October 4, 2021
Using the life and work of Picasso as a framing device, debut memoirist Henley—a white woman born with Crouzon syndrome, a rare “craniofacial condition where the bones in the head don’t grow”—writes about “beauty through a lens of disfigurement.” After Henley and her twin sister were both born with the syndrome, a series of life-saving and aesthetic surgeries performed throughout their California childhood drastically altered their appearances, leaving Ariel feeling alienated from both her body and a society that others people with facial disfigurements. Exploring experiences of discrimination, emotional turmoil, and an eating disorder, her observations—especially concerning Picasso’s misogyny and ableism, the way the two attitudes intersect, and the ways she’s seen them mirrored in society—are complex and searing. She acknowledges in the prologue that beauty standards are not only ableist but racist, and discusses extensively how fatphobia exacerbated the prejudice she faced. This smart, richly detailed memoir is a compelling meditation on identity as well as a much-needed challenge to an ableist system. Ages 12–up.