Review: Making Faces by Amy Harmon

Buy:  Kindle Ebook  |  Paperback  |  Audio



Review

ABSOLUTELY, AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL!

“Making Faces is the story of a small town where five young men go off to war, and only one comes back. It is the story of loss. Collective loss, individual loss, loss of beauty, loss of life, loss of identity. It is the tale of one girl’s love for a broken boy, and a wounded warrior’s love for an unremarkable girl. This is a story of friendship that overcomes heartache, heroism that defies the common definitions, and a modern tale of Beauty and the Beast, where we discover that there is a little beauty and a little beast in all of us”

Just… wow. This is one of those books that hits you with something special from the very first page. You get that ‘feeling’ and you just sit and completely lose yourself in it. It’s heartfelt, traumatic, funny, romantic and incredibly profound, and I absolutely loved it!

Set in a small town, it’s the story of Fern and Ambrose, and starts in their senior year of high school. Ambrose is gorgeous, popular, good at everything, champion of the school wrestling team and all-round ‘good guy’. Fern is the sweet geeky girl with glasses, red frizzy hair and braces who loves him.

It’s also the story of Bailey, Fern’s cousin and best friend. Suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, he is confined to a wheelchair, but he doesn’t let it stop him from living his life. He and Fern are as close as siblings, and completely inseparable.

Using flashbacks and beautifully descriptive writing, the author gets us straight into the heart of these characters, and we get to see exactly who they are, what made them that way, their hopes, their dreams, and the struggles that they are dealing with in the present. I loved getting to know them, and being able to watch the amazing relationship between Fern and Bailey, as well as her coming to know and understand Ambrose. The bond between them is also beautifully explored, and I soaked up every little moment.

“Nobody or Nowhere?
Fern: I’d rather be nobody at home than somebody somewhere else.
Ambrose: I’d rather be nowhere. Being nobody when you’re expected to be somebody gets old.
Fern: How would you know? Have you been nobody?
Ambrose: Everybody who is somebody becomes nobody the moment they fail.”

Upon graduation, everything changes when Ambrose makes the decision to enlist and is sent to Iraq. Asking his four best friends to go with him, he is the only one to return, but he returns a shattered man – horrifically scarred and emotionally destroyed, he has been stripped of his confidence and joy, and is suffocating under the grief and guilt that he feels.

It takes the friendship and love of two incredible people to start to draw him back into life, and every little moment is sensational – games of either/or, baking cookies and supermarket karaoke, it’s all phenomenal. And as Ambrose starts to heal, he comes to understand Fern’s unwavering faith in him, and love for him. He opens his heart to her, and it is absolutely beautiful.

“You make me feel safe, Fern. You make me forget. And when I kiss you I just want to keep kissing you. Everything else falls away.”

Fern is incredible! There’s no pretence with her, what you see is what you get. She is enthusiastic and puts herself right out there, and I absolutely adore her! She fiercely loves the boys in her life and gives herself selflessly. She’s amazing.

“Ambrose Young! I have waited my whole life for you to want me. If you don’t hold me tight I won’t believe you mean it, and that’s worse than never being held at all. You’d better make me believe you mean it, Ambrose, or you will most definitely break me.”
“I don’t want to hurt you, Fern” he whispered hoarsely.
“Then don’t,” she whispered back, trusting him.

The romance is beautiful, it is perfectly paced, and realistic, and every little moment had me clutching my heart. But while it is definitely a focus of the book, it doesn’t overpower the rest of the story. You know how in some books you read really quickly to get to the parts where the main couple are together? Well, I never felt that. Yes, the love story is beautiful, powerful, and incredibly special, but the rest of the book had just as much hold over me. Particularly the scenes with Bailey.

Bailey is incredible. There is no other word to describe him. He is so profound! He is wise, he is kind, he is loyal and loving, and he is also funny as all hell! He is hilariously self-depreciating, but in a way that puts others at ease, and lets you know that he is fully accepting of his situation. Pretty much every word out of his mouth is absolute gold.

“I keep thinking that maybe you and I could take a road trip and tell all the girls we meet along the way that we’re both vets. You’ve got a messed up face and my war wounds have put me in this chair. You think they’d believe it? Maybe then I could get some action. Problem is, how am I going to get a handful of tit if I can’t lift my arms?”

I love these characters so much! It’s impossible to talk about them and do them justice. They are so amazing! I felt like I knew them intimately, and could understand and empathise with everything that they felt. They are honest and open with each other, and the bond between them is beautifully explored. They each have a profound effect on each other’s lives, being there for each other and teaching each other so much. And I loved the way the author wound the past with the present to show us their full story.

The story is told in third person, with the POV flicking between multiple characters, giving us the opportunity to know what is going through everybody’s heads, and it flows really beautifully. And while the subject matter is certainly heavy, it’s not as dark and depressing as I thought it would be. There are some gorgeously light moments, and although I went through a few tissues, it left me happy with a big smile on my face, and hugging my kindle.

I read this book in one sitting, unable to put it down. I devoured each and every page (sometimes more than once), and was left in awe of the emotion that Harmon managed to put into her story. I laughed, I cried, I sobbed, and I swooned, and I loved every single moment. Definitely one of those stories that will stay with me forever.

5 outstanding stars.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *