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Such a Pretty Face
“An affecting portrait of one woman's heroic journey from tragedy to her own version of happiness” from the acclaimed author of All About Evie (Booklist).Two years and 170 pounds ago, Stevie Barrett was wheeled into an operating room for surgery that most likely saved her life. Since that day, a new Stevie has emerged, one who walks without wheezing, plants a garden for self-therapy, and builds and paints fantastical wooden chairs. At thirty-five, Stevie is the one thing she never thought she'd thin.But for everything that's changed, some things remain the same. Stevie's shyness refuses to melt away. She still can't look her gorgeous neighbor in the eye. The Portland law office where she works remains utterly dysfunctional, as does her family—the aunt, uncle, and cousins who took her in when she was a child. To top it off, her once supportive best friend clearly resents her weight loss. But as Stevie starts to uncover some surprising revelations—about who she is, who she wants to be, and how the old Stevie evolved in the first place—she realizes the most important part of her transformation may not be what she's lost, but the courage and confidence she's gathering, day by day.Praise for the novels of Cathy Lamb“A story of strength and reconciliation and change.” —The Sunday Oregonian“I loved this beguiling novel about love, friendship and the enchantment of really good chocolate.” —Luanne Rice, New York Times-bestselling author“Lamb is an awesome storyteller and moves seamlessly from the past to the present.” —RT Book Reviews
481 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2010
About the author
Cathy Lamb
24 books1,609 followersCathy Lamb was born in Newport Beach, California. As a child, she mastered the art of skateboarding, catching butterflies in bottles, and riding her bike with no hands. When she was 10, her parents moved her, two sisters, a brother, and two poorly behaved dogs to Oregon before she could fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a surfer bum.
She then embarked on her notable academic career where she earned good grades now and then, spent a great deal of time daydreaming, ran wild with a number of friends, and landed on the newspaper staff in high school. When she saw her byline above an article about people making out in the hallways of the high school, she knew she had found her true calling.
After two years of partying at the University of Oregon, she settled down for the next three years and earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education, and became a fourth grade teacher. It was difficult for her to become proper and conservative but she threw out her red cowboy boots and persevered. She had no choice. She had to eat, and health insurance is expensive.
She met her husband on a blind date. A mutual friend who was an undercover vice cop busting drug dealers set them up. It was love at third sight.
Teaching children about the Oregon Trail and multiplication facts amused her until she became so gigantically pregnant with twins she looked like a small cow and could barely walk. With a three year old at home, she decided it was time to make a graceful exit and waddle on out. She left school one day and never went back. She likes to think her students missed her.
When Cathy was no longer smothered in diapers and pacifiers, she took a turn onto the hazardous road of freelance writing and wrote almost 200 articles on homes, home décor, people and fashion for a local newspaper. As she is not fashionable and can hardly stand to shop, it was an eye opener for her to find that some women actually do obsess about what to wear. She also learned it would probably be more relaxing to slam a hammer against one’s forehead than engage in a large and costly home remodeling project.
Cathy suffers from, “I Would Rather Play Than Work Disease” which prevents her from getting much work done unless she has a threatening deadline. She likes to hang with family and friends, walk, eat chocolate, camp, travel, and is slightly obsessive about the types of books she reads. She also likes to be left alone a lot so she can hear all the odd characters in her head talk to each other and then transfer that oddness to paper. The characters usually don’t start to talk until 10:00 at night, however, so she is often up ‘til 2:00 in the morning with them. That is her excuse for being cranky.
She adores her children and husband, except when he refuses to take his dirty shoes off and walks on the carpet. She will ski because her children insist, but she secretly doesn’t like it at all. Too cold and she falls all the time.
She is currently working on her next book and isn’t sleeping much.
She then embarked on her notable academic career where she earned good grades now and then, spent a great deal of time daydreaming, ran wild with a number of friends, and landed on the newspaper staff in high school. When she saw her byline above an article about people making out in the hallways of the high school, she knew she had found her true calling.
After two years of partying at the University of Oregon, she settled down for the next three years and earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education, and became a fourth grade teacher. It was difficult for her to become proper and conservative but she threw out her red cowboy boots and persevered. She had no choice. She had to eat, and health insurance is expensive.
She met her husband on a blind date. A mutual friend who was an undercover vice cop busting drug dealers set them up. It was love at third sight.
Teaching children about the Oregon Trail and multiplication facts amused her until she became so gigantically pregnant with twins she looked like a small cow and could barely walk. With a three year old at home, she decided it was time to make a graceful exit and waddle on out. She left school one day and never went back. She likes to think her students missed her.
When Cathy was no longer smothered in diapers and pacifiers, she took a turn onto the hazardous road of freelance writing and wrote almost 200 articles on homes, home décor, people and fashion for a local newspaper. As she is not fashionable and can hardly stand to shop, it was an eye opener for her to find that some women actually do obsess about what to wear. She also learned it would probably be more relaxing to slam a hammer against one’s forehead than engage in a large and costly home remodeling project.
Cathy suffers from, “I Would Rather Play Than Work Disease” which prevents her from getting much work done unless she has a threatening deadline. She likes to hang with family and friends, walk, eat chocolate, camp, travel, and is slightly obsessive about the types of books she reads. She also likes to be left alone a lot so she can hear all the odd characters in her head talk to each other and then transfer that oddness to paper. The characters usually don’t start to talk until 10:00 at night, however, so she is often up ‘til 2:00 in the morning with them. That is her excuse for being cranky.
She adores her children and husband, except when he refuses to take his dirty shoes off and walks on the carpet. She will ski because her children insist, but she secretly doesn’t like it at all. Too cold and she falls all the time.
She is currently working on her next book and isn’t sleeping much.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 565 reviews
August 13, 2015
2.5 Stars
The phrase that comes to mind when I think about this book is "eh it was okay". I had very high hopes for this book. I really thought I would love it based on the description. I actually started reading it last year and didn't even realize I hadn't finished it. I picked it up again a few weeks ago and decided to give it another go.
I felt that most characters in the book seemed to be all or nothing types... I mean it seemed as though they were either really REALLY good or really REALLY evil. I found it to be a quite stereotypical in a lot of ways. The flow felt a little unnatural...there was a lot of dialog and way too much over-explaining.
However, I did find there were some important issues brought up such as anorexia, compulsive eating, self-esteem, abuse and mental illness. Some focus on finding out who you are at whatever age you are regardless of what you look like. For Stevie Barrett who has been heavy most of her life, gastric bypass surgery seems like a life saver. It does in fact help her lose 170 pounds. However, having not dealt with some of her underlying issues before surgery she is suddenly realizing that being thin isn't the answer to all of life's problems.
So while it definitely wasn't my favorite book it did have some redeeming qualities. I really felt for Stevie and wanted her to succeed. There were also some pretty funny parts where I had a good laugh.
The phrase that comes to mind when I think about this book is "eh it was okay". I had very high hopes for this book. I really thought I would love it based on the description. I actually started reading it last year and didn't even realize I hadn't finished it. I picked it up again a few weeks ago and decided to give it another go.
I felt that most characters in the book seemed to be all or nothing types... I mean it seemed as though they were either really REALLY good or really REALLY evil. I found it to be a quite stereotypical in a lot of ways. The flow felt a little unnatural...there was a lot of dialog and way too much over-explaining.
However, I did find there were some important issues brought up such as anorexia, compulsive eating, self-esteem, abuse and mental illness. Some focus on finding out who you are at whatever age you are regardless of what you look like. For Stevie Barrett who has been heavy most of her life, gastric bypass surgery seems like a life saver. It does in fact help her lose 170 pounds. However, having not dealt with some of her underlying issues before surgery she is suddenly realizing that being thin isn't the answer to all of life's problems.
So while it definitely wasn't my favorite book it did have some redeeming qualities. I really felt for Stevie and wanted her to succeed. There were also some pretty funny parts where I had a good laugh.
