformities can know the enormous amount of courage it took to write her memoir. Also, the book draws the reader into her world of her pains, joys, and discoveries of life in an effortless way without pity, drama-queen tactics, or sugary sap. Lucy was a true talent: a real writer who sucessfully tackled a highly complex subject with grace in a time when so much self-serving, simple garbage is published. This book is a real life lesson about adversity written with humor and strength. It has become a regular on high school reading syllabi for obvious reasons. In a time when our culture is addicted to and obsessed with physical beauty, Lucy was the voice of reason. Physical beauty fades (Has anyone seen Farrah Fawcett lately? Need I say more?) BUT marvelous books are forever cherished and this book will endure for generations to come. The world is a dimmer place without Lucy. Rest in peace, Lucy. I never met you but I read your book and admired you so much. Actually, it was my dream to meet you one day just to tell you that I loved your book. You will be so missed and will NEVER be forgotton.
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