It's been a month since I've blogged, but I have a long list of blog posts up my sleeve. I'm ready to get back into writing every day. I need to
for me. While I was on a blogging hiatus, I was able to read many books, and I didn't even buy any new ones! I actually wrote out a list of all of the books I have and I didn't read, and it's longer than I care to admit. So I figured, if I read what I have, I could eventually buy more, right, even though my bookcase is filled beyond capacity.
Such a Pretty Face by Cathy Lamb was given to me by a friend to borrow. While I didn't think I'd enjoy this book, and I didn't in the beginning, it did eventually become a good read in the end.
Synopsis According to Barnes&Noble:
In this warm, funny, thoroughly candid novel, acclaimed author Cathy Lamb introduces an unforgettable heroine who's half the woman she used to be, and about to find herself for the first time...
Two years and 170 pounds ago, Stevie Barrett was wheeled into an operating room for surgery that most likely saved her life. Since that day, a new Stevie has emerged, one who walks without wheezing, plants a garden for self-therapy, and builds and paints fantastical wooden chairs. At thirty-five, Stevie is the one thing she never thought she'd be: thin.
But for everything that's changed, some things remain the same. Stevie's shyness refuses to melt away. She still can't look her neighbors' gorgeous great-nephew in the eye. The Portland law office where she works remains utterly dysfunctional, as does her family--the aunt, uncle, and cousins who took her in when she was a child. To top it off, her once supportive best friend clearly resents her weight loss.
By far the biggest challenge in Stevie's new life lies in figuring out how to define her new self. Collaborating with her cousins to plan her aunt and uncle's problematic fortieth anniversary party, Stevie starts to find some surprising answers--about who she is, who she wants to be, and how the old Stevie evolved in the first place. And with each revelation, she realizes the most important part of her transformation may not be what she's lost, but the courage and confidence she's gathering, day by day.
As achingly honest as it is witty, Such A Pretty Face is a richly insightful novel of one woman's search for love, family, and acceptance, of the pain we all carry--and the wonders that can happen when we let it go at last.
My Review:
Upon reading the beginning, readers are immediately pushed into an incredible captivating and heart-wrenching situation - Stevie has a mother with schizophrenia, and during one of her episodes, she throws both Stevie and her sister over a bridge and into the dark water below them, eventually throwing herself over as well. Stevie is the only one to survive, and like others who have been through tragedies, she turns to food for comfort, for over two decades, until that is, she has a heart attack. She gets her stomach shrunk and extra skin taken off, but inside she is still the broken little girl that had seen too much. The book was extremely slow in the beginning, even though the story-line was captivating. Usually when I read books that I love, I always want to read them, but this one I dreaded picking it up to just read a page. I found myself flipping the pages, counting how many I had until I was done with a chapter.
Stevie needed a support system, more than anything, to help her through her struggles and emotions, but she didn't have one. Aside from her caring cousins, her uncle that had taken her in was of no help and neither was her 'best friend.' Instead her uncle and friend were demeaning and disrespectful, making Stevie believe that she needed to keep quiet her whole life, holding in her feelings, succumbing to what everyone else wanted. I'm sure this is relatable on many aspects; I know I've had a friend or two that made me feel that way. I felt like the author really brought this out quite well through Stevie's thoughts that were shared with readers, but I kept wishing that she'd be more confident in herself.
The book took a turn for the better towards the end, and I found that I was enjoying it more and more as pieces of Stevie fell into place. I enjoyed the author's writing style, how she told the story, tying in the past with the present, learning who Stevie was as Stevie was learning about herself. I was happy to give this book back to my friend, and I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone, unless they're going through a similar situation, so they can see it from different perspectives.
"Dealing with adults in denial is excruciating. You can't force them to get care, even if their own life is at stake. Talking won't do it, threats won't, tears and hysterics, nothing. They have to want it themselves. They have to want to help themselves. And until they've hit the bottom, until they're literally fighting for their lives, struggling around, gasping, scratching for an edge to bring their noses above water, until they can actually touch death with their own fingertips, they'll refuse help" (page 128).
"The only good thing about seeing someone in a heart wrenching position is that it makes your problems appear to be nothing, because, usually they are. Somebody billions of somebody's, always have it worse than you on this planet. Always" (page 189).
"You know how you houseclean to get rid of dust and dirt? Sometimes I think you have to people clean too" (page 409).
My Rating: 3 Stars