August 20, 2011
I thought this book was dreadful. I was attracted to it by such high ratings and the fact that it is set in the city where I live and in a thinly disguised version of a small town where I once lived. This proved irrelevant because there is no sense of place or atmosphere in the writing or descriptions.
The story is a soap opera, filled with angst and melodrama. The writing is very simple, with quite a few grammatical problems. The author repeatedly writes "Me and Zena (or another character) did such and such" Like fingernails on a chalkboard! The characters are good and evil stereotypes, much too good or much too evil to believe. The main characters' "quirkiness" is annoying and far-fetched. The dialog is unnatural and forced. The story is completely predictable. Every "good" character is rewarded, every "bad" character is shamed and humiliated.
Ugh, ugh, ugh. Terrible, terrible book.
The story is a soap opera, filled with angst and melodrama. The writing is very simple, with quite a few grammatical problems. The author repeatedly writes "Me and Zena (or another character) did such and such" Like fingernails on a chalkboard! The characters are good and evil stereotypes, much too good or much too evil to believe. The main characters' "quirkiness" is annoying and far-fetched. The dialog is unnatural and forced. The story is completely predictable. Every "good" character is rewarded, every "bad" character is shamed and humiliated.
Ugh, ugh, ugh. Terrible, terrible book.
September 10, 2012
This will be a, largely, negative review. I just couldn't enjoy the book (I will get into why I say "couldn't" instead of "didn't" a bit later). The good things first- I liked the story line and the ideas behind it. I liked the abstract of the book- Stevie, her coworkers and her family. Her struggle to accept her new body. The execution is what I had a problem with.
I liked the good characters. It is impossible not to. The author paints them as such good, wonderful, and kindhearted people that you would have to be without a heart or brain to dislike them. She tells you over and over how good they are- sure she does show you how good they are (remember telling vs showing when writing?) but in between the showing, she interjects and tells you too. The bad characters are so thoroughly evil and bigoted it is unbelievable- and there are so many of them in Stevie's life. Her best friend might be the worst because we are suppose to believe that her cruelty stems from her jealousy (the author tells us as much) but it comes out that she has always been a terrible person (which undermines the whole jealousy angle). These characters are good vs evil- their is no grey (except for Stevie's mentally ill mother who gets a pass considering that she was so tortured mentally).
The result, of these contrasting characters, is that The reader is incapable of misinterpreting the characters because they (we) are never given a chance to interpret them. The characters actions don't speak louder then the authors words. Everything is explained, even during passages with heavy dialog, when information can be written in, the author is cutting in and explaining the reasoning behind the characters actions/words. The story is narrated by the main character, Stevie, so I guess you can say that Stevie interjects and explains everything (weather it needs explaining or not) except it doesn't feel like it is Stevie. I counted three times (3!!!- but their may have been more) where the readers are referred to as "folks", usually it's after one of Stevie's proclamations/observations (sometimes they are a page long or longer) that an extra sentence with "folks" is thrown in to sum it up. It took me completely out of the story.
There was even a part where the author Stevie stated out right that her garden was a metaphor for her life. I wanted to see the garden grow as Stevie grew but all we get are some scenes with her garden (insisting that she can't grow corn) and the author telling us that it stands for Stevie's life. And there was a part
I felt like I couldn't enjoy the book because the author wouldn't allow me to just read the story. She kept trying to make points without letting it come out naturally. When we learn that Stevie's cousin has an eating disorder (anorexia) we are told that their issues stem from the same problem- they both want some control. I would like to be able to see that for myself. unfortunately this book, which could have been amazing, doesn't reach it's potential because it lacks subtlety. People are never completely good, or completely bad we all have sides. Lamb doesn't show those sides and the book suffers.
I liked the good characters. It is impossible not to. The author paints them as such good, wonderful, and kindhearted people that you would have to be without a heart or brain to dislike them. She tells you over and over how good they are- sure she does show you how good they are (remember telling vs showing when writing?) but in between the showing, she interjects and tells you too. The bad characters are so thoroughly evil and bigoted it is unbelievable- and there are so many of them in Stevie's life. Her best friend might be the worst because we are suppose to believe that her cruelty stems from her jealousy (the author tells us as much) but it comes out that she has always been a terrible person (which undermines the whole jealousy angle). These characters are good vs evil- their is no grey (except for Stevie's mentally ill mother who gets a pass considering that she was so tortured mentally).
The result, of these contrasting characters, is that The reader is incapable of misinterpreting the characters because they (we) are never given a chance to interpret them. The characters actions don't speak louder then the authors words. Everything is explained, even during passages with heavy dialog, when information can be written in, the author is cutting in and explaining the reasoning behind the characters actions/words. The story is narrated by the main character, Stevie, so I guess you can say that Stevie interjects and explains everything (weather it needs explaining or not) except it doesn't feel like it is Stevie. I counted three times (3!!!- but their may have been more) where the readers are referred to as "folks", usually it's after one of Stevie's proclamations/observations (sometimes they are a page long or longer) that an extra sentence with "folks" is thrown in to sum it up. It took me completely out of the story.
There was even a part where the author Stevie stated out right that her garden was a metaphor for her life. I wanted to see the garden grow as Stevie grew but all we get are some scenes with her garden (insisting that she can't grow corn) and the author telling us that it stands for Stevie's life. And there was a part
I felt like I couldn't enjoy the book because the author wouldn't allow me to just read the story. She kept trying to make points without letting it come out naturally. When we learn that Stevie's cousin has an eating disorder (anorexia) we are told that their issues stem from the same problem- they both want some control. I would like to be able to see that for myself. unfortunately this book, which could have been amazing, doesn't reach it's potential because it lacks subtlety. People are never completely good, or completely bad we all have sides. Lamb doesn't show those sides and the book suffers.
August 2, 2021
"Such a Pretty Face" drags so badly. I think that Lamb going back and forth between the present and then what happened to her as a child just caused the book to stop and start too many times. I also got tired of the uncle being the "villain" in this one. There was no kind of subtlety at all with regards to him. I started to realize as I was doing the re-read, Lamb has a bad habit of not allowing anyone to be "mixed" people are either good and quirky or bad and just bad throughout. I have to say that this one I liked better than "Henry's Sisters" but not by much. I think that this book started the whole unspooling of Lamb's characters always being eccentric to the point that you can't even deal with them while reading about them.
"Such a Pretty Face" follows Stevie. Stevie works at a very expensive attorney's office and is not only working there, but also finding other jobs to repay a weight loss surgery that she had about a year ago or so. The book follows Stevie as she deals with her past and present.
Stevie...I am sorry, she sounds quirky and becomes real exhausting in this one. The things that happen to her (her terrible best friend, the medical debt she has) all are her own doing. Her best friend is awful. She has medical debt that her cousins would happily pay off, but she refuses in order to just be a martyr frankly. And Stevie has the color and decorating sense that all of Lamb's heroines have. It was disorienting reading this and some of the other books.
Lance sounded exhausting. Her other cousin has a serious problem and it felt way too glossed over for a while. The other characters are not much to talk about her.
And per usual, Stevie meets the perfect guy (big and tall like all of them) who she can't just tell all of her history to. She started to sound so similar to Julia from "Julia's Chocolates" that I had to keep making sure that I was reading a different book.
"Such a Pretty Face" follows Stevie. Stevie works at a very expensive attorney's office and is not only working there, but also finding other jobs to repay a weight loss surgery that she had about a year ago or so. The book follows Stevie as she deals with her past and present.
Stevie...I am sorry, she sounds quirky and becomes real exhausting in this one. The things that happen to her (her terrible best friend, the medical debt she has) all are her own doing. Her best friend is awful. She has medical debt that her cousins would happily pay off, but she refuses in order to just be a martyr frankly. And Stevie has the color and decorating sense that all of Lamb's heroines have. It was disorienting reading this and some of the other books.
