10/04/2021
Using the life and work of Picasso as a framing device, debut memoirist Henley—a white woman born with Crouzon syndrome, a rare “craniofacial condition where the bones in the head don’t grow”—writes about “beauty through a lens of disfigurement.” After Henley and her twin sister were both born with the syndrome, a series of life-saving and aesthetic surgeries performed throughout their California childhood drastically altered their appearances, leaving Ariel feeling alienated from both her body and a society that others people with facial disfigurements. Exploring experiences of discrimination, emotional turmoil, and an eating disorder, her observations—especially concerning Picasso’s misogyny and ableism, the way the two attitudes intersect, and the ways she’s seen them mirrored in society—are complex and searing. She acknowledges in the prologue that beauty standards are not only ableist but racist, and discusses extensively how fatphobia exacerbated the prejudice she faced. This smart, richly detailed memoir is a compelling meditation on identity as well as a much-needed challenge to an ableist system. Ages 12–up. (Nov.)
A YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Finalist
A Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book for Teens
A NCSS Notable Book
A Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction for Older Readers
A 2021 Booklist Editors' Choice
A New York Public Library Best Books of 2021
The myFace Courage Award
Texas Topaz Reading List Selection
"A gripping autobiography and a provocative interrogation of beauty that will resonate with many young readers, especially as they develop their own identities in a social-media focused culture." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review
"Expertly crafted, infused with emotional resonance and populated with flawed characters who grow and change as the story unfolds. Ariel’s richly detailed perspective allows the reader to deeply understand the trauma of experiencing so many difficult medical procedures, as well as the lifelong impact of bullying and discrimination... A must-read on self-love, beauty, disability, visibility, and community." —Booklist, starred review
"Complex and searing... This smart, richly detailed memoir is a compelling meditation on identity as well as a much-needed challenge to an ableist system." —Publishers Weekly
"With a perceptive analysis of the way beauty standards shape the most basic social values and a fascinating coming-of-age story told from a unique perspective, Henley’s memoir is not to be missed. Captivating, unflinching, and insightful, this title is highly recommend." —School Library Journal
03/01/2022
Gr 8 Up—Henley weaves a memoir of a journey to finding one's identity, while dealing with a life of raw physical and emotional pain. Born with Crouzon syndrome, a condition where the bones of the head fuse prematurely, Ariel and her twin sister, Zan, grew up under an umbrella of burden: the perpetual hostility of a society with strict beauty standards and the endless stream of life-saving facial surgeries. Told in segments, this memoir moves readers through Ariel's early childhood into the overwhelming middle school experience, which is marked by trauma but also resiliency, and then into her late-teen early college years, where she finally allows herself to break from the mold of external influence. Henley effortlessly explores the immense societal importance of striving toward unobtainable beauty standards and the authentic consequences for those who seemingly fall short of it. The book also touches on eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, and anger issues. With a perceptive analysis of the way beauty standards shape the most basic social values and a fascinating coming-of-age story told from a unique perspective, Henley's memoir is not to be missed. VERDICT Captivating, unflinching, and insightful, this title is highly recommend.—Jessica Manafi Brits
Ariel Henley narrates her story of growing up with Crouzon syndrome, a type of facial disfigurement. She and her identical twin, Zan, both afflicted, survived face-altering surgeries as doctors broke facial bones to make room for the growing organs in their skulls. Henley's dispassionate voice is riveting as she recounts the traumas of the multiple surgeries that made the twins look less like themselves and each other. They received little emotional support to deal with issues of identity and bullying. Henley's unemotional tone as she details the surgeries' consequences, as well as bullying by classmates, teachers, and society at large, will awaken the listener's awareness and acceptance of differences. Marketed to young adults, this is a book that adults would also be wise to visit. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
2021-09-15
This memoir of a young White woman with Crouzon syndrome explores growing up with facial differences in an ableist, beauty-obsessed society.
Ariel and her twin sister, Zan, were born with a rare condition that affected the growth of their skull bones. Crouzon syndrome not only has medical repercussions—Zan and Ariel have seizures and problems with breathing, hearing, and vision—but a profound influence on the way the sisters look. From infancy, they were treated by physicians who were excited at the chance to work with such a rare condition and who sometimes couldn’t distinguish between aesthetic and medical motivations. As Ariel shows in her narration of the story of their childhood and adolescence, every milestone was touched not just by health difficulties and prejudice, but by the constant, ongoing surgeries the twins underwent beginning when they were 8 months old. In Ariel’s thoughtful and poignant telling, her own emerging awareness of and realizations about Western beauty standards didn’t change how she wanted to be perceived by the world; internalized fatphobia may seem almost mundane amid all this trauma, but the mistreatment resulting from “being fat and disfigured” ends up causing just as real a crisis. Though many events feel only loosely connected and the work reads almost like a series of essays, a narrative about Pablo Picasso and cubism ties together many otherwise fragmentary episodes.
Memoir as recovery: deeply thoughtful and eschewing too-tidy conclusions. (author’s note, sources, reading list) (Memoir. 12-18)
