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A review by vivisms_82
Making Faces by Amy Harmon
2.5
Unpopular review ahead (!!)...
An alleged modern day retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Allegedly. Set 1990s-2000s, preacher's daughter Fern has always loved Ambrose the town heart-throb.
I don't know what to say other than I do not get the rave reviews and high ratings this book has received. Truly one of the worst books for character development I have ever read. Little explanation as to the motives and convictions of characters and why they do what they do. Such as, who the flip knows why Ambrose kissed Fern end of school?? Or for that matter why they are even attracted to each other?! And Fern's nonsense of loving him since they were kids does not fly. And gosh the romance and character dialogue is so out of place at times and awkward, earnest and naive. But even then I think it is not written well enough for a YA to enjoy. Her proclamations were so juvenile and straight out of an 8 year's fairytale fantasy land. Ambrose seems to be just reactive but not actively interested in Fern. I found their alleged romance so underwhelming on the heart strings and so overwhelmingly banal. This is supposed to be a love story! But all the reader gets is absurd and over the top declarations of love with no substance behind the words! ; so much so that they felt like cardboard cut-outs that I never really knew. It also has major tonal issues. This is YA but one that disrespects how much more mature young people are than this rubbish. Other issues for me are the definitions of what is ugly and what is beautiful. Apparently red hair, freckles, glasses and braces in high school mean you are ugly. But removing braces and glasses makes you into a swan. Umm what? Hasn't this been covered a thousand times in the last century and we agreed it was ridiculous? Another problem is Ambrose convincing his mates to go to Iraq - that was so weird and weak; the decision making seemed so flippant. And life in Iraq seemed strangely uneventful. Fern's devotion / casual stalking of Ambrose is also baffling and I'm sorry but quoting Shakespeare does not make you "deep" or romantic.
The highlight of this book is Bailey. Muscular dystrophy and disability were well depicted and non-ableist. He was the one character I felt like I knew. If the whole book was about him and Rita, I would have liked it much more. He is the only reason I rated this book this high.
And lastly, what truly bugged me (and I have no idea why it is not getting more attention) are pages 101-2 i.e. The dialogue between the boys: Beans, Grant, Jesse, Paulie and Ambrose in Iraq about women wearing Burkas. I recommend folks to read those pages in full, however I have included the first half below. It is so disrespectful and feeds into this nonsense of "America the Free" and that the differences of other cultures means they are inferior to the great U.S. of A. I won't get political but this scene is blatantly ignorant and Islamophobic. Also very shallow in its depiction of female aesthetics. Rita is considered beautiful and Fern is not - yes we get told this repeatedly in this book but also that Fern is not aware of how she blossomed. Eye roll. The worst thing about this passage however, is that it is revealed Beans only started this conversation as "just a setup to rib Ambrose about Fern." And plain Fern not being pretty like Rita. So the author thought it would be a good idea to throw in some casual prejudice for such poor reasons?? Disgusting. All it does is portray male American soldiers as ignorant, disrespectful and intolerant. Not cool. Also, apparently wearing a burka is a great way for ugly women to trick men into marrying them. Well done Ms Harmon. Truly appalling. A heads up - the below reveals a minor plot spoiler from the first quarter of the book so do not read if that is an issue for you!
Beans:
“I would be happy to never see a woman that wasn’t wearing a tent over her head. Just once! And I would appreciate it if she was blonde or, even better, redheaded!” Beans moaned one afternoon after guarding a lonely checkpoint for several hours with only a handful of women clad in burkas… Maybe it was ironic that Beans longed for a blonde when he was Hispanic. But he was American, and America had the most diverse population in the world. A little diversity right now would be welcome.
Grant:
"I'd be happy to never see another burka again."
Jesse:
"I heard some guys, especially in places like Afghanistan, don't see their wives at all until after they are married. Can you imagine? Surprise sweetie!" Jesse batted his eyelids and made a hideous face...
Paulie:
"So how do they know who they are marrying?"...
Beans:
"Handwriting,"...
Paulie:
"Really?"...
Beans:
"Yeah. They write letters back and forth for a year or more. Then at the ceremony, she signs her name along with a promise she'll always wear her burka in front of other men. He recognises her handwriting and that is how he knows it's her beneath her veil."...
Jesse:
"Yeah. Just think, if Ambrose and Fern lived in Iraq, he never would have figured out it was Fern writing him those letters instead of Rita. Fern could have roped him into marriage. Ambrose would have seen her handwriting at the wedding and said, 'Yep, it's Rita, all right!'"
An alleged modern day retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Allegedly. Set 1990s-2000s, preacher's daughter Fern has always loved Ambrose the town heart-throb.
I don't know what to say other than I do not get the rave reviews and high ratings this book has received. Truly one of the worst books for character development I have ever read. Little explanation as to the motives and convictions of characters and why they do what they do. Such as,
The highlight of this book is Bailey. Muscular dystrophy and disability were well depicted and non-ableist. He was the one character I felt like I knew. If the whole book was about him and Rita, I would have liked it much more. He is the only reason I rated this book this high.
And lastly, what truly bugged me (and I have no idea why it is not getting more attention) are pages 101-2 i.e. The dialogue between the boys: Beans, Grant, Jesse, Paulie and Ambrose in Iraq about women wearing Burkas. I recommend folks to read those pages in full, however I have included the first half below. It is so disrespectful and feeds into this nonsense of "America the Free" and that the differences of other cultures means they are inferior to the great U.S. of A. I won't get political but this scene is blatantly ignorant and Islamophobic. Also very shallow in its depiction of female aesthetics. Rita is considered beautiful and Fern is not - yes we get told this repeatedly in this book but also that Fern is not aware of how she blossomed. Eye roll. The worst thing about this passage however, is that it is revealed Beans only started this conversation as "just a setup to rib Ambrose about Fern." And plain Fern not being pretty like Rita. So the author thought it would be a good idea to throw in some casual prejudice for such poor reasons?? Disgusting. All it does is portray male American soldiers as ignorant, disrespectful and intolerant. Not cool. Also, apparently wearing a burka is a great way for ugly women to trick men into marrying them. Well done Ms Harmon. Truly appalling. A heads up - the below reveals a minor plot spoiler from the first quarter of the book so do not read if that is an issue for you!
Beans:
“I would be happy to never see a woman that wasn’t wearing a tent over her head. Just once! And I would appreciate it if she was blonde or, even better, redheaded!” Beans moaned one afternoon after guarding a lonely checkpoint for several hours with only a handful of women clad in burkas… Maybe it was ironic that Beans longed for a blonde when he was Hispanic. But he was American, and America had the most diverse population in the world. A little diversity right now would be welcome.
Grant:
"I'd be happy to never see another burka again."
Jesse:
"I heard some guys, especially in places like Afghanistan, don't see their wives at all until after they are married. Can you imagine? Surprise sweetie!" Jesse batted his eyelids and made a hideous face...
Paulie:
"So how do they know who they are marrying?"...
Beans:
"Handwriting,"...
Paulie:
"Really?"...
Beans:
"Yeah. They write letters back and forth for a year or more. Then at the ceremony, she signs her name along with a promise she'll always wear her burka in front of other men. He recognises her handwriting and that is how he knows it's her beneath her veil."...
Jesse:
"Yeah. Just think, if Ambrose and Fern lived in Iraq, he never would have figured out it was Fern writing him those letters instead of Rita. Fern could have roped him into marriage. Ambrose would have seen her handwriting at the wedding and said, 'Yep, it's Rita, all right!'"
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Islamophobia, and Injury/Injury detail