Lance sounded exhausting. Her other cousin has a serious problem and it felt way too glossed over for a while. The other characters are not much to talk about her.
And per usual, Stevie meets the perfect guy (big and tall like all of them) who she can't just tell all of her history to. She started to sound so similar to Julia from "Julia's Chocolates" that I had to keep making sure that I was reading a different book.
October 24, 2010
Wow.
I bought this book without knowing a single thing about it or the author. The title jumped out at me and I was intrigued, so I bought it knowing nothing about it save the description on the back.
Simply stated, I absolutely loved this book. Every single page. The first chapter (the Prologue) grabbed me by the throat and refused to let go. I simply had to read more.
Having struggled with my weight my entire life, I kept thinking to myself "Wow - how does she (the author) know that?" There were moments when I laughed out loud, and other times when struggled to hold the tears back...and then there were times when I laughed with the tears falling. Awesome book.
This was truly a great read and definitely one of the top 3 books I've read this year. I simply must read more by this author.
I bought this book without knowing a single thing about it or the author. The title jumped out at me and I was intrigued, so I bought it knowing nothing about it save the description on the back.
Simply stated, I absolutely loved this book. Every single page. The first chapter (the Prologue) grabbed me by the throat and refused to let go. I simply had to read more.
Having struggled with my weight my entire life, I kept thinking to myself "Wow - how does she (the author) know that?" There were moments when I laughed out loud, and other times when struggled to hold the tears back...and then there were times when I laughed with the tears falling. Awesome book.
This was truly a great read and definitely one of the top 3 books I've read this year. I simply must read more by this author.
March 3, 2011
In this fourth offering from Cathy Lamb, Stevie Barrett had a heart attack at age 32 at the amazing weight of 320 pounds. Now, two years, a divorce and 170 pounds later, Stevie is struggling to find herself and emerge from the painful past that caused her to eat her pain and try to lose herself and her past in food. The book also follows the journey of some of Stevie's friends and relatives, who similarly struggle with their painful pasts and their fears about the future. The journey to a new Stevie is fraught with peril, as Stevie has to revisit some truly tragic incidents from her past and also confront some of the monsters from her present. She, along with her cousins Polly and Lance, are wonderful people with serious issues and Cathy Lamb tackles those issues in a way that makes you want to stand up and cheer. At one in the book, Stevie finally confronts a family member who has mistreated her since she was 11. I literally jumped out of my chair and did a silent victory dance -- it was that moving.
Cathy Lamb has fast become one of my favorite authors. She is enitrely unique in her ability to tackle incredibly difficult, painful subjects in a way that is genuine and heartfelt and gut-wrenching but without being too depressing, maudlin or trite. Her characters are always quirky and amazingly full and real and the books are filled with as many funny moments as painful ones. You don't just read a book by Cathy Lamb -- you consume it, and it consumes you. As with her other books, I simply could not put this book down and, when I finally finished it, it took a moment to get back to real life. Her books pack a huge punch and are utterly, completely unforgettable.
Cathy Lamb has fast become one of my favorite authors. She is enitrely unique in her ability to tackle incredibly difficult, painful subjects in a way that is genuine and heartfelt and gut-wrenching but without being too depressing, maudlin or trite. Her characters are always quirky and amazingly full and real and the books are filled with as many funny moments as painful ones. You don't just read a book by Cathy Lamb -- you consume it, and it consumes you. As with her other books, I simply could not put this book down and, when I finally finished it, it took a moment to get back to real life. Her books pack a huge punch and are utterly, completely unforgettable.
June 18, 2011
This was a very dramatic read with a BIG emphasis on "dramatic". There were parts of this book that made me want to cry and laugh at the same time. And while there were instances where I felt this way, I feel that most the characters were hugely unrealistic and extremely cliché. Everything was so over-exaggerated. I will say that Helen's struggle with schizophrenia and the relationship between Stevie's grandparents are what kept me interested enough to complete this novel. I could actually feel the attachment between the grandparents and their struggle to help their daughter who was mentally declining from this disease. But unfortunately, this was yet another book that left me with unanswered questions and more than slightly disappointed.
February 4, 2011
The prologue hooked my interest--and even the first scene of the first chapter drew me in. But then the story moved to the law firm where the main character works and one of the silliest, most unrealistic scenes I've ever read. Worse, the author showed signs of having an axe to grind. Author with political agenda + ridiculous scene = DNF.
August 13, 2016
This is a tough book. Almost everyone had unbelievably poor self-esteem.
Stevie’s mother battled schizophrenia. Though Stevie’s grandparents took care of Stevie and her sister Sunshine (and tried to care for their mother, who refused to take her meds and had been hideously abused when sent to a facility to care for people with mental illness) and praised and loved Stevie, the fact she couldn’t save her younger sister and her mother from the mother’s voices in her head telling her to drown herself and her children has haunted her since that terrible day when she was ten years old. Her mother succeeded in killing herself and Sunshine. The way Stevie “dealt” with it was by eating and eating and eating.
After her grandparents died, Stevie was shipped off to live with her Aunt Janet and Uncle Herbert. I didn’t understand why Janet’s self-esteem was so low she’d marry such a horrible, homophobic man like Herbert, who berated his own children, Polly and Lance, as well as Stevie. I understood why Janet stayed for a while—her ongoing battle with alcoholism made Herbert’s threats that he’d get custody of the kids a legit risk—until they were eighteen. Once they were adults, I guess she stayed because she’d been so emotionally beaten down by him she didn’t have the strength to leave. On the outside, Polly and Lance are successful. Polly is a popular news anchor, but she’s battled anorexia since she was 13 years old. Lance made millions through his entrepreneurship, but he is a wreck—he can’t talk to women, so he can’t fulfill his dream of falling in love, getting married, and having children.
When she was thirty-two, Stevie had a heart attack from being so overweight, so she got barometric surgery. After losing 170 pounds, she got a second cosmetic surgery to tighten up all the loose skin and gets her breasts lifted.
We meet Stevie after she’s had this work done, but she’s still trying to work out the demons of her past.
My favorite character by far in this book is Zena, a woman Stevie works with. Stevie is a legal secretary, who works for the awesome Cherie, and the straight-up evil Crystal.
It takes a long time for Stevie to stop being friends with overweight Eileen, who is also absolutely horrid and keeps telling Stevie she cheated to get thin—even though she got thin to save her life.
The characters in this book are either pure evil or have horrible self-esteem, and it’s hard to root for characters who don’t do anything to help themselves for a long time. Eventually they do, but this is a slow-paced book and it takes forever for the characters (with the exceptions of Zena and Cherie, which is why they are the best characters in the book) to get there.
I wish Lamb had cut out a lot of the parts of the book where Stevie is a little kid dealing with her schizophrenic mother. We got the point, and the Stevie of today was more interesting than Stevie as a powerless little kid.
Stevie’s mother battled schizophrenia. Though Stevie’s grandparents took care of Stevie and her sister Sunshine (and tried to care for their mother, who refused to take her meds and had been hideously abused when sent to a facility to care for people with mental illness) and praised and loved Stevie, the fact she couldn’t save her younger sister and her mother from the mother’s voices in her head telling her to drown herself and her children has haunted her since that terrible day when she was ten years old. Her mother succeeded in killing herself and Sunshine. The way Stevie “dealt” with it was by eating and eating and eating.
After her grandparents died, Stevie was shipped off to live with her Aunt Janet and Uncle Herbert. I didn’t understand why Janet’s self-esteem was so low she’d marry such a horrible, homophobic man like Herbert, who berated his own children, Polly and Lance, as well as Stevie. I understood why Janet stayed for a while—her ongoing battle with alcoholism made Herbert’s threats that he’d get custody of the kids a legit risk—until they were eighteen. Once they were adults, I guess she stayed because she’d been so emotionally beaten down by him she didn’t have the strength to leave. On the outside, Polly and Lance are successful. Polly is a popular news anchor, but she’s battled anorexia since she was 13 years old. Lance made millions through his entrepreneurship, but he is a wreck—he can’t talk to women, so he can’t fulfill his dream of falling in love, getting married, and having children.
