Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett

I’m still not sure how I feel about Truth and Beauty even as I write this. Ann Patchett has shared such intimate details about Lucy Grealy’s life that are devastating, but Lucy is not here to refute them. I would have felt better had Ann given herself the same kind of treatment as she had Lucy. It was as if she was outing Lucy Grealy in all her imperfectness, but just skating the surface of her own. What I did like was reading this after Autobiography of a Face. It filled in some of the missing details. I was especially surprised when I read that Lucy had written her memoir at the very last minute. It is beautifully written and I would never have guessed that she wrote it so quickly. I do recommend reading this memoir if you have read Autobiography of a Face as it does serve somewhat as a continuation of Lucy’s memoir, maybe one she would have written herself had she lived. You decide.

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