Release Date: November 2nd, 2021

Genre(s): Young Adult, Nonfiction, Memoirs

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux 

Pages: 400

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to FierceReads for providing me with an e-ARC and finished copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis

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 the disease.

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.

Review

I don’t usually finish books in a sitting or two, but I could not put A Face for Picasso down. It follows the early life of Ariel Henley and her twin sister growing up with Crouzon syndrome, which causes facial disfigurement. After reading her work in Disability Visibility and hearing that she was writing this memoir, I knew I had to read it.

I can’t praise Henley’s writing enough. Her voice is so powerful in this memoir that it’s hard not to feel a range of emotions while reading A Face for Picasso – and with that, emotions that will lead to meaningful change about how we view appearance and treat people with visual disabilities. There’s so much brought to light in this book that many people, such as myself, have not experienced, such as only seeing the media portraying characters with facial disfigurements as villains, being denied opportunities from our looks, or having less trust in our intelligence and skillsets – all because of how we look. I found myself angered when she was treated poorly, saddened when she was bullied, but also uplifted when she founded Girl Talk. There’s a lot to take away from A Face for Picasso and a lot to think on well after reading it.

Her journey with her relationship with the artist Picasso was another element to the story that added so much. These chapters do so much to emphasize the experiences Henley has, what she’s felt throughout these experiences, and showed how she’s grown from them too.

In conclusion, I can’t recommend this memoir enough! Henley has such a talent for telling stories, and her story is one that more people should know about.

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