When she was thirty-two, Stevie had a heart attack from being so overweight, so she got barometric surgery. After losing 170 pounds, she got a second cosmetic surgery to tighten up all the loose skin and gets her breasts lifted.
We meet Stevie after she’s had this work done, but she’s still trying to work out the demons of her past.
My favorite character by far in this book is Zena, a woman Stevie works with. Stevie is a legal secretary, who works for the awesome Cherie, and the straight-up evil Crystal.
It takes a long time for Stevie to stop being friends with overweight Eileen, who is also absolutely horrid and keeps telling Stevie she cheated to get thin—even though she got thin to save her life.
The characters in this book are either pure evil or have horrible self-esteem, and it’s hard to root for characters who don’t do anything to help themselves for a long time. Eventually they do, but this is a slow-paced book and it takes forever for the characters (with the exceptions of Zena and Cherie, which is why they are the best characters in the book) to get there.
I wish Lamb had cut out a lot of the parts of the book where Stevie is a little kid dealing with her schizophrenic mother. We got the point, and the Stevie of today was more interesting than Stevie as a powerless little kid.
October 23, 2010
This book had a great plot, but I kept getting distracted by the bad writing... and I'll be the first to admit that I read a lot of mind candy/chick-lit garbage, so when I object to writing, I've really found some flaws.
That said- this book definitely had a great story. The characters were a little two-dimensional, and she told us who they were instead of letting us get to know them through their actions, but there was enough there to enjoy them when the writing didn't get in the way. Except her romantic male lead... he was as flat as something you'd find in a Harlequin novel.
If bad writing doesn't bother you, if you're a fan of Dan Brown... then you'll love this book since you won't want to gag everytime dialogue is used to deliver information. (Like I did.)
That said- this book definitely had a great story. The characters were a little two-dimensional, and she told us who they were instead of letting us get to know them through their actions, but there was enough there to enjoy them when the writing didn't get in the way. Except her romantic male lead... he was as flat as something you'd find in a Harlequin novel.
If bad writing doesn't bother you, if you're a fan of Dan Brown... then you'll love this book since you won't want to gag everytime dialogue is used to deliver information. (Like I did.)
September 8, 2021
Stevie’s mother was mentally ill and did a bad thing when Stevie was still a child (that I don’t want to give away in my review, even though we found out at the beginning what happened there). Stevie’s grandparents had done their best to take care of Helen (their daughter; Stevie’s mother) and protect her, while also taking care of Stevie and her sister, Sunshine. As an adult, the events of the book take place some months after Stevie had bariatric surgery; she has since lost 170 lbs.
She is trying to figure out who the new skinnier Stevie is, as she tries to deal with the lawyers where she works and the case she hates helping defend; her best friend who is still very overweight seems to have changed toward Stevie; the neighbour down the street, Jake (who only moved in just after Stevie’s surgery), is just way too good-looking and Stevie is completely tongue-tied around him, so she tries to avoid him altogether; and Stevie is trying to help her cousins plan her horrible uncle’s 40th wedding anniversary…
There is a lot going on in this book, and a lot of characters, but I really liked it. There is also a huge mix of very “weighty” (pun not intended initially, but when I realized it was punny, I decided to leave it!) issues in book: mental illness, obesity, abuse, and so much more, but mixed in with the occasional bit of humour. I found myself being horrified by Helen, Stevie’s uncle, her “friend”, and the lawyer defending that case, but then the author would turn around and put Stevie in some ridiculous situation (usually trying to avoid Jake!), and I’d be laughing. I thought she did that very well. II think a bunch of very quirky characters made it “easy” to throw in the humour. At the same time, the author did a good job of showing the struggle that Helen went through with her schizophrenia.
I was surprised at the lower ratings, but on reading the reviews, I can see why they rated it what they did, but it wasn’t enough to bring my rating or enjoyment of the book down (although some of the quirky characters were a bit too quirky for me!). I think all the emotions were in this book (there was also a lot of love).
She is trying to figure out who the new skinnier Stevie is, as she tries to deal with the lawyers where she works and the case she hates helping defend; her best friend who is still very overweight seems to have changed toward Stevie; the neighbour down the street, Jake (who only moved in just after Stevie’s surgery), is just way too good-looking and Stevie is completely tongue-tied around him, so she tries to avoid him altogether; and Stevie is trying to help her cousins plan her horrible uncle’s 40th wedding anniversary…
There is a lot going on in this book, and a lot of characters, but I really liked it. There is also a huge mix of very “weighty” (pun not intended initially, but when I realized it was punny, I decided to leave it!) issues in book: mental illness, obesity, abuse, and so much more, but mixed in with the occasional bit of humour. I found myself being horrified by Helen, Stevie’s uncle, her “friend”, and the lawyer defending that case, but then the author would turn around and put Stevie in some ridiculous situation (usually trying to avoid Jake!), and I’d be laughing. I thought she did that very well. II think a bunch of very quirky characters made it “easy” to throw in the humour. At the same time, the author did a good job of showing the struggle that Helen went through with her schizophrenia.
I was surprised at the lower ratings, but on reading the reviews, I can see why they rated it what they did, but it wasn’t enough to bring my rating or enjoyment of the book down (although some of the quirky characters were a bit too quirky for me!). I think all the emotions were in this book (there was also a lot of love).
August 1, 2010
In Such a Pretty Face, the protagonist is 30-something, Stevie Barrett. Stevie is a heart attack survivor. Just (2) years earlier, Stevie weighed over 300 lbs, but the new Stevie has lost 170 lbs. Weight loss surgery has given Stevie a new life -- well almost. You see Stevie, like most morbidly obese people had deep rooted, personal issues that caused her to eat, and eat and eat. Food was her friend and helped comfort her from the bad memories. Food, at least temporarily, eased her emotional pain.
For Stevie it was an early childhood spent with her schizophrenic mother Helen. Helen graduated from an Ivy League College on a full scholarship, was musically gifted, and performed on stage in New York City for four years, until one day she stripped on stage, and appeared to have suffered a total nervous breakdown. When Stevie was little, Helen became pregnant once again, and was sure, an alien had invaded her body. She wanted the baby out, and poor little Stevie, alone with her mentally ill mother, were there together when the birth occurred at home. Stevie named the her baby sister Sunshine, but Helen was sure the baby was evil and referred to it as Trash Heap.
"Helen continued to hold out her left hand in a weird way and told us it didn't belong to her. "Get this off. It isn't mine,"
"I said, "Okay Helen, I'll take it off for you after school, but I have to find a hand screwdriver."
"Do you see how I had to buy her sanity at times, how I had to talk to her, manage her ?"
" That afternoon I ate three cupcakes and tried to calm the nervousness that stalked the better part of my childhood on the farm......
"I knew something bad was going to happen."..............
"It is not normal for children to see their mothers covered with blood. These images stay with you, burned and red and jagged, pricking at your innocence like a butcher knife against you skin".
As an adult Stevie works as a legal assistant. She has a friend Eileen, who is jealous of the thin Stevie, and instead of being happy for her friend, tells her she "cheated", losing weight the way she did. Stevie is attracted to her neighbor, but she finds her shyness makes it tough to act on these feelings. Despite her weight loss, she is still insecure and haunted by her past. Stevie takes some big steps in changing her life and her image. She decides to plant a garden for all of the changes that have taken place in her life. She becomes obsessed with chairs, (but you'll have to read the book to find out why), and she longs to quit her job as a legal assistant, to become an artist.
