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Truth and Beauty

3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 · rating details · 14,842 ratings · 1,684 reviews

Ann Patchett and the late Lucy Grealy met in college in 1981, and, after enrolling in the Iowa Writers' Workshop, began a friendship that would be as defining to both of their lives as their work. In Grealy's critically acclaimed memoir, Autobiography of a Face, she wrote about losing part of her jaw to childhood cancer, years of chemotherapy and radiation, and endless rec...more

Paperback, 257 pages

Published April 5th 2005 by Harper Perennial (first published May 1st 2004)

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Jul 03, 2009 Barbara Mader rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: no one

I didn't care for it, for several reasons. First of all, I didn't think much of the quality of the writing--certainly nothing like Lucy Grealy's in her own memoir. Second, I found both women's behavior in the friendship really strange. Ann seems completely blank in the relationship, never asserting any real personality, and completely enabling Lucy's neediness and selfishness. Lucy just sounded like a black hole, sucking up every bit of attention, affection, needing more and more extravagant dec...more

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Nov 07, 2007 Khaya rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: memoirs, favorites

Wow -- what a fascinating experience, to read "Truth and Beauty" after "Autobiography of a Face" and then to follow up with Suellen Grealy's angry article. I actually thought "Truth and Beauty" was the better book of the two, although perhaps it's not fair to say that because much of my fascination with "Truth and Beauty," at least initially, stemmed from having read "Autobiography of a Face" and the unique, stimulating opportunity to read one person's memoir and then to read how that person was...more Wow -- what a fascinating experience, to read "Truth and Beauty" after "Autobiography of a Face" and then to follow up with Suellen Grealy's angry article. I actually thought "Truth and Beauty" was the better book of the two, although perhaps it's not fair to say that because much of my fascination with "Truth and Beauty," at least initially, stemmed from having read "Autobiography of a Face" and the unique, stimulating opportunity to read one person's memoir and then to read how that person was remembered by a close friend.
First of all, I loved the writing. I forgot I was reading a book half the time; I felt like I was experiencing the friendship and the people myself. Also, while "Autobiography of a Face" was well-written, the story gripped me more than the writing. With "Truth and Beauty," the writing was more singular than the story although I enjoyed both. "Autobiography" explored the dynamics of growing up looking like a freak, while "Truth" described a uniquely intimate? codependent? almost physical? unhealthily close, or just unusually close? friendship -- a more universal topic, but written about in such a fascinating and provocative way.
This book made me think a lot about friendship. When does unique closeness become dysfunctional and unhealthy? When friends fall into the roles of "the sick one" and "the well one," even legitimately, how do they break out of that? And should they? If so, at what point?
It also made me think about sociable, charismatic, life-of-the-party people and whether they're just good at masking and filling (or trying to fill) an inner emptiness. Is it better to be introverted?
Then, reading Suellen Grealy's article (not printed in the book, for obvious reasons) raised even more questions for me. I could empathize with Suellen's feelings of exposure and her sense that her private grief had become something public and marketable. At the same time, at the risk of sounding callous, there's another way to look at this. For example, concerning "Autobiography," she expressed irritation that Lucy had selected her vantage point -- but what do you expect a memoir to be?
In describing Ann Patchett's afterword to "Autobiography," Suellen quoted her sister Sarah as saying, "Where are we in this story?" Ann Patchett was describing her memories of Lucy, which didn't include her sisters, whom she never met while Lucy was alive. I tried to understand -- is she angry about the exposure of Lucy, or about the fact that she wasn't included in this expose?
Then, Suellen reacted to the fact that one reading guide for "Autobiography" questioned her mother's parenting skills, and reported that this was blamed on an inexperienced intern. It's true that this may be insensitive to the family, but once you're going to go there, maybe the book shouldn't have been published at all!
Suellen said that, while she respected Ann Patchett's need to write the book as an artist, she would have preferred that she write it and then bury it somewhere rather than publishing it. Right. I sympathize with Suellen's feelings of exposure, but to hold it against Ann that she spent years writing an excellent book, a book that contributes to the literature canon, and then actually wanted to publish it, is not fair.
This happens to be a problem, as I know because a friend of mine is a writer and a journalist and sometimes angers people who appear in her writings (directly or indirectly) because they feel their privacy has been invaded. It's not that I don't sympathize with Suellen's feelings. I can't imagine what her grief must be like, and then to have it bared so publicly outside of her control. However, "Truth and Beauty" was such a worthwhile book in my opinion that I have a hard time relating to her particular complaints. I guess that any book has the potential to expose and hurt people, especially a memoir. Does that mean it shouldn't be written? Does that mean it shouldn't be read? (less)

