Faceless

July 15, 2015
When a pretty, athletic girl loses her face in a fire, she gets a face transplant and struggles with the permanent changes in her life. Sixteen-year-old Maisie loves to run track, and she secretly loves her boyfriend, Chirag, although she hasn't yet told him. While running one morning, she's too near a tree when it's struck by lightning, and the resultant fire burns much of her face away. She gets the chance for a face transplant, but she will still be permanently scarred. Chirag tries to stand by her, but she believes everyone sees her as a freak, and she won't allow him to touch her. She dreads returning to school, where Chirag and her best friend try to protect her, but they too struggle with the changes as Maisie flares with anger and lashes out. Only when she reluctantly joins a therapy group for disfigured accident victims does she learn how to cope with her plight. Sheinmel writes in Maisie's present-tense voice, focusing on her internal anger, fears, and grief. Her depiction of a disfigured adolescent girl, already searching for herself and now suddenly forced to accept this new enormity, is compelling. As the story progresses it becomes almost a textbook explanation of psychological progression through anger and grief into acceptance, giving the story a distinctly problem-novel feel. A problem novel, yes, but an absorbing one. (Fiction. 12-18)

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November 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-Out for a casual morning run, Maisie becomes the victim of a freak accident. While she survives against the odds, the casualty is major-her face is irrevocably damaged. With a pioneering surgery, she is given a new face and another chance at life. Yet the struggles begin at the same time as her new reality. A fascinating human portrait of a unique medical procedure, this work paints a complex picture of a young life impacted by a mammoth change. Maisie is a deeply sympathetic and human character despite the outrageous circumstances. There is never a transcendent "feel-good" moment, to the book's credit and detriment. Some readers might tire of the extremely dark tone and perspective of the protagonist, while others would enjoy the realism of a teenager facing such a grave change to her life. The secondary characters are similarly well drawn, including a long-suffering boyfriend and bickering parents. VERDICT Give this to fans of Trisha Leaver's The Secrets We Keep (Farrar, 2015) and other readers ready for an all-too-gritty piece of realistic fiction.-Erinn Black Salge, Saint Peter's Prep, Jersey City, NJ

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