MY THOUGHTS - I liked this (450+ pages) novel a lot. The story is touching, and I suspect most readers will feel sad about Stevie's early life. The novel delves deep into Stevie's painful childhood, and the loss of people she loved, all within a short period of time. The story covers serious issues: eating disorders, mental illness and self esteem issues. Sad at times, but poignant and funny at others, I really did enjoy this novel, and think it would have been just as good if the story focused totally on Stevie and her family. I felt that some of the other story lines: her job, planning an anniversary party with her cousins etc., seemed a bit under developed and unnecessary. Despite this, I would not hesitate to RECOMMEND this book.
Rating - 4.5/5 stars
For Stevie it was an early childhood spent with her schizophrenic mother Helen. Helen graduated from an Ivy League College on a full scholarship, was musically gifted, and performed on stage in New York City for four years, until one day she stripped on stage, and appeared to have suffered a total nervous breakdown. When Stevie was little, Helen became pregnant once again, and was sure, an alien had invaded her body. She wanted the baby out, and poor little Stevie, alone with her mentally ill mother, were there together when the birth occurred at home. Stevie named the her baby sister Sunshine, but Helen was sure the baby was evil and referred to it as Trash Heap.
"Helen continued to hold out her left hand in a weird way and told us it didn't belong to her. "Get this off. It isn't mine,"
"I said, "Okay Helen, I'll take it off for you after school, but I have to find a hand screwdriver."
"Do you see how I had to buy her sanity at times, how I had to talk to her, manage her ?"
" That afternoon I ate three cupcakes and tried to calm the nervousness that stalked the better part of my childhood on the farm......
"I knew something bad was going to happen."..............
"It is not normal for children to see their mothers covered with blood. These images stay with you, burned and red and jagged, pricking at your innocence like a butcher knife against you skin".
As an adult Stevie works as a legal assistant. She has a friend Eileen, who is jealous of the thin Stevie, and instead of being happy for her friend, tells her she "cheated", losing weight the way she did. Stevie is attracted to her neighbor, but she finds her shyness makes it tough to act on these feelings. Despite her weight loss, she is still insecure and haunted by her past. Stevie takes some big steps in changing her life and her image. She decides to plant a garden for all of the changes that have taken place in her life. She becomes obsessed with chairs, (but you'll have to read the book to find out why), and she longs to quit her job as a legal assistant, to become an artist.
MY THOUGHTS - I liked this (450+ pages) novel a lot. The story is touching, and I suspect most readers will feel sad about Stevie's early life. The novel delves deep into Stevie's painful childhood, and the loss of people she loved, all within a short period of time. The story covers serious issues: eating disorders, mental illness and self esteem issues. Sad at times, but poignant and funny at others, I really did enjoy this novel, and think it would have been just as good if the story focused totally on Stevie and her family. I felt that some of the other story lines: her job, planning an anniversary party with her cousins etc., seemed a bit under developed and unnecessary. Despite this, I would not hesitate to RECOMMEND this book.
Rating - 4.5/5 stars
June 9, 2012
After reading the train wreck in the first chapter, you'd think I would have heeded the warning and abandoned my efforts. But, no, I finished the book, which was clearly created in the mind of someone intending this to be made into a crappy teen movie.
This book was loaded with extreme characterizations--not a bland one in the bunch, folks. All totally unbelievable! I could have bought it, maybe, if there weren't several unbelievable scenarios going on at the same time, with those extreme personalities in the mix. The antagonists weren't just unpleasant, they were awful to the extreme. The good guys all wore angel wings, and any supposed flaw was used as a way to further shine that halo.
The reader is being told who we have to like and who we should hate, very forcefully. The good guys were all quirky and amazing. Imagine if everyone in your life was always amazing--or always really, really awful, lacking in any good qualities. That's what you see in this book, page after page. Heroes or villains. The only characters who escape this portrayal are (maybe) the grandparents, since they stupidly kept an insane woman living with children she voiced intentions to kill.
Now, I have to admit to never being around someone with schizophrenia, so I cannot say that this was an accurate portrayal. However, I do not buy that a family would keep someone around that stated outright that she was a danger to herself and others. And I'm not buying their reason for keeping her home, since it was just yet another improbable and hugely dramatic scene layered on. This book is just too much, which costs it credibility and the ability to really resonate. It could have been so much better. I wish it had, because the premise seemed so interesting.
Bottom line? Forgettable novel. I'm left feeling vaguely disappointed, when I should feel haunted.
This book was loaded with extreme characterizations--not a bland one in the bunch, folks. All totally unbelievable! I could have bought it, maybe, if there weren't several unbelievable scenarios going on at the same time, with those extreme personalities in the mix. The antagonists weren't just unpleasant, they were awful to the extreme. The good guys all wore angel wings, and any supposed flaw was used as a way to further shine that halo.
The reader is being told who we have to like and who we should hate, very forcefully. The good guys were all quirky and amazing. Imagine if everyone in your life was always amazing--or always really, really awful, lacking in any good qualities. That's what you see in this book, page after page. Heroes or villains. The only characters who escape this portrayal are (maybe) the grandparents, since they stupidly kept an insane woman living with children she voiced intentions to kill.
Now, I have to admit to never being around someone with schizophrenia, so I cannot say that this was an accurate portrayal. However, I do not buy that a family would keep someone around that stated outright that she was a danger to herself and others. And I'm not buying their reason for keeping her home, since it was just yet another improbable and hugely dramatic scene layered on. This book is just too much, which costs it credibility and the ability to really resonate. It could have been so much better. I wish it had, because the premise seemed so interesting.
Bottom line? Forgettable novel. I'm left feeling vaguely disappointed, when I should feel haunted.
September 11, 2015
Wow. No one does it like Cathy Lamb. So much drama and abuse and toxicity. So much hope and beauty and life with compassion and kindness. And I just love it when justice is meted out and some get a great come uppance.
April 30, 2012
"Such a Pretty Face by Cathy Lamb caught my eye because of the title. You heard me right, the title. You see someone said that to me, "You've got such a pretty face, it's a shame the rest of you went to shit". That was when I only weighed 160 lbs. Like the main character, Stevie, I didn't dare stand up for myself, I swallowed hard and took it because I believed I deserved it. Hurtful words like this take us to a whole different place, especially as women. Overeating causes people to be fat, yes I get that, but the question we need to ask is why? What have they suffered, to cause such pain? Why is it that people believe that overweight people can't hear, don't have feelings and that this prejudice is okay when it's clearly not? I don't know. Compassion and love - the world is always suffering from a shortage of both.
Stevie's mother suffers from schizophrenia and Lamb does an amazing job depicting what life is like for someone with this disease, and how it affects the people that love them. There are many other issues that are woven into the story; morbid obesity, gay marriage, emotional and physical abuse and anorexia. That might sound like to much to process, but the beautiful thing is that "Such a Pretty Face" also has unconditional love, forgiveness, (for yourself and others), joy, strength, reconciliation and the courage to overcome.
The first 20% of the book was somewhat confusing, but I became so vested in the characters that I continued on and I am so glad that I did, it made me think, and look inside myself to find out who I am and who I want to be.
Cathy Lamb gives us many topics to ponder and discuss, as we turn the page.
http://turnthepageparadise.blogspot.com
Stevie's mother suffers from schizophrenia and Lamb does an amazing job depicting what life is like for someone with this disease, and how it affects the people that love them. There are many other issues that are woven into the story; morbid obesity, gay marriage, emotional and physical abuse and anorexia. That might sound like to much to process, but the beautiful thing is that "Such a Pretty Face" also has unconditional love, forgiveness, (for yourself and others), joy, strength, reconciliation and the courage to overcome.
The first 20% of the book was somewhat confusing, but I became so vested in the characters that I continued on and I am so glad that I did, it made me think, and look inside myself to find out who I am and who I want to be.
