Autobiography Of A Face

Lucy Grealy was diagnosed, at 9 months old, with aggressive cancer that led to the removal of her jawbone. For the rest of her short life, she would grapple with the ripple effects: a slew of reconstructive surgeries, chronic pain which led to her heroin use, low self regard that played out in dead end sexual dynamics with men and- can you blame her- rolling black clouds of depression. In this memoir, she analyzes the multi-car pileup of conditions that created both her dark view of the world and the Roman candle glee with which she careened into pleasure, into friendship and- thankfully- into words.