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Feb 10, 2008 Colleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked up this book because I read "Bel Canto" and loved it, and loved Ann Patchett's writing style. I also think that, in general, friendship does not get enough respect in our society. There's a lot of attention payed to family and lovers, but not much to friends.
This is the story of a friendship between the author and a woman she went to college with. They both end up at the University of Iowa's Writer's Workshop at the same time, and a beautiful, life-long friendship ensues. I loved the b...more

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Oct 31, 2007 Charlotte rated it 2 of 5 stars

I learned how not to treat friends.

I couldn't believe that Ann didn't end her friendship with Lucy after so many irritating incidents on Lucy's part. I would have backed out of sharing an apartment with Lucy if she had jumped up on me when I first arrived at the apartment.

When Lucy demanded that Ann tell her that she (Ann) loved her most, why did Ann cater to her wishes?

The author did not explain to my satisfaction why Lucy continued to have friends. Apparently Lucy must have had some sort...more

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Oct 03, 2007 Carla rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: girlfriends

My best friend Audrey gave me this book at the same time she gave me the book "Autobiography of a face". What a great present. I would read them in the order they are written (autobiography) first. The first book is just an interesting story which is well written. I really liked this book b/c it was mostly about the power of friendship. We all know the power of a good relationship with a significant other but rarely is the power of a female friendship written about. I can relate to this book (in...more

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Mar 29, 2009 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: memoirsbios, favorites

I can't help but contrast this with Anne Lamott's "Operating Instructions", although totally different premises, but both are primarily novelists who venture into non-fiction to chronicle a relationship. Patchett's clean and crisp writing makes Lamott's simile affection all the more vulgar. And unlike Lamott, Patchett manages to be seem modest despite her success, and largely un-martyred by tragic circumstances. I didn't even mind the patches of one of my very least favorite topics, writers on w...more

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Oct 19, 2012 Greg rated it 4 of 5 stars

It's a little confusing to separate all the various emotions and viewpoints associated with Truth and Beuaty because of the agita caused by the Grealey family's dissatisfaction with the book and Suellen Grealey's letter to the Guardian. The "controversy" stems from ideas of ethics and rights. Who owns the rights to Lucy's story? Is it ethical for Ann Patchett to use Lucy to tell her own story? I see both sides although I fall on Patchett's side. Reading Beauty, I could see how her family didn't...more It's a little confusing to separate all the various emotions and viewpoints associated with Truth and Beuaty because of the agita caused by the Grealey family's dissatisfaction with the book and Suellen Grealey's letter to the Guardian. The "controversy" stems from ideas of ethics and rights. Who owns the rights to Lucy's story? Is it ethical for Ann Patchett to use Lucy to tell her own story? I see both sides although I fall on Patchett's side. Reading Beauty, I could see how her family didn't like the at times ugly portrayal of Lucy, but I think it's not ugliness, but truth.

An interesting study in contrasts. Lucy Grealey's life has all the markings of a bloated, Hollywood biopic. The outsized personality, illness, disfigurement, depression, addiction, sexual exploration. Her life is epic and her death tragic. Patchett subverts expectations here by going small. She stays resolutely to her own tiny window into Lucy. The prose is minimal and well-considered, providing subtle contrast to Lucy's letters.

I was constantly reminded of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, an odd reference point, but a think an applicable one because of their similar perspectives. Both novel's ostensible protagonist, the narrator, become side characters to the bombast of the colorful friend. And of course the stories of both Jay Gatsby and Lucy Grealey don't end well, but this does bring me back to ethics. Gatsby is a work of fiction so the perspective, like everything else, is a fabrication. Beauty is a memoir, but on appearance it is a memoir of Lucy, not of Ann. I say on appearance because I'm not sure the memoir is so much about Lucy as it is about writing and creativity as told through the friendship of Patchett and Grealey. It reminded me of Didion's Blue Nights, where you think you're reading about the death of her daughter, but you're actually reading about death itself and the struggle of writing and art against it.

