the man without a face [Paperback]

isabelle holland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1977

the man without a face

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam Skylark (1977)
• ISBN-10: 0553107577
• ISBN-13: 978-0553107579
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,139,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A moving story of trust and consequences, December 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Man Without a Face (Paperback)

Man Without a Face engaged me from the first page. I picked it up because I had heard of (but not seen) the movie, and was further intrigued because I have read and liked some of Holland's mysteries. Finished Man without a Face in one sitting. Among other things, this book shows the complexity of human relationships, and how difficult it is to judge any relationship from the outside. One of the other reviewers takes the most negative view of the relationship: that it is predatory, with Justin's goal being the seduction of Charles. The most generous view is that the sexual event happened with no action on Justin's part other than holding Charles to comfort him. Given Justin's actions throughout the book, the latter is the interpretation I would place on it. I am curious, of course, what Isabelle Holland intended, and would love to know the genesis of this story.

I do think she copped out on the ending. While it neatly tied up the close of the book, life is rarely that tidy, and what's more, Charles will be haunted by Justin the rest of his (fictional) life. Thank god he has Barry, who becomes a real person to Charles toward the end of the book.

A book to be read and discussed in the family. Freedom and consequences, love, trust, intimacy, affection, and boundaries: all important themes that are worth considering whether one is 14 or 44.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is not Tom Brown's Schooldays, April 2, 2003

By 

T. Patrick Killough "All about Patrick" (Black Mountain, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Man Without a Face (Paperback)

Teacher/student relationships are as old as Mentor and Telemachus in the ODYSSEY. Think also of GOODBYE, MR CHIPS and TOM BROWN'S SCHOOLDAYS.***

Like other reviewers I first saw the Mel Gibson movie, then decided to read the book. Surprising to me was how different the two are. The book dates from 1972 and perhaps the revisions for the movie are an attempt at a retelling for more recent times. The decidedly athletic boy who in the book walked twice a day for four or five miles one way to his mentor's home is replaced in the film by a less vigorous boy on a bike. Pot smoking is important in the book, insignificant in the film.***

In the book the teacher does not have his pupil learn math by digging square holes in his yard. The book is altogether more conventional, low key and pedestrian. In the book the boy is obviously seriously concerned about his sexuality, which is barely looked at in the film.***

On balance, I think the book holds up better. The movie is more like a negative book review of the book than an original film. Normally, films eliminate scenes from a book. THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE adds scenes and changes the ending. This reminds of the pointlessly changed ending of the recent film verion of Graham Greene's THE END OF THE AFFAIR.***

The book is indeed an easy, quick read. But it is put together by a master and in its simplicity rings truer than the film.-OOO-

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional novel, March 28, 2004

By 

Holden (Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Man Without a Face (Paperback)

What an excellent book this is. In reading the reviews you may become confused as several reviewers have in fact reviewed the film, which was also very good, but very different. In fact, the last third of the film really has little to do with the last third of the novel.

We get to know Holland's characters and in the end there is a lot of redemption. Charles' step-father Barry really sums it up when he speaks of McLeod and says "his other talent for salvaging flawed and fallen creatures. Himself included." The book has lots of examples of the classic struggle of man against himself.

A book review should not really spend too much time comparing books and film. However, in this case its worth looking at both the film and the book. The book of course, published in 1972, was not subject to the modern North American tendency to run literature and film through a moral filter. The film, excellent in its own way did just that, I believe, and therefore we get a very different final third. The "man against-himself struggle" of the novel is replaced in the film with a "man against man/or society struggle" as McLeod is wrongly accused by the unjust "group". The latter is just little too Hollywood and the former made for better literature.

This is a quick read and I highly recommend it.