Cathy Lamb gives us many topics to ponder and discuss, as we turn the page.
http://turnthepageparadise.blogspot.com
June 2, 2012
There are so many things I like about this book. It was recommended to me and after the first 3 pages, I wondered why. The initial scene is absolutely horrific and takes your breath away, but it ends with the sentence, "I started inhaling food the next day. Mountains of it." And that is something I can relate to.
The main character had a heart attack at 32 due to obesity. She had some type of gastric bypass surgery after that and lost about 170 pounds. It's obvious from the beginning why she was obese and the rest of the book is how she attempts to deal with her demons and how difficult it is sometimes to live in the new body she has. She's still the same person with many of the same problems, but people forget that sometimes.
The book is sprinkled with laugh-out-loud scenes and characters and it helps keep you going through more of the upsetting parts of the book. There are a few characters that were too good or too outrageously mean, but you can easily get past that and just enjoy the journey.
The main character had a heart attack at 32 due to obesity. She had some type of gastric bypass surgery after that and lost about 170 pounds. It's obvious from the beginning why she was obese and the rest of the book is how she attempts to deal with her demons and how difficult it is sometimes to live in the new body she has. She's still the same person with many of the same problems, but people forget that sometimes.
The book is sprinkled with laugh-out-loud scenes and characters and it helps keep you going through more of the upsetting parts of the book. There are a few characters that were too good or too outrageously mean, but you can easily get past that and just enjoy the journey.
July 8, 2010
Stevie Barrett once weighed over 300 pounds. She ate food to smother the grief she felt over the loss of her baby sister, schizophrenic mother, and loving grandparents all within a short time period. She ate to lose herself. She ate to hide. And then she had a heart attack, and eating was no longer the solution if she wanted to survive. Several surgeries and 170 pounds later, Stevie has lost the weight but hasn’t managed to find herself in the process. Such a Pretty Face is the beautiful story of one woman’s search for herself amongst the burden of this thing we call Life.
At times both literary and whimsical, Such a Pretty Face fulfilled my need for a meaty, meaningful story, while also lightening my soul with love and sunshine. It made my heart ache with sadness for Stevie’s childhood and the oppressing reality of schizophrenia, but the flashbacks to her earlier years are followed with laughter as she struggles to keep an outraged divorcee from tearing her ex-husband to shreds.
Lamb’s writing is skillful and exploratory, drifting from inner dialogue to prose and back again. We really get to know Stevie, staying inside her head throughout the full novel, feeling the tide of emotions she is drifting on. With an oppresive uncle, a bulldozing best friend, a mound of medical debt, and a hopeless crush on her neighbor, Stevie is lost in the world and the narrative explores her natural sense of fear, followed by her internal strength and courage to stand up for herself and what she wants.
Overall, Such a Pretty Face is a culmination of fabulous traits from some of my favorite books: a story of family pain and love (Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson), mixed with a woman’s courage and strength (The Wife’s Tale by Lori Lansens), with a dash of Sarah Addison Allen’s fanciful language thrown in the mix. But most of all, it simply is what it is: a beautifully literary and touching novel by a wonderful writer. I will definitely be reading more of Cathy Lamb in the future.
At times both literary and whimsical, Such a Pretty Face fulfilled my need for a meaty, meaningful story, while also lightening my soul with love and sunshine. It made my heart ache with sadness for Stevie’s childhood and the oppressing reality of schizophrenia, but the flashbacks to her earlier years are followed with laughter as she struggles to keep an outraged divorcee from tearing her ex-husband to shreds.
Lamb’s writing is skillful and exploratory, drifting from inner dialogue to prose and back again. We really get to know Stevie, staying inside her head throughout the full novel, feeling the tide of emotions she is drifting on. With an oppresive uncle, a bulldozing best friend, a mound of medical debt, and a hopeless crush on her neighbor, Stevie is lost in the world and the narrative explores her natural sense of fear, followed by her internal strength and courage to stand up for herself and what she wants.
Overall, Such a Pretty Face is a culmination of fabulous traits from some of my favorite books: a story of family pain and love (Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson), mixed with a woman’s courage and strength (The Wife’s Tale by Lori Lansens), with a dash of Sarah Addison Allen’s fanciful language thrown in the mix. But most of all, it simply is what it is: a beautifully literary and touching novel by a wonderful writer. I will definitely be reading more of Cathy Lamb in the future.
August 27, 2010
I don't know how a book can be heartwarming, funny, and cringe worthy all at the same time. But, yet Such A Pretty Face managed it without losing any of the elements of the story. In fact, the description doesn't even paint an accurate picture of what this story truly entails.
I completely loved Stevie from the first pages of this novel. It's absolutely amazing that she's able to stand up on her own two feet after what she has endured at the hand's of her schizophrenic mother during childhood. And then after the horrific circumstances surrounding her mother's death, she placed into the hands of an uncle who treats her no better than the rest of his family. She's belittled and constantly told she isn't good enough even into her adulthood. But, she finds herself after her life altering surgery. She discovers she is good enough and deserves more than she has been given in life.
It sounds like a heartbreaking story, but really it isn't. Because Stevie has some awesome friends (and one that isn't). Her cousins know just how hard it is because they're living in the same shadows she is. Her friends from work help her realize her potential and that she can do anything she wants too. She's even got a love interest who wins your heart as well. Granted the first part of the book, Stevie hides behind bushes, etc whenever Jake appears. It's makes for some definite laugh out loud moments.
In the end Stevie is able to stand up to her uncle, comes to terms with her past, and open up to Jake. The entire novel was a pleasure to read. I'll be looking for something else by Cathy Lamb because this one was outstanding!
I completely loved Stevie from the first pages of this novel. It's absolutely amazing that she's able to stand up on her own two feet after what she has endured at the hand's of her schizophrenic mother during childhood. And then after the horrific circumstances surrounding her mother's death, she placed into the hands of an uncle who treats her no better than the rest of his family. She's belittled and constantly told she isn't good enough even into her adulthood. But, she finds herself after her life altering surgery. She discovers she is good enough and deserves more than she has been given in life.
It sounds like a heartbreaking story, but really it isn't. Because Stevie has some awesome friends (and one that isn't). Her cousins know just how hard it is because they're living in the same shadows she is. Her friends from work help her realize her potential and that she can do anything she wants too. She's even got a love interest who wins your heart as well. Granted the first part of the book, Stevie hides behind bushes, etc whenever Jake appears. It's makes for some definite laugh out loud moments.
In the end Stevie is able to stand up to her uncle, comes to terms with her past, and open up to Jake. The entire novel was a pleasure to read. I'll be looking for something else by Cathy Lamb because this one was outstanding!
December 9, 2012
I don't know what to say about this book except that I loved it. Stevie Barrett knows the darkness of mental illness. After the tragic loss of her mother and sister, Stevie finds herself eating her way to comfort; so much so that at the age of 32, weighing 320 pounds, she has a heart attack. Weight loss surgery literally saves her life, but at the same time, it overwhelms her. She isn't sure who she is anymore and while she has visible scars from her surgery, she has deep, unseen scars from the hidden secrets that caused her to turn to food in the first place. This is the story of Stevie's journey to becoming a healthy and happier young woman as she confronts not just the secrets of her past, but the people who have hurt as well.
Lamb details the schizophrenic behavior and treatment of Stevie's mother in such clarity that its darkness and cruelty made me cry; and yet, the gentleness of Stevie lights the way through the pages along with the wonderfully developed characters of her cousins Polly and Lance who are just as wounded as Stevie as they all struggled to survive a dysfunctional family.
Lamb combines so many social issues into one book that it could become fragmented, but each of the issues she touches upon weaves itself into another and forms a strong plot that just somehow all comes together into one beautifully emotional story that brings triumph for all the characters I came to love and cheer for.