The discussions about writing and the descriptions about Lucy's feelings about writing are fascinating. Writing is salvation for both Patchett and Grealey through their lives. Patchett appears to reach the same conclusion as Didion, that writing and art and truth and beauty are not salvation. They are not a lifeline. Nothing can stop death and fear if it wants to come.

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Sep 24, 2008 Kellie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2007-reads, non-fiction, bookclub-books

This was an incredible book about friendship. Lucy Grealy had cancer when she was young, which resulted in several surgeries to remove parts of her jaw. These surgeries left her with a deformed face. Ann met Lucy in her early 20’s. She immediately befriended Lucy and “felt chosen by Lucy and was thrilled.” Lucy had a lot of friends. But it never seemed to be enough. Ann beautifully describes her friend in these words, …”Lucy’s loneliness was breathtaking in its enormity. If she emptied out Grand...more This was an incredible book about friendship. Lucy Grealy had cancer when she was young, which resulted in several surgeries to remove parts of her jaw. These surgeries left her with a deformed face. Ann met Lucy in her early 20’s. She immediately befriended Lucy and “felt chosen by Lucy and was thrilled.” Lucy had a lot of friends. But it never seemed to be enough. Ann beautifully describes her friend in these words, …”Lucy’s loneliness was breathtaking in its enormity. If she emptied out Grand Central Station and filled it with the people she knew well, the people who loved her, there would be more than 100 people…If you added to that number all the people who loved her because of her book, all the people who admired her, all the people who had heard her speak or had seen her on television or listened to her on the radio and loved the sound of her odd little voice, you could pack in thousands and thousands of more people, and still it wouldn’t feel full, not full enough to take up every square inch of her loneliness. Lucy thought that all she needed was one person, the right person, and all the empty space would be taken away from her. But there was no one in the world who was big enough for that. She believed that if she had a jaw that was like everyone else’s jaw, she would have found that person by now. She was trapped in a room full of mirrors, and every direction she looked in she saw herself, her face, her loneliness. She couldn’t see that no one else was perfect either, and that so much of love was the work of it. She had worked on everything else. Love would have to be charmed.” To me, this described Lucy the best. I commend Ann for being such a great friend. I am not sure if I would have the patience to be a friend to someone as hard on life and on love, as Lucy. Very moving. I would never had read this if it wasn’t for book club. I am so glad I did. I am going to add Autobiography of a Face to my wishlist. (less)

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Sep 22, 2007 Kim rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Ann Patchett fans

I have just read two books about female friendship back to back--one was the annotated letters of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok and the other was this one, novelist Ann Patchett's memoir of her all-encompassing and troubled friendship with poet Lucy Grealy, who is insecure, needy, and self-destructive, but also incredibly gifted. It is no spoiler to say that Lucy dies at the end, which is given away on the dust jacket and dedication page.

Both books were similar in that one party to the fr...more I have just read two books about female friendship back to back--one was the annotated letters of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok and the other was this one, novelist Ann Patchett's memoir of her all-encompassing and troubled friendship with poet Lucy Grealy, who is insecure, needy, and self-destructive, but also incredibly gifted. It is no spoiler to say that Lucy dies at the end, which is given away on the dust jacket and dedication page.

Both books were similar in that one party to the friendship went on to great heights of fame and accomplishment while the other achieved some success, but not enough to soothe her troubled soul. Inevitably, the career paths of the four women in the two books diverged, and not surprisingly their friendships did too.

I enjoyed Patchett's book more than the Roosevelt-Hickok book simply because there was more text, more narrative, than with some footnoted letters (fascinating though they were). I've never read any of Patchett's novels, but I've read some of her articles and she's a wonderful writer. You get many intimations of her talent in this book, but this book ultimately left me cold. On one hand, Patchett purports to love Lucy, calling her the "pettest of [her] pets," yet to me this book (issued rather soon after Lucy's untimely death) smacked of exploitation. Ann reveals all of Lucy's faults and weaknesses in excruciatingly painful detail, and although I could sympathize with Ann's frustration, I felt betrayed on Lucy's behalf.

