Review: Mature Audiences Only.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 15, 2013
This has to be the most disturbing book I've ever read. As I said in the title, this is not sit back with a cup of coffee or tea with soothing music in the background. This is book is very disturbing travel through the psyche of one Alexandria Crane and her dysfunctional family. Think Sylvia Plath. We know how that ended.Alex's entire life centers around the moles on her face. They are the main focus of the story and how our appearances can have an extremely detrimental effect on our lives if we allow them to consume our everyday activities.Her mother appears to shun her daughter for them. Her father is very interested in having them removed. Why? Perhaps it's to deflect poor Alex's lack of self-confidence and maybe cure his own embarrassment. Her grandmother (from her father's side) could actually care less. She is too wrapped-up in her own world and is constantly badgering Alex's mother for her poor treatment of Alex's father. Her unfair treatment is buried deep in her own betrayal with her deceased husband.  Only her grandfather and her best friend (who Alex is desperately in love with) Lizzy could care less about the abnormalities. They unconditionally love her.The pros1)The writing style is very fluid.2)There appears to be an excellent message flowing through all of the depression and poor thoughts Alex carries through her life.3)The character development is all too real.The cons1)I don't think the cover does the book justice. Much too plain for such an involved work2)I really didn't think the story came full circle at the end3)Extremely depressing.4)I think the time line could have been more fluid. I'm still not sure why we kept going back and forth with the death of Alex's husband Richard. When I read of her husband's death in Chapter 7 (out of 43), I was thrown for a loop. Really broke my concentration. I'm still not sure why it was important to keep falling back to his death.This book will do well with college English professors, Sociologist and Psychiatric/Psychological classes.I seldom quantify a review, but in this case, based on the material, I must. This is a reservedly four star work. I don't see this with a wide appeal to the masses, but for educational purposes and teaching, I believe the Universities will find this an excellent work of fiction detailing how a person's outward appearance can impact one's entire life if they so desire.