In "Autobiography of a Face", Lucy Grealy explores how her disfigurement from cancer surgery came to be the central theme of her life and that of her family.

Even the title shows how Grealy has identified herself with her face above all else. The autobiography of Lucy Grealy has become the autobiography of her face because for a great part of her life Ms. Grealy was nothing more than a face, or at least it seemed so. Doctors, fellow students, family members, and complete strangers see not a woman with a disfigured face; they see a disfigured face.

Grealy shows how she also falls under the spell of her disability, allowing it to control her life and dictate her future to a greater extent than it otherwise would. Yes, having a disability means that sometimes you have to say "I'm disabled, therefore I can't....", but as Grealy finally learns, it also means sometimes saying "I'm disabled, but I can!".

All in all this is an inspiring book, one I'm glad I read and one I would highly recommend, especially to other disabled readers.

I think about this book nearly every day, even though I read it several years ago. It has had a profound impact on my own life. It is a real-life story about a young girl growing up with jaw bone cancer and having to live with multiple surgeries and radiation to try to rid her jaw of cancer. During and after the disfiguring surgeries and radiation, she has difficulties adjusting to society's taunts and stares, beginning with her schoolmates and continuing with adults. There is no ugly duckling to beautiful swan transformation. It's just one girl trying to survive cancer and make it through a difficult life in this beauty obsessed world. This book is a must read for anyone who feels that their appearance makes them unacceptable. It is a story of great personal fortitude coming from a little girl whose family just isn't capable of dealing with the cancer and the emotional pain she must endure.

I read Lucy's book several years ago, all in one day. Her words, feelings, and thoughts captured my attention, as I fully understood her battle with cancer. I had Ewing's of the pelvis when I was 15, and there weren't any books that I read back then where the person lived at the end. How utterly depressing, since we are proof that you can survive cancer!

I greatly appreciated the way in which Lucy described what it felt like during chemo treatments and surgeries, because her interpretation is not glossed over. There is no real way to describe the experience except to go through it for yourself to really understand it, but Lucy's words came very close! One day, I wish to write my own novel describing my struggle with cancer as an adolescent.

I'd also love to talk with Lucy, one survivor to another, if possible.

I love this book! The best thing about it is that you learn so much about horses by listening to his stories. It's not a boring how-to. I really feel I developed a greater respect for my horse and definitely a greater understanding. Even though there's a lot of controversy over Monty Roberts I really don't care. Who knows what's true and what isn't? Personally I don't care. His methods work in most cases and you can learn a lot from this book. Don't decide not to read this book because of the controversy. It makes no difference because you can learn so much.

Not the fiction of Gulliver's Travels or Doctor Dolittle or the tales of St. Francis, in The Man Who Listens to Horses, we meet Monty Roberts a real person who talks with horses. Monty Roberts is a cowboy, athlete, horse trainer, ethologist, animal psychologist, and most of all a humanitarian. An exceptional story of a man's quest to really learn to communicate with the Equine species which cohabits our world. The book is about Monty Roberts, his life and his quest. Monty an accomplished and humble man is at ease with the Queen of England and California cowboys. But most of all he is at ease with horses, and gives us reasons to also desire to follow in his foot-steps. Those looking for a "how-to-book" will get much, much more from this book. Talking with, not to, horses is a way of living--not a few simple techniques. Monty, is truly, a great master whose life speaks volumes about setting aside cruelty and brutally towards men and animals. Monty Roberts the man, his life and mission, communicates the greater wisdom towards which we who love horses and love riding can aspire.

I have been riding horses on and off for almost all of my adult life (my grandfather plopped me on my first horse when I was three.) Yet it was only recently that I learned how to use the Join Up technique that Monty Roberts created, and I have to say it's been one of the most incredible things I've ever done with a horse.

This book has two parts. The first is the story of Monty's life, and it's a simply amazing one. He takes us through his childhood as a rodeo star, to his work as a trainer, and his ongoing search to learn to communicate more effectively with horses (and other animals.) The techniques he has developed are ground-breaking, and if for no other reason than to learn how to Join Up with your own horse, I'd advise you to buy this book. But the stories are fascinating, moving, and inspiring, and the book could sell with even without the Join Up technique.

All in all this is a book that every horse owner should read, at least once. And using the Join Up technique with your horse will forever change the way you relate to horses. Try it, you'll be amazed at the results!

The essays in this book are warm, funny, true, and lovely.

I've read many books of essay's where the authors' own interest in the subject(s) at hand, extends further than the readers attention is willing to give. This isn't the case with Grealy's book.

I found her musings, and meanderings, engaging throughout.

Her essays take on daytime talkshows, playing with pets, the nature of twins, lost brothers- and ultimately her own struggles to make some sort of sense, or nonsense of things. Her prose talks with you- not at you, and asks you, without any finger wagging, to join in the conversations she is having with the page.

I loved it.

Lucy Grealy is a woman saved by language. Her love of words and ideas infuse each of these engaging essays. Some are, indeed, more abstract than imagistic, and Grealy's greatest strength lies in her perceptions and explorations of the tangible world. However, each essay is thoughtful, intelligent, and, as suggested by the subtitle, PROVOKING of reflection. An interesting comparison is to the essays of Marilynne Robinson, another poet of the concrete: Robinson often loses touch with the tangible in her philosophical meanderings, but Grealy almost always keeps the reader hooked into an image. Grealy's persona is lovable, loving, and downright fun. I look forward to more of her literary explorations.

This woman is funny, and she can write. Only two of these essays drown in the mundane language of academia; for the most part the essays are insightful, humorous, and fun.

One complaint: to the designer and art director: please wake up! Yo can barely tell the title is "As Seen on TV," and the running heads which just repeat the book title over and over again (as opposed to using the essay titles) are completely uninformative. However, these design flaws don't spoil this very enjoyable read.