Skip to main content

Book Review: Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett

photocredit

A friend of mine who I often trade books with handed me this a couple months ago and said, "I think you'll really like it". I had never read an Ann Patchett book and since Bel Canto was on my list, which I've heard such amazing things about, I decided to add this title, too. If I can remember correctly the first 40ish pages took awhile to get into; after that I finished quickly.

Truth and Beauty is a memoir of friendship between the two writers, Ann, and her best friend, the late Lucy Grealy of Autobiography of a Face fame. The story isn't a typical book broken into chapters of episodes, but more like chapters of emotions...and surgery. A lot of the chapters either start or end with a letter from Lucy, setting the tone, or rather closing the state of emotion out, with her poetic words and battle with loneliness.

The story is set over a couple decades, starting with college and ending sadly without Lucy about twenty years later. It's a recap of both authors' fame, awards, trials, moves, and teaching positions, and it's written so well. Ms. Patchett, more of a type A 'square' is always trying to save Lucy from her demons and Lucy is trying to smother her loneliness by anything and everything including men, art, shopping, and writing. The story has a sad ending but so many wonderful lines about friendship and the human heart, the human condition.

I give this book 3.5 stars out of 5, and not because it wasn't written well. It was written beautifully. I simply grew frustrated with Lucy's character and her mind-numbing behavior that was destroying her life. I think you may give it a better mark, reader, but there's only so much sadness a character can ooze out onto the audience, and after awhile I chose to turn a deaf ear and fall behind a wall of less concern for the tragedy. It is a true story, and it is a very sad thing, but there is only so much help a person -a human friend- can do for another. In the end, one has to take responsibility for their own actions, including those that turn a deaf ear to the One who has given His life over for our mess, the only thing making us whole.

Comments

Renee said…
I've read both this book and Autobiography of a Face. Reading both books has a way of shedding light on parts of Lucy's frustrating life, so I highly recommend both.
Unknown said…
Oh So nice.....great post... nice tips
& Great achivement in this blog
Child care in Bangalore

Popular posts from this blog

Home School Activities: Board Games We Love

My children have recently become enthralled in the world of board games. I was never a board game player. Sure, I remember long summer hours (days? it seemed like it..) spent around a Monopoly board, but I was never one to suggest to get out the cards, or a game. As my children have grown and they are now able to do activities with me, I started noticing that they really took to puzzles (when done all together) and the one or two board games I happened to have kept in the storage room. They were always asking to play Candy Land and so I figured I should branch off a bit. Over the course of the last year, I have found GREAT games, even ones that I love to play alongside them. The amount of 'teaching' they have gotten through games is jaw-dropping. Counting, team-playing, math related patterning, are just some of the skills I've watched develop. I asked before Christmas on facebook what my friends and their own kids loved and I was thrilled with the response. We have found ov

July Reads

Birch Bay Sunset, rainbow hues July has been hot out here. When you live in the top story of an apartment building, and there's no air conditioning, it can feel just over the needle of uncomfortably warm when the day is above 76 degrees. We've kept blinds shut, windows open, and a fan continually blowing as it's perched in our living room window well. Just about the only thing I feel like doing after a long day is laying on the couch straight in the fan's air circulation path, and read a good book. I had some unique picks this month. * #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso  This book was just plain fun to read. Amoruso developed the iconic ebay store NastyGal way back when vintage selling on ebay was a thing. Now she's a millionaire with a kicking website that she started from scratch and didn't owe a dime to anyone else for. It's a great 200 pager with stories on dumpster diving for daily food, entrepreneurship tips, and being the backwards kid that no one t

Top 10 Books of 2017

early sunset in Ft Langley  I love reading all these "Top 10" lists of favorite books read throughout the year, so I'm adding my two cents.  I'm involved in a Book Club that I love with women from our church, a small group that meets every week and goes through a book every few months, my own list, books I'm reading aloud to the kids and  books I'm reading for educational purposes (think professional development). I took a look at all of those combined and this is what I got, in no particular order:  *  The Problem of God  by Mark Clark - I loved going through this academic apologetic book with my friends from church. It led us to great discussion, and good food for thought. I listen to Clark's sermons every week and so knew I'd probably love his writing style, too. If you have objections to Christianity, or are feeling confused about what to believe, this is a great primer.  * You're Smarter Than You Think  by Dr. Thomas Armstron