Truth & Beauty - Ann Patchett

I read this book at the wrong time. It is beautifully written (but I think that of all her work) and contains some thought provoking comments, however it was not what I should have read the week before I went back to work. This account of the friendship between Ann and Lucy Grealy, which ended with Lucy's death, is truly heartbreaking at the end. You know from the start that she is going to die, but it is painful to watch her fall apart. From the beginning of the book she is a fighter, if insecure. She is one of those folks with a great facade hiding what she feels is her true worth. You see it in her relationships, romantic and otherwise; her dependency on the encouragement, support and love of those around her.

I can't imagine going through life as she did - chemo as a child, living without a lower jaw, being unable to eat easily, being a person everyone notices based on an odd appearance, experiencing so many surgeries to attempt to fix the jaw. In the end, I figured the cancer or one of the surgeries would be what ended it. I didn't see the downward spiral into drugs. But I knew that once she started taking them, she wouldn't have the strength to stop.

While this is enjoyable to read, it left me emotionally drained. Unlike a sad movie which I can watch over and over, I don't reread the sad book. I'll pass it on to someone.