I can fully understand why Ann, as a writer, felt that writing would be the best way to work through her grief and make sense of her friendship with Lucy. Perhaps she felt she was honoring Lucy and giving her some of the fame that Lucy always craved. But part of me wishes Ann would have written this all down, stored it in a box, and kept it to herself. Or, at a minimum, disguised this story as a novel, which is Patchett's forte. I must admit that I thought about this book for days after I finished reading it, so it was obviously very effective in its way, but I also felt sad, very sad, that Lucy had to die and that her friend had to lay her soul so bare for the world to feast on. (less)

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May 11, 2008 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars

The friendship of Lucy Grealy and Ann Patchett was extraordinary and excruciating. I’ve had some remarkable friendships in my life, but this book forced serious introspection. I identify with Ann, and wonder: could I love someone as broken or needy as Lucy? Would I have the courage to stand up to a self-destructing friend? Do I have the fortitude to stick by a friend through gruesome surgeries/recoveries? Or maybe I am more of Lucy--searching for Perfect Love, drawing others in for my own amusem...more

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Mar 24, 2008 Kang rated it 1 of 5 stars

Couldn't get into this book because there was no real character development. The book is not so much a narrative as a portrait, a portrait both of Lucy Grealy and of the friendship between Ann Patchett and Grealy. But Lucy at the end of the book is pretty much Lucy at the beginning of the book--with more success and a drug addiction. And Ann doesn't really change either, though she arguably matures and is more comfortable in her own skin by the end. The friendship, to be sure, undergoes some sli...more

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Apr 13, 2009 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm adding this book to my shelf of books about writing. As much as it's about friendship and devotion, it's also about writing. I read the whole thing in a day. (Granted, I didn't get anything else done ... ) This is the story of two women who meet in college and become lifelong friends, until one of them dies. It's powerful and moving and awful and beautiful and I don't know what else.

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Mar 10, 2008 Erin rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: memoir enthusiasts

Recommended to Erin by: Wendy?

Shelves: nonfiction

I had a tough time deciding how many stars to give this book. On the one hand, after a false start, I read Truth and Beauty very quickly - so it must have been of some kind of interest to me. But when I try to remember what was compelling about it, I have to it admit that it's not much, really. Perhaps the larger-than-life personality of tiny Lucy Grealy? Surely it wasn't the dull reportage of events; the book travels in a fairly linear fashion from first meeting until Grealy's death. Patchett's...more

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Oct 30, 2007 Jhoanna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: you-need-to-buy-this-book

I didn't know much about Patchett or Grealy before reading this memoir and I still don't, but I love how Patchett details this intense friendship between two writers and gives you a close look at the writing process, how people develop and why we keep writing. Here's what Patchett has to say of Grealy:

"What the story doesn't tell you is that the ant relented at the eleventh hour and took in the grasshopper when the weather was hard, fed him on his tenderest store of grass all winter. The tortois...more

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Nov 15, 2011 Anne rated it 5 of 5 stars

I relished this book- not only for the beautiful writing but for the sentiment, the love between two best friends. I didn't want this book to end, though I had a sad feeling about how it would end. I now have Autobiography of a Face on my bedside table, but am somewhat reluctant to begin reading it, maybe because I feel like I liked Ann Patchett's side of the story and the way that she told Lucy Grealy's story better than I could like Lucy Grealy's way of describing her own life. I'll give it a...more

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Nov 15, 2007 Laurel rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: women

Shelves: collection

Even though I had never read any of Patchett's novels, I read this when it first came out and was incredibly moved by it...the story of Ann and Lucy's friendship simply resonated with me. I think it would resonate with anyone who has had that one friendship that leaves a lasting imprint on one's life. The title says it all...truth and beauty. No sugar coating of character...no rose colored glasses...people are messy and sometimes we love them all the more for it. I would also recommend reading L...more

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Feb 20, 2013 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

I admire this book for managing to elicit so many different emotions from me. (In order) Charmed, delighted, frustrated, annoyed, spent.

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Feb 06, 2009 Lindsey rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 09-only-not, tru-lyfe, love-to-be-a-hater

I read the first page at the end of one of my breaks and was instantly hooked. This book definitely sucked me in and was well written. It held my attention even during the parts where I was like WTF?! Which there were quite a few parts.

