I liked Maisie as a character and although there were times when I wanted to give her a bit of a slap for being whiny it was totally understandable as the things that happened to her were pretty awful. I also kind of wanted to slap her parents - they could have been more supportive and less self-absorbed.
There’s a whole interesting discussion in this book about societal perceptions of attractiveness, especially female attractiveness, and the author explores this in depth, without just resorting to saying, ‘Yup, society is bad for thinking this way. We should totally be less shallow.’
The romance storyline in the book was a bit frustrating. Maisie’s boyfriend, Chirag, was a complete drip and he needed to stand up for her more. His drippishness and scientific way of looking at everything was off-putting. Ultimately, Maisie learned to love herself without any romantic input andI wasglad of that - it made her a stronger character.
There were bits of this book that were pretty graphic and at times I found myself pulling a face like I was eating a lemon. Like ‘Arrrggppgeessscqqq’. The author definitely doesn’t pull any punches in describing what it’s like to have bits of your face missing but I was grateful in the end for the detail she gave as I came away having learned something, not only about face transplants and other reconstructive surgery but also about how people adjust when things like that happen to them and how it changes their view of the world.
This was a pretty good book all in all.
3.5 stars