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lizzzardbean's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
informative
sad
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content
Moderate: Death, Gore, and War
mollyc98's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed it well enough, initially I was hooked but as the book went on my interest dwindled a little
ellie_cripps's review against another edition
4.0
Truly harrowing but brilliant book. In my mind, the only thing that is greater than the human capacity for brutality and cruelty is our depth of compassion. Sometimes you have to read about the worst things to be reminded of those who care enough and do enough to achieve better things.
morets's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
aegagrus's review against another edition
2.75
In researching for this book, Lindsey Fitzharris certainly uncovered many interesting stories and anecdotes relating to the surgical work of Harold Gillies during WWI. Fitzharris is a good writer, and her enthusiasm for sharing these stories with the reader is obvious. Sometimes, however, her enthusiasm seems to get the better of her, and the details she chooses to include seem rather arbitrary or extraneous; as a whole, The Facemaker suffers from the lack of any clear vision of what kind of a history it is to be.
The book's most notable throughline is an emphasis on the collaborative nature of Gillies' work -- how he actively sought out mentors, collaborators, and subordinates from fields including medicine, dentistry, anesthetics, sculpture/metalwork, visual art, photography, and so on. Fitzharris makes a persuasive case that this interdisciplinary approach was necessary in the context of a newly emergent discipline -- plastic surgery -- and shows how the collaborative atmosphere Gillies fostered at the Queen's Hospital in Sidcup was responsible for fundamental and lasting advancements in the field. The Facemaker also effectively conveys something of the atmosphere at Sidcup -- sometimes eerie and quiet (the patients generally being unable to speak due to jaw injuries), sometimes marked by great camaraderie among wounded men who were stigmatized outcasts to the outside world but not to one another. Fitzharris demonstrates the extent to which society was unwilling to accommodate facial deformity, providing important context to her accounts of the wounded mens' struggles with their senses of self, and the ways in which Gillies took this into account when dealing with them. The inclusion of several plates of photographic progressions before, during, and after treatment is key -- Fitzharris is to be commended for her choice to include these images, and the thoughtful way in which she addresses the matter in an author's note.
I personally would have preferred a history which focused more attention on these questions of disability and stigma. However, this book could also have been successful as a focused work of medical history, guiding the reader through the necessary medical background to understand the clinical importance of the innovations being made. Or, this could have been a more straightforward work of biography, attempting to capture Gillies' motivation in undertaking this work and expanding upon the epilogue in which we learn of his continued involvement in the development of plastic surgery until his death in 1960 (including performing the first known phalloplasty). As it was, I'm not sure The Facemaker was any of these things. Digressions into medical history, military history, social history, and Gillies' personal history were all present, but did not feel systematic or purposeful enough to make this book a truly useful resource in any of these categories. My frustration with the book's haphazard overall construction and its lack of a clear motive or thesis may not be a frustration shared by all readers -- if one were simply looking for an interesting assortment of historical info, one could certainly find that here -- but it did, in my mind, lead to a less incisive, less memorable project.
The book's most notable throughline is an emphasis on the collaborative nature of Gillies' work -- how he actively sought out mentors, collaborators, and subordinates from fields including medicine, dentistry, anesthetics, sculpture/metalwork, visual art, photography, and so on. Fitzharris makes a persuasive case that this interdisciplinary approach was necessary in the context of a newly emergent discipline -- plastic surgery -- and shows how the collaborative atmosphere Gillies fostered at the Queen's Hospital in Sidcup was responsible for fundamental and lasting advancements in the field. The Facemaker also effectively conveys something of the atmosphere at Sidcup -- sometimes eerie and quiet (the patients generally being unable to speak due to jaw injuries), sometimes marked by great camaraderie among wounded men who were stigmatized outcasts to the outside world but not to one another. Fitzharris demonstrates the extent to which society was unwilling to accommodate facial deformity, providing important context to her accounts of the wounded mens' struggles with their senses of self, and the ways in which Gillies took this into account when dealing with them. The inclusion of several plates of photographic progressions before, during, and after treatment is key -- Fitzharris is to be commended for her choice to include these images, and the thoughtful way in which she addresses the matter in an author's note.
I personally would have preferred a history which focused more attention on these questions of disability and stigma. However, this book could also have been successful as a focused work of medical history, guiding the reader through the necessary medical background to understand the clinical importance of the innovations being made. Or, this could have been a more straightforward work of biography, attempting to capture Gillies' motivation in undertaking this work and expanding upon the epilogue in which we learn of his continued involvement in the development of plastic surgery until his death in 1960 (including performing the first known phalloplasty). As it was, I'm not sure The Facemaker was any of these things. Digressions into medical history, military history, social history, and Gillies' personal history were all present, but did not feel systematic or purposeful enough to make this book a truly useful resource in any of these categories. My frustration with the book's haphazard overall construction and its lack of a clear motive or thesis may not be a frustration shared by all readers -- if one were simply looking for an interesting assortment of historical info, one could certainly find that here -- but it did, in my mind, lead to a less incisive, less memorable project.