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. "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."
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Publisher:
New York : Perennial, 2003, c1994.
Edition:
1st Perennial ed.
ISBN:
9780060569662
Call Number:
362.1 GREALY
Characteristics:
236 p. ; 21 cm
Subjects:
Grealy, Lucy.
Disfigured persons -- United States -- Biography.
Ewing's sarcoma -- Patients -- United States -- Biography.
Disfigured persons -- United States -- Biography.
Ewing's sarcoma -- Patients -- United States -- Biography.
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Gloriane
Feb 21, 2014
Part of the job of being human is to consistently underestimate our effect on other people.
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Add a CommentA girl's incredible endurance, understanding, and insight in the face of a disfiguring cancer make this an unforgettable self-portrait.
Although Lucy has been dead for a few years one can lean so much about empathy from her story.
One should also read Anne Patchett's book about Lucy Grealy called Truth and Beauty.It is about their 18yr friendship. I loved Anne's book about Lucy, and the strength Lucy had until the very end.
Grealy tells her life story beginning from about age 9 when she was diagnosed with bone cancer. In stark and touching detail Grealy shares her remarkable strength, humor, and resilience as the cancer progresses. The cancer eventually takes 1/3 of her jawbone. Her struggles to remain 'normal' and continue to give and receive love are beautifully written in this moving story.
This book is astounding, both in this talented writer's storytelling skills and also in her amazingly honest, raw, heart-wrenching, insightful, funny and deep life story. I can't recommend this book enough. An important and yet at times, painful read, with humanity and grace surfacing often throughout these pages. Though I'm an avid library user/reader, I loved this book so much I had to own a copy myself. It's been lent to many a person I know.
I found this book to be incredibly thought provoking. Don't read before bed, you will be thinking too much to sleep!