13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Starts slow, but ends well!, October 30, 2008
This review is from: The Face (Mass Market Paperback)
Sarah, the main character (and the person implied by the title), was born with a very severe case of Treacher-Collins syndrome. Her mother dies after childbirth and her father, a civilian who works undercover for the CIA, is killed shortly after her birth. Sarah becomes the responsibility of an undercover agent and is a computer expert hidden away in a covert location, but her aunt finds her. That's the basic plot.
What makes the book so intriguing is how Sarah's disfigurement (lack of facial features) belies a deeper "disability" - an inability to understand facial expressions. The book isn't really a spy thriller, but there are elements of it. It has the briefest hint of romance, and focuses on friendship and what it means to be human. Emotional intelligence figures prominently (although it is never called that).
It is worth the read. The book has discussions points for reading groups at the end of the novel. Note: While Angela Hunt is usually known as a Christian writer, this is NOT a Christian novel. There is no bad language but there is some depiction of violence, some of which is extreme. Don't read this book expecting her usual fare.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Readers may well find themselves devouring this excellent read in one or two magnificent gulps, January 26, 2009
This review is from: The Face (Mass Market Paperback)
Sarah Sims was born with Treacher Collins syndrome, a condition that gave her such severe facial defects she was expected to die. Now 20, she has lived her entire life in a secret CIA hideaway in an old convent on an island near Spain. When she was a child, her mentor, Dr. Glenda Mewton, oversaw enough facial reconstruction for Sarah to function, but people seeing her are shocked at her mask of a face with its scarred skin, thin and twisted mouth, and lack of symmetry.
Sarah feels secure in the nest of her CIA home, though. She never leaves it, not wanting to see people's reactions to her terrible face. Dr. Mewton is something of a chilly mother figure, and Sarah's adorable and funny best friend Judson is blind. Sarah is the resident computer expert. She loves her work and is inventing an innovative brain scan tool that will change how the CIA extracts information from subjects. Sometimes she fiercely wonders about her father, Kevin, who also worked for the CIA until his suicide soon after Sarah's mother died in childbirth. She has never truly missed the family she doesn't have and has no way of knowing that her aunt Renee, Kevin's sister, has believed all along that Sarah was a still-born.
Renee is a psychologist with a failed marriage behind her. Her only family is her beloved dog, Elvis. She is surprised when a storage rental business notifies her that she needs to clean out her deceased mother's storage unit, which she didn't even know her mother had. Inside, she finds old papers, including a letter that will change her life. That 20-year-old letter is from CIA officer Dr. Glenda Mewton, giving an update on Kevin's baby, Sarah. Dr. Mewton warns Kevin's mother that Sarah's prognosis is doubtful and asks her to sign the papers giving up rights to the baby so she can continue to care for her.
The news that her niece did not die at birth stuns Renee. She is absolutely determined to find out what became of Sarah. Of course, obtaining any information from the CIA is a very long and difficult process. Finally, in order to get the clearances she needs, she takes a job as a psychologist for the CIA. The door is opened to her, and she is flown to the CIA facility that is Sarah's home.
Although Renee is warned about Sarah's face, she is still shocked when she meets her niece. She is further appalled at the secluded life Sarah lives. Renee suggests a face transplant, but she meets resistance from Dr. Mewton. Sarah herself must ponder this life-changing idea: Is her safe, known life what she really wants? Or would she like to see the world and have new relationships?
Narrated in first-person present tense, Sarah and Renee's stories have an urgent immediacy, which makes THE FACE a compelling read. The two women are well-rounded, sympathetic characters. Thought-provoking questions arise: How important are memories, even if they're painful? What is the connection between facial expressions and emotions? Add some late, truly shocking plot twists, and readers may well find themselves devouring this excellent read in one or two magnificent gulps.
--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
WOW!, January 26, 2009
This review is from: The Face (Mass Market Paperback)
I can sum up my reaction in one word: WOW!
A baby is born with such severe facial deformities that several operations must be preformed in order for the child to breathe, eat, hear, and speak. Twenty years later, her aunt, a psychologist, stumbles across the evidence of the child's existence, and begins a determined quest to find and love her niece, no matter her niece's appearance. But without an acceptable face, the young lady has never been in public; she's never learned to experience emotions.
Hunt's talented writing pulls the reader into this tender thriller with realistic characters and believable dialogue. She teaches me something new with each one of her novels. At the core of this novel, the reader considers the importance of life, love, and pain.
This is one of those hard-to-put-down books. John Grisham, move over!
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