Hey my lovelies, this weeks review is of Faceless by Alyssa B. Sheinmel, to be honest I read this book late august, early September, but thought this book would be good to post about near Bonfire Night, due to the amount of injuries sustained from burns on that night.
Author: Alyssa B. Sheinmel
Publisher: Chicken House
Pub. Date: January 7th 2016
Date Read: August 2016
Pages: 346
Rating: 4.5 /5 stars
Goodreads Summary: When Maisie is struck by lightning, her face is partially destroyed. She's lucky enough to get a face transplant, but how do you live your life when you can't even recognize yourself anymore? She was a runner, a girlfriend, a good student ...a normal girl. Now, after a single freak accident, all that has changed. As Maisie discovers how much her looks did and didn't shape her relationship to the world, she has to redefine her own identity, and figure out what 'lucky' really means.
Overview
In all honesty, this is probably one of the best books I have read so
far this year, it was really good, this is the first book I have ever read
regarding facial disfigurement. Our main character is Maisie,
Maisie considers her entire future to be based on running career, with
plans of following this through with college scholarships. Her life isn’t the
best at home, with her parents constant arguing and the pressure of maintaining
everything else in her life. As she does most morning, she decides to go
jogging, which is all well and dandy until the weather takes a drastic turn and
lightning strikes a tree, which in turn takes down an electrical power line.
This causes part of her face to basically burn away, leaving a disfigured face
behind. She is now unrecognisable to both herself and others. The rest of the book follows Maisie dealing with the trauma of this happening to her and getting used to having a new face.
One of the most compelling parts of the book, was Maisie herself, as I felt everything that she was feeling, causing me to feel angry when she felt and angry and even found myself questioning her parents actions at times, because it was not what she wanted. A long with this Maisie felt a lot of survivors guilt due to parts of her face being reconstructed with another woman's face who sadly died, this was very compelling and made me want to help and absolve Maisie's pain. Although the overall running theme throughout this book was Humanity, and that was great.
One of the most compelling parts of the book, was Maisie herself, as I felt everything that she was feeling, causing me to feel angry when she felt and angry and even found myself questioning her parents actions at times, because it was not what she wanted. A long with this Maisie felt a lot of survivors guilt due to parts of her face being reconstructed with another woman's face who sadly died, this was very compelling and made me want to help and absolve Maisie's pain. Although the overall running theme throughout this book was Humanity, and that was great.
In some of original book reviews, I used to post about the book covers
chosen for the book, so I thought I would bring this feature back for the
winter season. But seriously, how gorgeous is this cover? I’m not usually a fan
of minimalistic style covers, but the symbolism and the colour scheme of this
is just amazing. With the scribble through the face not only signifying her
facial changes, but also showing the discomfort and anger towards the way she
looks is just amazing. 10/10 for whoever designed it, it just fits the tone of
the book so well.
Characters
The character development in Faceless was so good, I really felt engaged with the characters and definitely wanted to be there for Maisie at times, either just to comfort her or to smack people in the face for her.
Maisie was such an awesome character, you could really feel her heartbreak at her situation, and the way life wasn't going the way she wanted it too, as sometimes it really doesn't. Maisie accepting that, she is still the same person, to who she was before the accident, but allowing that this can change her, but it doesn’t have to change her in a bad way. As she learns that she can still be pretty even if she doesn't look the way she used too. Woop woop! A book that’s main character has balls! When Maisie was angry she was angry. When she wanted to shout she shouted. When she lashed out she lashed out. That was great.
Maisie was such an awesome character, you could really feel her heartbreak at her situation, and the way life wasn't going the way she wanted it too, as sometimes it really doesn't. Maisie accepting that, she is still the same person, to who she was before the accident, but allowing that this can change her, but it doesn’t have to change her in a bad way. As she learns that she can still be pretty even if she doesn't look the way she used too. Woop woop! A book that’s main character has balls! When Maisie was angry she was angry. When she wanted to shout she shouted. When she lashed out she lashed out. That was great.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this was probably in the top 5 of books I’ve read this year, and is one of the only books I have ever read about something so drastic like facial disfigurement. As I mentioned before the character development was so good and I honestly felt the anger and loss that Maisie was feeling. My only negative really was that some of the endgame relationships were not my cup of tea, but I did expect them to do that.Recommend…
I would recommend this to anyone who
enjoys heartfelt books, with a pretty badass female main character. This also would
definitely be a good read for anybody who is going through a life altering
event similar to this, or to anyone who feels like their physical looks may
cause challenges.
Book Links
Goodreads | Alyssa B. Sheinmel | Amazon UK | Amazon | WHSmith | Waterstones
Thank you for reading my lovelies,
this is it for this week, if you would like to see more of what I am currently
reading you can check me out on Goodreads, Instagram and Twitter.
Previous Book Review: The Shattered Seam by Kathleen Groger
Next Book Review: One of the Few by by
Jason B. Ladd
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