A Face for Picasso
Coming of Age with Crouzon Syndrome
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- £7.49
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- £7.49
Publisher Description
A Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book for Teens
"Raw and unflinching . . . A must-read!" --Marieke Nijkamp, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of This Is Where It Ends
"[It] cuts to the heart of our bogus ideas of beauty." –Scott Westerfeld, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Uglies
I am ugly. There's a mathematical equation to prove it.
At only eight months old, identical twin sisters Ariel and Zan were diagnosed with Crouzon syndrome -- a rare condition where the bones in the head fuse prematurely. They were the first twins known to survive it.
Growing up, Ariel and her sister endured numerous appearance-altering procedures. Surgeons would break the bones in their heads and faces to make room for their growing organs. While the physical aspect of their condition was painful, it was nothing compared to the emotional toll of navigating life with a facial disfigurement.
Ariel explores beauty and identity in her young-adult memoir about resilience, sisterhood, and the strength it takes to put your life, and yourself, back together time and time again.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
