Truth & Beauty audiobook

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?

There should be a government warning on this book.When I pick up a book with a cheesy title, and a cheesy cover with a cheesy butterfly on it, I do not expect to get, to put it simply, my sh*t rocked.This book is very sad, and very beautiful, and very powerful.I did not know a thing about it going into it, and that made for both a pleasant surprise and the reading equivalent of a near-death experience. This is just excellent.Bottom line: One of the best reads I didn't expect of my life.---------------pre-reviewi am currently a strong breeze away from crying.review to come / 4.5 stars maybe 5---------------currently-reading updatesoh, no. i think i'm going to be sadclear ur shit prompt 12: free spacefollow my progress here---------------tbr reviewi recently heard that this is the best book with the dumbest title and am 200% more excited

Raw and next to life... this is what fiction should be! I enjoyed reading your work, Ann!

A justly acclaimed memoir about the friendship between the novelist Ann Patchett (Bel Canto, State Of Wonder) and the memoirist/poet Lucy Grealy (Autobiography Of A Face).The two graduated the same year from Sarah Lawrence, but they became close only when they lived together while studying and teaching at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. That friendship continued through their years struggling to publish, win grants and fellowships, on through successes, setbacks, publication, fame and Grealy’s untimely death, in 2002, at 39.As Patchett points out early on in achingly beautiful prose, the two had an ant/grasshopper, turtle/hare dynamic. Patchett was the responsible one and Grealy, we soon see, was impulsive and needy, constantly requiring validation and love.And no wonder. At 9, Grealy was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Ewing’s sarcoma. This led to the removal of her jawbone, and over the years she had dozens of reconstructive surgeries. All of this led to childhood and adolescent taunting, chronic pain and constant difficulty eating, and a lifetime of insecurity and self-consciousness about her looks. (She would detail this in Autobiography Of A Face years later.)What comes across clearly is a strange, mysterious alchemy – a chemistry, a blending of souls – in their friendship. We tend to think that only romantic love depends on chemistry; but friends need it too. And reading Patchett’s lines and reading between the lines, you can see the real love blossom between them. Patchett recounts the fun, the dancing, the talking, the drinking, the work, the petty squabbles over writing, men and messes both literal and figurative (while they were both writers, they weren’t as competitive since they wrote in different genres). She also includes generous glimpses of their correspondence to add context. (Spoiler alert: these women know how to write!)There are lots of laughs, like the time Grealy went on a blind date with George Stephanopoulos (even this episode, though, is tinged with sadness). And there are a couple of vivid descriptions of publishing parties, including one awkward one celebrating author Dennis McFarland. As the book progresses, and Grealy begins taking drugs because of pain caused by surgeries (including one where her tibia was removed to graft onto her face), you begin to see where the narrative is headed. But it’s never predictable. Near the end there are a couple of moments that must have caused Patchett great remorse to remember and write down.What do I take away from this book, besides wanting to read Grealy’s own memoir?I think about the role my closest, dearest friends play in my life. How many people would pretend they’re your sibling to stay by your hospital bedside after an operation? Who would you let stay with you so they could recover from addiction? Would you ever collect months and months of a friend’s bills and forge their signature on cheques so they wouldn’t have to deal with it all?There’s some codependency in these accounts, of which I’m sure Patchett is aware, but there’s also a fierce, unconditional love that is astonishing to behold.Lots of truth, and so much beauty.

After listening to “My Precious Days” recently- ‘twice’ already….and half way into my 3rd round —I discovered the library had a copy of audiobook “Truth and Beauty”… (one-of-a-few Patchett books I hadn’t read-yet)…so I switched books.The Audiobook is 8 hours and 6 minutes long. Ann reads it proficiently and wonderfully as she ‘can do’ and ‘does do’. I had not been very far into “Truth and Beauty”, when I realized … as in “Omg, of course….Ann was writing about the woman - Lucy Grealy—who wrote a memoir called “Autobiography of a Face”….“Of course - how could I ever forget the gripping memoir and the horrific ways society revealed itself in the face of a disfigured face, due to cancer?” I had forgotten the name, *Lucy Grealy*, but never the story…. … a book I read years ago. It almost feels sacrilegious to not read each of these books-[buddy-books] to each other. Ann and Lucy’s. The reader sees many sides of the coins by reading both books. It doesn’t matter what order…but by reading Lucy Greely’s memoir… and Ann’s non-fiction book (about their life together) its an -ovation to both books…. …and both for very different reasons. Adding “My Precious Days” to the mix has another story to tell —my personal favorite…encompassing grander to each of Ann’s book: be it fiction or non fiction. Since I had just read “My Precious Days” -two-and-a-half times so far…I recognized similar themes with “Truth and Beauty”, but there were also great differences. I won’t say more as to not spoil either books that Ann wrote. I liked it … heck, I loved it!!Ann and Lucy’s friendship haunted me … (an unhealthy relationship on many levels)..I saw a different side of Lucy Grealy from Ann that of Lucy’s memoir. Ann writes so beautifully…“Truth and Beauty” — besides the story Ann tells about her Iowa roommate; Lucy Grealy, she gives us a great glimpse into the gifted and motivated writer was years ago in college and the masterful writer she is today.

We had invented time, and we could not kill it fast enough.The true story of Ann and Lucy’s friendship was a riveting one, but it was so hard to read towards the end. Lucy went through so much that by the time it got to drugs it was just painful. Anyway, Ann writes in a clear, poignant way about the high and heartbreakingly low points of their relationship, and how hard it can be to love someone. I think this book will stay with me for a while.

I shelved this book so long before I read it that, when I got around to checking it out from the library, I had forgotten what it was about. I even forgot that it was a memoir-- I thought for the first half that it was fiction! I think that was a really happy accident, ultimately. Reading the first half as fiction, I fell in love with Ann's mind-- a mind I thought could invent the inimitable Lucy Grealy. That's how Ann won me over. When I finally realized it was truth (and not just beauty!), I found myself becoming increasingly grateful.... Truth is stranger than fiction, and, in some twisted way, Lucy's decline and death are made more beautiful (and true) by being reality, not fiction. What a lovely friendship, and an even lovelier memoir of a friendship.

i had never read ann patchett nor had i ever read a book where the muse was a friend. there's something so rich and unmined about friendship, especially-I think-between women. I loved this. Every page.

"Truth and Beauty," by Ann Patchett is the autobiographical novel between the author (Ms. Patchett) and her friend for over twenty years Ms. Lucy Grealy (a fellow writer and best selling author of "Autobiography of a Face"). Like everything that Ms. Patchett has written and I have read, this is just another example of this writer's amazing talent.Ms. Grealy, who lost part of her jaw to childhood cancer, chemotherapy and radiation is a poignant example of what is right and what is wrong with our society. Ms. Grealy, who has had over thirty surgeries to reconstruct her face and mouth, and to look totally normal is obsessed with men finding her attractive, and despite a number of boyfriends, and numerous sexual encounters she never in her mind achieves the attractiveness that will allow her to walk into a room and not be looked at as the one with the deformity. Ms. Patchett is there for her friend every step of the way, through all the surgeries, insults, and addiction to drugs, as are a number of her other friends. But it is the friendship between the two authors that is at the very center of this heart wrenching, beautiful, and up close depiction of society's obsession with beauty. Highly, highly, recommend.

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 tortoise, being uninterested in such things, gave his medal to the hare. Grasshoppers and hares find the ants and tortoises. They need us to survive, but we need them as well. They were the ones who brought truth and beauty to the party, which Lucy could tell you as she recited her Keats over breakfast, was better than food any day."