Things were great for me when they were bonding and in grad school. Things didn't make as much sense to me when they were becoming famous authors. Like with the book Comfort I started to wonder if maybe this was a subject I couldn't wrap my brain around. But then...more I read the first page at the end of one of my breaks and was instantly hooked. This book definitely sucked me in and was well written. It held my attention even during the parts where I was like WTF?! Which there were quite a few parts.

Things were great for me when they were bonding and in grad school. Things didn't make as much sense to me when they were becoming famous authors. Like with the book Comfort I started to wonder if maybe this was a subject I couldn't wrap my brain around. But then I came to the same conclusion that I did with Comfort: no, it's because these people are assholes that I don't get it. Mostly it was Ann that bothered me.

It seemed to me that Ann threw Lucy to the dogs, especially at the end. It was so easy for Ann to dissect and examine Lucy's feelings of inadequacy, her depression, her constant need for approval. I mean, I guess that's easy for friends to do with other friends. But what about Ann? Why didn't we ever get a dissection of her? In fact, there were a lot of parts of this book where I was like, wait, is this really "A Friendship" or is this Ann Patchett talking about Lucy Grealy?

In friendships there are times where you give and take and sometimes there are people who give more than take and that's cool if both people agree- but Ann Patchett really painted herself as the person who only gives gives gives, while Lucy is really only capable of taking. I don't buy it. Especially towards the end of the book. When Lucy is getting all successful from her novel, there's Ann on the sidelines all excited for her. Then at the end of the book when Ann is getting all this limelight she doesn't have time for Lucy's crap anymore. Would she have been fed up if she'd been getting less press? She didn't want Lucy stealing her thunder but when it was Lucy's time that's not what she was doing, she wasn't living vicariously or any of that she was being 'supportive'.

She told more of Lucy's story than was necessary. There were points where I was confused about what this book was a story about, a friendship? Or her famous friend?

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Dec 27, 2008 Kerfe rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, biography-memoir

Addicts are not very likable. At best I found Lucy Grealy tiresome. That was at the beginning of Patchett's memoir about their friendship. By the end my feelings for Lucy had turned into active dislike.

I don't think this was the author's intent. When Lucy dies, she says: "I had thought I could let her go. But now I know I was simply not cut out for life without her. I am living that life now and would not choose it." But she never made me see why this should be. Why was she so devoted to Lucy, w...more

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Apr 29, 2013 Diann Blakely added it · review of another edition

Ann Patchett’s only memoir begins with the early days of the author’s tightly bonded, based-on-literature-and-writing relationship with the poet and nonfiction writer Lucy Grealy. Grealy’s own childhood and early adolescent memoir, *Autobiography of a Face*, recounts how she survives cancer and a series of crude, early treatments but is left with a jaw only two-thirds its normal size. Grealy pursues reconstruction via many gruesome failed experiments, and after forty surgeries, she develops an a...more

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Mar 30, 2013 Kirstie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, my-library

The most moving book I've read in a very long time, Truth and Beauty is the story of Ann Patchett's friendship with fellow author Lucy Grealy, who had survived childhood cancer at the cost of a disfigured face. Lucy is a mercurial character who exercises enormous charisma but also a devastating codependence with her friends - and Patchett describes both the beauty and horror of that unflinchingly, especially as she moves towards the devastating ending. It is a very brave and honest piece of writ...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Margalo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Patchett writes beautifully of her friendship with fellow writer, Lucy Greely, especially when describing their differences using the ant and grasshopper analogy. Ann works hard, dutifully piling up the pages while Lucy manically parties, puts off writing, frets about love, doesn't pay her bills and generally carries on. Ann is, of course, the ant, and Lucy the lovable grasshopper, playing music for all to hear, rushing here and there, and not storing up food for the cold winter months. Sometime...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Gerlinda rated it 4 of 5 stars

After a slightly slow beginning, I couldn't put this down. I found it strikingly nonjudgemental. The writing was clean and clear. I loved the writer's-on-writing aspect of this book and, not knowing anything about either Ann or Lucy beforehand, found Lucy's descent into drug abuse and subsequent suicide particularly sad. The last sentence, "That was my mistake" took my breath away -- both because it's such a great last sentence (and I so understand how Patchett probably couldn't resist its simpl...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Judith rated it 1 of 5 stars