Lamb details the schizophrenic behavior and treatment of Stevie's mother in such clarity that its darkness and cruelty made me cry; and yet, the gentleness of Stevie lights the way through the pages along with the wonderfully developed characters of her cousins Polly and Lance who are just as wounded as Stevie as they all struggled to survive a dysfunctional family.
Lamb combines so many social issues into one book that it could become fragmented, but each of the issues she touches upon weaves itself into another and forms a strong plot that just somehow all comes together into one beautifully emotional story that brings triumph for all the characters I came to love and cheer for.
July 7, 2014
I know everyone is entitled to an opinion, but I can't understand how anyone with a heart would give this book some of the poor reviews I have read. Simply put, as I was finishing this book yesterday, I learned that my "waterproof" mascara does not work. It's been a long time since a book has moved me like this one did. This author does tend to have eccentric characters, and use tough situations (in this case, schizophrenia and morbid obesity) as major parts of her stories; perhaps that is off-putting to some. If you do read this book, be warned that it starts with a very disturbing scene. Please stay with it and see it through to the end. I promise you will not be sorry.
July 12, 2010
My emotions are all over the place with this one, will have to think on it a bit more before i make a review. *sigh* It was fantastic though, truly gripping for me.
Review coming soon!
Review coming soon!
July 9, 2021
Amazing grace. To truly heal we need to forgive ourselves and others, and move on from the people who hold us back.
August 23, 2019
This was the first book by Cathy Lamb that I’ve read and I definitely wasn’t disappointed. It was funny, sad, and everything in between. I will definitely be reading her others!
April 27, 2018
A difficult story about a daughter with a schizophrenic mother and tragedy that occurred in her family because of this horrible disease. A strange and quirky list of characters in this book. Still trying to decide how I felt about this book.
Read
December 10, 2014Superlative
In only 471 pages, Cathy Lamb tackled the following subjects: mental illness, morbid obesity, bariatric surgery, its unintended consequences, eating disorders, suicide, murder, attempted murder, spousal abuse and dysfunctional families. This was done through the words of the protagonist, Stevie Barrett, a 35-year-old woman. Cathy Lamb juxtaposed flashbacks with real time in a manner that made me want to reach through the pages to tell Stevie how special and lovable she was, while wrapping my arms around her in a big hug.
The story turned on the defining moment in Stevie's life. How clever of Cathy Lamb to write this in the short prologue. The first few pages were so powerful and real to me that I literally began to shake.
Stevie Barrett became morbidly obese and finally agreed to undergo bariatric surgery after she suffered a heart attack at thirty-two. Without the operation, Stevie's life likely would have been short, and she would have carried her unspeakable secrets to the grave. After the surgery to staple her stomach, she subjected herself to a second operation to contour her body by eliminating massive amounts of excess sagging skin, including a mastoplasty to alter and shape her breasts.
Neither operation is for the faint of heart. They carry risks and life-altering after effects, often with psychological consequences. They are not cosmetic and despite the uninformed thinking of people like Eileen, Stevie's self-appointed best friend who was also morbidly obese, they are not cheating.
Rather than disclosing one word of the plot, which is riveting, I choose to describe the characters, each of whom I know in my life. After Stevie literally lost half of herself, she suffered from a mild case of body dysmorphia. When she looked in the mirror, she saw herself as the body she had been before she became thin. She continued to wear clothing that made her invisible. Despite the best efforts of Zena, her workmate as a legal assistant in a small law firm, she felt unworthy of anything that would make her stand out. Her self esteem was almost nonexistent. No man would want to be seen with her, despite Zena's protestations to the contrary.
Zena was a true friend because she had always accepted Stevie. She finally realized that Stevie was not yet mentally prepared to date or to wear clothes suitable to her age and appearance. Like Stevie, I loved Zena, a character in the truest sense of the word. She was a proficient legal assistant during the day, despite her off time unique wardrobe, and a party animal at night when she was not skating with her rough and tumble rollerskating team. She gradually managed to pierce Stevie's shell.
Stevie had been adopted by her aunt Janet and uncle Herbert. She had two cousins, Lance and Polly, who were as close as siblings. Horrible Herbert, as I called him, was a caricature of my father. Aunt Janet was but a shell of a woman, having been controlled and demeaned by Herbert throughout their sham of a marriage. Polly was anorexic to the point of death, but Herbert treated her like a recalcitrant child. Lance, a successful businessman, started a new company that made life-sized blowup dolls. His stress reliever was knitting. I loved everyone in the family except Horrible Herbert.
Stevie's maternal grandparents, with whom she lived before they died, loved Stevie and did their best to protect her. They lived in a small Oregon town, and it seemed that everyone was related. They, too, were lovable, as well as being humorous.
Eileen, who thought she was Stevie's best friend, flaunted her wealth and constantly mocked Stevie's paltry salary. Despite her morbid obesity, she tried to force Stevie to eat. She clearly wanted the obese Stevie back. Eileen wore her jealousy like a cloak.
And then there was Jake, Stevie's handsome neighbor. She fantasized over him but did everything she could to avoid being seen by him. When they finally had a chance encounter, Stevie was rendered almost speechless. In many ways, I consider Jake to be the catalyst that helped most with Stevie's road to finding herself. Almost too good to be true, Jake patiently waited for Stevie to reveal major parts of her past.
With the help and love of her support system, Stevie finally unveiled her quirky artistic talent, explained the significance of her remarkable garden and took public pride in the home she had renovated by herself with almost no money.
I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK! It was remarkable on so many levels. The writing was superb, the dialogue was realistic and each character had been in my life at some point. Cathy Lamb attacked the subjects head-on, and some of the subject matter was not pretty. My favorite books are those from which I learn. Such a Pretty Face taught me many things, but most of all, it taught me more about myself.
Thank you, Cathy Lamb.
In only 471 pages, Cathy Lamb tackled the following subjects: mental illness, morbid obesity, bariatric surgery, its unintended consequences, eating disorders, suicide, murder, attempted murder, spousal abuse and dysfunctional families. This was done through the words of the protagonist, Stevie Barrett, a 35-year-old woman. Cathy Lamb juxtaposed flashbacks with real time in a manner that made me want to reach through the pages to tell Stevie how special and lovable she was, while wrapping my arms around her in a big hug.
The story turned on the defining moment in Stevie's life. How clever of Cathy Lamb to write this in the short prologue. The first few pages were so powerful and real to me that I literally began to shake.
Stevie Barrett became morbidly obese and finally agreed to undergo bariatric surgery after she suffered a heart attack at thirty-two. Without the operation, Stevie's life likely would have been short, and she would have carried her unspeakable secrets to the grave. After the surgery to staple her stomach, she subjected herself to a second operation to contour her body by eliminating massive amounts of excess sagging skin, including a mastoplasty to alter and shape her breasts.
Neither operation is for the faint of heart. They carry risks and life-altering after effects, often with psychological consequences. They are not cosmetic and despite the uninformed thinking of people like Eileen, Stevie's self-appointed best friend who was also morbidly obese, they are not cheating.
Rather than disclosing one word of the plot, which is riveting, I choose to describe the characters, each of whom I know in my life. After Stevie literally lost half of herself, she suffered from a mild case of body dysmorphia. When she looked in the mirror, she saw herself as the body she had been before she became thin. She continued to wear clothing that made her invisible. Despite the best efforts of Zena, her workmate as a legal assistant in a small law firm, she felt unworthy of anything that would make her stand out. Her self esteem was almost nonexistent. No man would want to be seen with her, despite Zena's protestations to the contrary.
Zena was a true friend because she had always accepted Stevie. She finally realized that Stevie was not yet mentally prepared to date or to wear clothes suitable to her age and appearance. Like Stevie, I loved Zena, a character in the truest sense of the word. She was a proficient legal assistant during the day, despite her off time unique wardrobe, and a party animal at night when she was not skating with her rough and tumble rollerskating team. She gradually managed to pierce Stevie's shell.
