Recent Read: Man Without a Face by Isabelle Holland

One of Tom's favorite books is called "Man Without a Face," by Isabelle Holland. I recently read it and enjoyed it. YOU should read this classic, too. Today's blog gives you some of my insight into the book, and my reaction to the book. 

SIDE NOTE: Tom read this book as a kid, and has kept the book with him since the 1970s. He recently told me it was one of his favorites (he's kept it hidden on his bookshelf for the 20 years we've been together... funny how it takes so long to find things out about each other!). 

MY TAKE ON:  "Man Without a Face,"by Isabelle Holland 

It was a very good book! It's about how a 14 year old boy (Chuck) from a totally screwed up family: 1) A mother who has had 3 husbands and working on number 4. 2) An older sister who is an egotistical ass and a spoiled momma's girl. And 3) A younger sister that Chuck tries to work with, who makes a suggestion to Chuck to get tutoring to pass a test to get in a school. The man that tutors Chuck has a past and deep physical scars from an accident and is ignored by the town. In the book, Chuck finds himself through the "Man without a face" and Chuck realizes things about himself, and finally experiences feelings he didn't think he had. READ IT! -

WARNING - DO NOT waste your time seeing the film of the same name made by Mel Gibson. That right wing idiot removed some deep themes between Chuck and the Man Without a Face, and the movie ruined the main theme of the story.

ABOUT THE BOOK: Charles didn't know much about life ... until he met The Man Without a FaceI'd never had a friend, and he was my friend; I'd never really, except for a shadowy memory, had a father, and he was my father. I'd never known an adult I could communicate with or trust, and I communicated with him all the time, whether I was actually talking to him or not. And I trusted him ......Fourteen-year-old Charles desperately wants two things: a father and a way out. Little love has come his way until the summer he befriends a mysterious scarred man named Justin McLeod, nicknamed The Man Without a Face. Charles enlists McLeod's help as tutor for the St. Matthew's school entrance exams, his ticket away from the unpleasant restrictions of his home life. 

But more important than anything he could get out of a book, that summer Charles learns from McLeod a stirring life lesson about the many faces of love.'

REVIEWS

• Not much affection had come Charles's way until the summer he was fourteen, when he met McLeod [a man whose face was deeply scarred] and learned that love has many facets.' --BL. 
• 'A highly moral book, powerfully and sensitively written; a book that never loses sight of the human. --H. 
• 1972 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)Best of the Best Books (YA) 1970-1983 (ALA)Outstanding Children's Books of 1972 (NYT)