Almost everyone nowadays knows or has known someone who went through a battle with cancer. Truth and Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett is the story of Ann’s friendship with Lucy Grealy, a fellow author and poet who struggled with cancer for almost all of her life, and how Lucy impacted her forever.
Lucy Grealy was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma when she was under 10 years old and struggled with its impacts throughout the remainder of her life. Her jawbone was removed, and she struggled with the negative body image that it gave her forever. She also had difficulty speaking and swallowing because her remaining facial bone was too fragile to hold more than the six teeth that cancer left her with. This led to her going through many more surgeries on her body so that she could look and hopefully feel “beautiful.” Lucy wrote her own book, Autobiography of a Face, that told this story of her cancer. On the other hand, Ann Patchett wrote Truth & Beauty about the parts of their lives that they shared and their relationship behind Lucy’s cancer treatments.
Both Ann and Lucy attended the same college, Sarah Lawrence, at the same time, but they never became close. After they were both accepted into the esteemed Iowa Writers Workshop, they became roommates and their friendship began to blossom.
This memoir follows the lives of Lucy and Ann through the life they went through together. In addition, Ann also included the letters that they sent each other when they were separated. The theme of this book appeared to me about, as the title suggests, real beauty and what it entails. Lucy Grealy struggled throughout her life with people judging her solely on her looks. From getting plastic surgery to trying any means of getting more than six teeth, Lucy was always one step behind her disease. This part of the book was so powerful that I had to pause a few times because the emotion was so strong. Is there a point where you can’t win? Should Lucy just give up on beating her disease because of all the pain the surgeries are causing her as well as her family and friends?
Lucy was constantly looking for Ann’s reassurance on these matters of love and beauty, relentlessly asking Ann questions to boost her confidence. ‘Do you love me, Ann? Do you love me the most? Do you think I’m pretty? Do you think I’m talented?’ Ann was always there for her, keeping her sane and helping her mentally, physically, and financially.
During her life, Lucy keeps stacking up her medical and school bills, constantly going more and more in debt but never paying any of it back. This leads Ann to describe their relationship using an ant and a grasshopper metaphor where Lucy was the carefree grasshopper, always having fun and doing things last minute, while Ann was the ant who kept moving forward at the same steady pace, always following the beaten path to ensure security. The two struggle to become commended authors throughout the book until Lucy publishes her novel, Autobiography of a Face and Ann eventually publishes The Patron Saint of Liars. From that point, Lucy seems to become more independent and Ann is in less of her life.
Ultimately, fame is not enough for Lucy, and she becomes dependent on OxyContin, which was prescribed to her after her final reconstructive surgery, just like she had earlier in the story with codeine. She also resorts to cutting herself with razor blades, drinking, and taking any pills she could find to cope with the pain she felt inside. Lucy felt that fame because of her face was worth nothing; what she really needed was someone who truly loved her. She found this in Ann who was consistently at her bedside and trying to convince her to give up her drug and alcohol habits. This part was also extremely full of feeling. It was hard for me to understand at first what Ann was getting out of the relationship where she was basically the parent to Lucy’s antics. Conversely, by this point, Ann has painted this picture of Lucy as a lovable, vibrant woman with so much talent to offer the world. I felt that I was right alongside Ann next to the hospital bed, telling Lucy to never give up and to keep on fighting.
By the end of the book, Ann starts hearing from Lucy less and less. Ann tries to convince Lucy to go into a drug rehabilitation program, but Lucy’s health gradually diminishes further and she becomes even more addicted to heroin.
On December 18, 2002, Ann gets a call telling her that Lucy had died of a heroin overdose at the age of 39. The last few pages convey to us that Ann still has Lucy in her dreams and heart, and that she still cannot believe that Lucy is really gone. Ann closes the book with two exceptionally powerful lines: “The sheer force of Lucy’s life convinced me that she would live no matter what. That was my mistake.”
This book really spoke to me because I have known multiple people who have struggled with cancer for years and in the end lost the fight. I felt that it was amazing that even with all the stress and problems that Lucy brought her, Ann was always there, the one unwavering supporter in Lucy’s life. This memoir truly demonstrates the power of friendship and how one person can impact your life forever.
Wow! Just reading your post makes me want to read the book. I read Lucy Grealy's book, and I can tell you that she didn't talk about probably half of what Ann Patchett talked about. In the book I read, I could tell that there were feelings that Lucy didn't reveal to us, but I didn't know that there were so many or that they were so strong and severe. I feel like Lucy almost tried to talk herself into being positive, but deep inside, she felt alone and depressed. Also, in Lucy's book, her death was mentioned in Ann Patchett's afterword; however, I had no clue how she died. I thought it might just have been because of all the strain put on her body from years before, but there was no indication that she was so overtaken by drugs. One other thing that Ann Patchett said in her afterword, in the book I read, was that Lucy purposely left out a ton of events/experiences from her life in order to spare the reader. I wonder if Ann talked about those things at all. I really want to read this book now, and I think you should read Lucy's book. Finally, I love Ann Patchett's closing lines because just reading Lucy's book made me think the same thing, but obviously I didn't realize until now that that was a mistake to think that way.
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