Emalee Meyerhoff
Ms. Hayes
English III
December 11, 2011
Dear Miss Lucy Grealy,
I recently read your book “Autobiography of a Face” and started off with the notion of this book being another “candy coated” everything’s going to be alright, “give it time” sad story. I also had every intention on not liking the book because I was assigned to read it in my English class. But you most definitely proved me wrong on how the book was going to be laid out and I quite enjoyed your writing. I am sorry you had to live your life the way you did but as you said you don’t want anyone’s sympathy but I’m glad you had the courage and the backbone to write about your life. I am also very pleased on how blunt and real you were with the events in your life and how you told of your true feelings. As the reader I got to see the various “ups” and “downs” of your life instead of just focusing on the good or bad as others might do. You made me feel as though I was sitting right there by you in every setting of the book, seeing everything you were seeing and you tried to help the reader feel what you were feeling but not wanting to ever put that sadness on someone else you said you left some details out and that just shows the type of person you are. Your book really made me think of how you and everyone lives there life during this century. Even though I respect you as a writer and I can never judge you for your actions because it’s not my place you showed everyone how as fallen weak humans we can never be happy and we always want more or something different. Even after all your surgeries and facial reconstructions your high hopes always failed you. You never stopped wanting more, to be better looking even after you called yourself beautiful, changing you appearance to fit in with the crowd or try making friends, using multiple men to make yourself feel wanted along with desired and even after the writing of your book you over dose on heroin. Nothing made you happy enough and you kept looking for something more. Most people who would read this would call me inconsiderate, unworthy of judgment or even just completely stupid but that’s what I’m trying to sound like. I’m saying if you really look at the human kind, after you get what you really think you want you still won’t be as happy as you wished. There always comes another thing and another or you hope get so high you become disappointed with what life so graciously gives you and we never really sit and think how much worse it could be or that we could be dead with no life and no hope at all. I wish this could be different and I wish you life didn’t end the way it did and that you could read this letter but your book made me really think and I thank you for that and I’m very pleased that I read it.
Sincerely,
Emalee Meyerhoff
