Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy

For my AP Composition book, I read the full 236 pages of Lucy Grealy's Autobiography of a Face (along with an Afterword by Ann Patchett). Lucy Grealy takes her readers on a sad but fulfilling adventure through her suffering, joy, and realizations throughout her struggle with cancer, acceptance, and life in general. The book actually begins in the middle of her battle with cancer allowing us to be introduced to the life-changing disease immediately. Then, after the prologue, Lucy Grealy goes back to fourth grade and explains just how the cancer was discovered, and she continues on with her memory of one-third of her jaw being removed and explains with pain-staking details about how she was treated by others during and after cancer. Grealy also describes the various treatments that she encountered in order to fight off her early death sentence and reveals exactly what she went through in attempt to look "normal" again. Grealy truly expresses the battle within oneself on whether being loved for being yourself is more or less important than being loved for being a perfect somebody else.

It was an unbelievable book in both the account of what happened and the way in which it was written. I can't even describe how many times I stopped reading in awe of how she had worded simple sentences. For example, she said, "Sweat rolled down the side of my rib cage, a rib cage so skinny I could feel the drops momentarily rest above the ridge of each bone." She was able to create poetic sentences like these because of the perfect details that she added to her story. She didn't leave anything out, which allowed me to sometimes imagine or even feel exactly what was going on.

I have to say that one of my favorite parts of this book was not the story itself; it was the little ideas of life and the ways/rules that people live by. Grealy had numerous statements throughout the book that completely blew my mind because not only did she come up with them, but she also described them in impeccable detail. For example, she presented her ideas about the correlation between the past and future by explaining, "Sometimes it is as difficult to know what the past holds as it is to know the future, and just as an answer to a riddle seems so obvious once it is revealed, it seems curious to me now that I passed through all those early moments with no idea of their weight." There were so many other ideas that she expressed through her writing; however, this post would never end if I even attempted to point them all out.

Before I discuss what the Afterword was about, I want to just touch on one of the main themes throughout this outstanding book. Lucy Grealy constantly brought up the idea that one should be grateful for what he/she has. As a sixth grader, Grealy showed her early maturity when talking about the foolish boys that made fun of her. She questioned, "Didn't they know they could lose everything at any moment, that you couldn't take anything good or worthwhile for granted, because pain and cruelty could and would arrive sooner or later?" Grealy even admitted that what she lost (her jaw) wasn't the worst case scenerio. She met a young man named Michael who became paralyzed from doing something stupid. Grealy was able to realize that Michael would never get back what he lost, where as, Grealy's face had only been changed. She was able to be grateful for what she had because she knew that, at any point, something could change her life forever.

The Afterword was probably another one of my favorite parts of the book; however, it was written by Ann Patchett, not by Lucy Grealy. Ann Patchett was one of Lucy Grealy's best friends, and she was able to reveal to readers yet another side of Grealy. She explained that Grealy did not write the book for sympathy or to be an inspiration. She wrote the book simply to create a work of art that was meant to be judged solely on a literary basis. Patchett also explained how Grealy chose to write her book. Grealy did not write about everything that happened to her because she knew it would be to hard for the reader to handle, and she could only guess that readers would not have the bravery that she had to have in order to read about the entire truth. Patchett was also able to show readers Grealy's personality even further, which really enhanced the book as a whole.

I REALLY enjoyed reading this book. There were so many ideas that intrigued me; in fact, I would have to say that Grealy's writing itself intrigued me as well. I don't have any words that could describe how great this book was as a whole. Grealy's account of her life was heart-breaking but also thought provoking. Patchett did an excellent job of ending her late friend's story by revealing everything behind Grealy's writing. This book alone will change how I look at people, live life, and cherish what I have.

READ THIS BOOK!!!!!