Stevie had been adopted by her aunt Janet and uncle Herbert. She had two cousins, Lance and Polly, who were as close as siblings. Horrible Herbert, as I called him, was a caricature of my father. Aunt Janet was but a shell of a woman, having been controlled and demeaned by Herbert throughout their sham of a marriage. Polly was anorexic to the point of death, but Herbert treated her like a recalcitrant child. Lance, a successful businessman, started a new company that made life-sized blowup dolls. His stress reliever was knitting. I loved everyone in the family except Horrible Herbert.
Stevie's maternal grandparents, with whom she lived before they died, loved Stevie and did their best to protect her. They lived in a small Oregon town, and it seemed that everyone was related. They, too, were lovable, as well as being humorous.
Eileen, who thought she was Stevie's best friend, flaunted her wealth and constantly mocked Stevie's paltry salary. Despite her morbid obesity, she tried to force Stevie to eat. She clearly wanted the obese Stevie back. Eileen wore her jealousy like a cloak.
And then there was Jake, Stevie's handsome neighbor. She fantasized over him but did everything she could to avoid being seen by him. When they finally had a chance encounter, Stevie was rendered almost speechless. In many ways, I consider Jake to be the catalyst that helped most with Stevie's road to finding herself. Almost too good to be true, Jake patiently waited for Stevie to reveal major parts of her past.
With the help and love of her support system, Stevie finally unveiled her quirky artistic talent, explained the significance of her remarkable garden and took public pride in the home she had renovated by herself with almost no money.
I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK! It was remarkable on so many levels. The writing was superb, the dialogue was realistic and each character had been in my life at some point. Cathy Lamb attacked the subjects head-on, and some of the subject matter was not pretty. My favorite books are those from which I learn. Such a Pretty Face taught me many things, but most of all, it taught me more about myself.
Thank you, Cathy Lamb.
November 7, 2017
This is an amazing book. The characters are so real that they are exactly like people some of us know in real life, not always a good thing, in the case of some of them. Some parts are funny, some parts are touching, some parts are heartrending, and some are nearly impossible to read, if you know someone in real life who behaves the same way as Herbert or Eileen or Crystal. Fortunately, there are others like Stevie and Lance and Jake and Zena who balance the negativity of the others and who make things better after the others have tried to bring about destruction. The story takes a hard look at some of the real issues people have to deal with - schizophrenia, anorexia, extreme arrogance and hated, and more - but it does not descend into extreme negativity with hope of redemption. Indeed, the good characters move forward, redeeming themselves and their situations, and make the story a luminous work of hope triumphing over great odds.
June 2, 2013
Sometimes it's the books that are chosen for you that blow you away. I read this for my book club, and I hemmed and hawed about buying it or even reading it. Not that it seemed uninteresting, but I'm picky about what I like to read, and honestly the cover said "chick lit" all over it. But I sucked it up and bought the ebook, and I couldn't stop reading it. Lamb's prose is not overly romantic or mushy, and the characters are so unique. Many of them are constantly enduring tragedy but there's a lot of quirky humor to balance it out. Main character Stevie, like all of Lamb's "good" characters, is lovable and human. They're not perfect, but they're trying (although Jake was a bit too perfect!). Lamb doesn't delve too deeply into the psyches of the "bad" characters, but they still feel real; we don't always get the back story on the mean people in our lives. They are the people hurt you and make you forget that there are still good people out there that mean you no harm, who are kind to you; the good ones are not just "out there" but up close, family and people you work with and even strangers who are kind when they don't have to be. Why is that so surprising? The mean people overshadow and kill your sense of compassion and even your sense that people in general can be good and don't want to hurt you. You stop believing in love because a few people in your life make you feel like you don't deserve more than what they want out of you. You have to try not to become one of the mean ones, teach others how to treat you, be kind when you don't have to. A book can remind you of that. This book did that for me.
May 20, 2015
Found this on a book exchange shelf, and took it to possibly register for BookCrossing. After reading, I noticed the book had a Charleston County Public Library inventory sticker and no "discard" stamp, which was odd for something on a book give-away shelf. So, good citizen (and sometimes-library volunteer) that I am, I checked with circulation. Sure enough, the book has been marked "lost" since 2014, and the lose-ee has already paid to replace it. It's a little tattered and battered, with indications that it may have been to the beach or stuffed in a backpack since going missing, but all pages were intact. I wonder what adventures it had while on walk-about.
As to the story itself, I liked it. Lamb has chosen to explore a number of illnesses of the mind, and done it in a loving and thoughtful manner. Almost all central characters are wounded, but not in a "poor pitiful me" way. The exploration of coming back to health (for the main character) after PTSD and after a gastric bypass (and other health issues) was so beautifully handled. What also resonated with me was the artistic expression of so many of the characters, growing into self through art, whether it be knitting, drawing, making chairs, or planting a garden. It's not often that I get teary reading a book, but there was a moment in this one, where the author had me laughing, and my eyes tearing up as my heart swelled, at the same moment. Nice.
As to the story itself, I liked it. Lamb has chosen to explore a number of illnesses of the mind, and done it in a loving and thoughtful manner. Almost all central characters are wounded, but not in a "poor pitiful me" way. The exploration of coming back to health (for the main character) after PTSD and after a gastric bypass (and other health issues) was so beautifully handled. What also resonated with me was the artistic expression of so many of the characters, growing into self through art, whether it be knitting, drawing, making chairs, or planting a garden. It's not often that I get teary reading a book, but there was a moment in this one, where the author had me laughing, and my eyes tearing up as my heart swelled, at the same moment. Nice.
October 6, 2013
First, I marked this as read, but I have not finished it.....nor do I think I will finish it. The premise was intriguing--a woman has a heart attack in her early 30's due to her morbid obesity, has bariatric surgery, loses 170 pounds and is putting a life together for herself. And to be really honest, when I picked it up, I thought is was by Wally Lamb. It was after I got it home that I realized it was Cathy Lamb, but I gave it a go based on the interesting premise. The beginning grabbed me where we find out why she ate and ate for 20 years, but the silliness and implausibility of her present situations ruined the story for me. Casual conversations between the main character, Stevie, her boss and another attorney while they physically wrangle screaming litigants was just ridiculous. That was strike 1. Then her coworker, Zena---too much. Totally inappropriate for the work place in which she was working. In spite of her photographic memory, I find it unbelievable that her shenanigans would be tolerated in a professional work setting---strike 2. Finally, her cousin's newest business venture--blow up dolls for men and the way she and her cousins related to each other--strike 3. I think to enjoy this book, you need to totally suspend any shred of reality. I tend to be conservative in my lifestyle, so much of the story was unappealing to me.
August 16, 2010
I'm giving this book 5 stars not just because I "liked" it, but because it seemed so real and the characters spoke to me in a special way. At times I felt that I was reading a memoir instead of a piece of fiction. Life is too often cruel, and in many respects Stevie's life was cruel. But life also has a way of giving us a relief, a way to overcome and get through the hardness many of us face. For Stevie that was her grandparents, and in some respects her two cousins Lance and Polly, along with a true friend Zena and an incredible boss. And then just when she thinks she might just be ready to really pick up the pieces of her life there is Jake.
I don't want to give away the book. I'd rather say pick it up, read it and really listen to the voices in this book. Yes, it's sometimes disjointed, but so was Stevie's life. Yes, it jumps around. But it tells the story of a woman who finally realizes just how special she is, how wonderfully talented and loved she is, and in the process she understands that she may have lost 170 pounds, but she has gained the world.
I don't want to give away the book. I'd rather say pick it up, read it and really listen to the voices in this book. Yes, it's sometimes disjointed, but so was Stevie's life. Yes, it jumps around. But it tells the story of a woman who finally realizes just how special she is, how wonderfully talented and loved she is, and in the process she understands that she may have lost 170 pounds, but she has gained the world.
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