Having recently read "State of Wonder" and "Bel Canto", I became an overnight devoted fan of Ann Patchett. And how was I to know that the memoir of her dear friend and fellow author would be just about unreadable? The book describes this intense (passionate, though platonic) friendship with a female poet she met in college. The friend, Lucy, was a pitiful victim of cancer which left her without the lower half of her face. She underwent over 38 surgeries during her lifetime to try to rebuild her...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Colleen O'Neill Conlan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bio-memoir

I read this just after reading Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy, and it's probably unfair, but natural, to compare them. There was something about Grealy's book that put me at a distance as her narrative progressed. The parts about her childhood and teenage years seemed explicit and almost revelatory. But the last parts of the book, of her time in college and grad school, and about her writing life, seemed rushed and somewhat vague to me.

Patchett's book fills in all those blanks. Her stor...more I read this just after reading Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy, and it's probably unfair, but natural, to compare them. There was something about Grealy's book that put me at a distance as her narrative progressed. The parts about her childhood and teenage years seemed explicit and almost revelatory. But the last parts of the book, of her time in college and grad school, and about her writing life, seemed rushed and somewhat vague to me.

Patchett's book fills in all those blanks. Her story isn't a memoir of her own life, and it isn't a biography of her great friend Grealy's life, either. Instead, it is about the intersection of their lives, their enduring relationship, their writing life, and their growing fame that came of that writing. But mostly, it is about the long, hard love between them, taking us from their time as roommates in Iowa when they were both part of the Writers Workshop to Grealy's untimely, but inevitable, death.

That span includes numerous surgeries that Grealy endures to try to reconstruct the damage to her face from a hellish childhood cancer. It reveals Grealy's almost unbearable search for love, which seems to include tons of sex with many, many men whom she later mourns for not loving her. There is a good deal about their work habits, with Patchett comparing herself to the diligent ant, while Grealy was more the grasshopper basking in the sun, erratic in staying at her desk long enough to produce anything, but when she did: wow. Patchett also clarifies my sense that Grealy rushed through the latter part of her memoir. She writes about Lucy finishing it up long past her deadline with her publisher: "Lucy finally buckled down and blasted through the last hundred pages of her memoir. For the rest of her life she figured that this was the way she worked best, writing very little through most of he time that was allotted to her and then making a heroic eleventh-hour save. 'That's the way I wrote my book,' she would say, proof that the system worked."

One thing I love about this book is the inclusion of many of Grealy's letters to Patchett. They are thoughtful, revealing, just lovely. Through much of their friendship they seemed to speak almost daily, but still carried on this written correspondence that seems entirely appropriate, between writers. Also, the dialogue between them is a real treat, seeming completely authentic and telling.

I love Patchett's writing. It is natural, unforced, and generous in showing Grealy as only an intimate friend can. Grealy strikes me as almost pathologically needy, almost selfish in how she treats people. But this isn't because Patchett calls her out. Instead, she reveals it through the mounting chaos (and subsequent drug use) in Grealy life. She needs constant affirmation of her talent, of her lovability. This, from a woman who was surrounded by people who adored and even revered her, and from one who earned acclaim, prizes, and fame for her writing. As Grealy's life spins out, she asks more and more often, "Do you love me? Do you still love me?" I think this book makes clear just how very much Patchett loved her.
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Jan 02, 2013 Ruth Seeley rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So this was Ann Patchett's third strike and this reader declares her banned from the game in perpetuity. Certainly better than State of Wonder and Bel Canto (I don't care how many awards that book won, it's bad!) and I've wasted enough time trying to figure out what people see in her as a writer.

Easy to see what Lucy Grealy saw in her as a friend, though - an eager co-dependent. While the fact that this is not a novel helps Patchett on the plotting front significantly (no more crazy and unbeliev...more

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Dec 22, 2012 Susan Daly rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dear Readers,

A very close friend of mine sent this book to me and it is highly appropriate that she would want me to read it.

This book shows exactly how we as humans can, and and do love others so very, very much; even when the person you love is totally the opposite in personality than you are.

These two friends are both writers. One a poet, and memoirist (Lucy Grealy), and the other a writer of novels (Ann Patchett). Meeting for the first time in college they end of becoming roommates and then...more Dear Readers,

A very close friend of mine sent this book to me and it is highly appropriate that she would want me to read it.

This book shows exactly how we as humans can, and and do love others so very, very much; even when the person you love is totally the opposite in personality than you are.

These two friends are both writers. One a poet, and memoirist (Lucy Grealy), and the other a writer of novels (Ann Patchett). Meeting for the first time in college they end of becoming roommates and then the very, very best of friends.

I had read Luch Grealy's memoir ("Autobiography of a Face") which is the way her life revolved around her face much more than it does for most of us as humans, because she had cancer as a young child and her entire life was made horrid, not just because she was taunted due to her face (the cancer ate away at her mandible and therefore she barely had any chin, and of course very few teeth) and her entire life revolved around one surgery after another, and so much chemotheraphy, as well as radiation.

Though, will all these horrible things befalling her, Lucy Grealy's public persona was what the term "spitfire" could have been invented for.

Ann Patchett, on the other hand was born, as most of us are lucky enough to be born with: a normal face, no dents, and when she was a child her teeth came in normally, and very luckily she was attractive.

But, as usual, I digress!! This book has a perfect title, for it is truly, and totally about truth and beauty and the intense way we love, and show our love.

We love, even when the person we love goes round the bend and yet no matter how many, many, many times we may try to help our loved ones, lending a hand, throwing out life line after life line: nothing is saved in the very end; nothing at all lasts but the truth and the beauty of the intense love between ourselves and our dearest friends, the ones we may have, and most likely do love and care for the most because they are so very deeply flawed, and no amount of help, nor absolute love will be able to save them. And we love them still!

I do hope this, my latest diatribe won't dissuade anyone who may deign to read this comment??? Please, do not take this huge chunk of muck I've just written as any excuse to not get and read this beautiful tribute to truth and beauty, love and friendship.

Sincerely Shutting Up For Your Sake, My Sake, and the Sake of a Wonderul Book,

Susan (less)

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Oct 11, 2012 Jackie Vazquez rated it 5 of 5 stars

Lucy Grealy's "Autobiography of a Face" caught my attention last year while I was browsing the tables at my favorite bookstore's sidewalk sale. When I finally got around to reading it, I was hooked. Upon finishing it, I was compelled by her larger-than-life persona and wanted to know as much as I could about her. As I was writing up my review of Grealy's book, I learned about her friendship with Patchett through the comments section. I kept Patchett's name in the back of my mind, and the next ti...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Anneliese Bell rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was amazing. The friendship bond between these two women developed into something akin to family. They supported each other during their formative years as literary artists, celebrated each others successes (sometimes begrudgingly), and accepted each other despite their glaring human flaws. The stories about the suffering Lucy had to endure were heartbreaking. I appreciate the fact that Ms. Patchett showed herself and her dear friend to us in all their imperfect human glory. She didn't...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Valerie rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was the first book by Ann Patchett I've read. Altho I've had a copy of her bestselling Bel Canto for a few years, I was drawn to this first- as a biography, and a story of a deep and enduring friendship. Her relationship with writer/poet Lucy Grealy is astounding in its intimacy. From their years in Iowa at college to Lucy's years in NYC, Ann's in Tennessee, they remained incredibly close despite time, health catastrophes, and sometimes great geographical distance. Patchett is able to descr...more

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About Ann Patchett

Ann Patchett is an American author. She received the Orange Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2002 for her novel Bel Canto. Patchett's other novels include The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, and The Magician's Assistant, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and received the Nashville Banner Tennessee Writer of the Year Award in 199...more

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“Writing is a job, a talent, but it's also the place to go in your head. It is the imaginary friend you drink your tea with in the afternoon.” — 232 people liked it

“I was starting to wonder if I was ready to be a writer, not someone who won prizes, got published and was given the time and space to work, but someone who wrote as a course of life. Maybe writing wouldn't have any rewards. Maybe the salvation I would gain through work would only be emotional and intellectual. Wouldn't that be enough, to be a waitress who found an hour or two hidden in every day to write?” — 55 people liked it

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