- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: W&N (28 Feb 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0297607855
- ISBN-13: 978-0297607854
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,087,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
The Times, February 23, 2002
'lucid, descriptive prose.... Page's novel conveys [a] sense of menace with brilliant and disturbing urgency'
Francis Gilbert
Francis Gilbert
Sarah Waters, author of FINGERSMITH
'A marvellously well-crafted book, subtle and measured yet with the powerful, disconcerting tug of deep and dangerous water'
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First Sentence
I look up from the map and see a tall woman in a padded coat, standing about two metres from the car, staring in at me. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
I look up from the map and see a tall woman in a padded coat, standing about two metres from the car, staring in at me. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Kathy Page, already listed for the 2002 Orange Prize for The Story Of My Face, has more than fulfilled critics' previous intimations of 'promise' in her work with this vivid, unsettling tale.
From the earliest paragraphs, ingeniously designed to draw us with panting trepidation towards eventual revelation, we long to know what happened not only to the heroine's clearly frightening face but to her whole personality from aged thirteen, when she befriended a family involved with a religious cult shunning imagery, to the present day when we meet her as a woman confronting the bizarre reasoning behind the cult's creation. Sifting through the enigmatic founder's jottings, in a remote hamlet in Finland, Natalie revisits her painful past - passages written through the eyes of a child which rise to a rivetting climax - and must deal as well with a threatening present. Why, in her hideous state, does an attractive man show interest in her? What will happen if she answers ambivalent messages slipped under her door at night? What if she doesn't?
Page, writing from the point of view of a neglected child seeking not only survival but love
is completely convincing and her method of taking us inside the minds of other characters works equally well. Barely (apparently) cared for by her sluttishly behaved natural mother, Natalie absorbs the warmth of the new maternal figure in her life, Barbara, as hungrily as she devours her home-baking, if not her husband's obsessive religious leanings. But Barbara's altruism has its own cause - a lost child in her past - and her teenaged son, Mark's, initially poe-faced response to greedy, sensual Natalie is dangerously laden with repression. Is it wise for Barbara to invite Natalie to join her family at a cult camp where the child will be the only non-believer? What will the congregation do to Natalie when they discover she'd broken their laws by stealing away to watch the first moonwalk on a forbidden T.V.? We are shown this scene from all points of view and await the outcome spellbound, feeling the heat and textures of an English summer invade us - only for Page to cunningly whisk us back to freezing Finland to complete a similarly tense moment there.
The Story Of My Face is more than a gripping read. As well as being beautifully written, it raises disconcerting questions about the nature of affection, appearances and the need for belief-systems. But whether read as a thriller or philosophy it proves a rare literary gem. Let us hope we won't have too long to wait for Kathy Page's next offering.
From the earliest paragraphs, ingeniously designed to draw us with panting trepidation towards eventual revelation, we long to know what happened not only to the heroine's clearly frightening face but to her whole personality from aged thirteen, when she befriended a family involved with a religious cult shunning imagery, to the present day when we meet her as a woman confronting the bizarre reasoning behind the cult's creation. Sifting through the enigmatic founder's jottings, in a remote hamlet in Finland, Natalie revisits her painful past - passages written through the eyes of a child which rise to a rivetting climax - and must deal as well with a threatening present. Why, in her hideous state, does an attractive man show interest in her? What will happen if she answers ambivalent messages slipped under her door at night? What if she doesn't?
Page, writing from the point of view of a neglected child seeking not only survival but love
is completely convincing and her method of taking us inside the minds of other characters works equally well. Barely (apparently) cared for by her sluttishly behaved natural mother, Natalie absorbs the warmth of the new maternal figure in her life, Barbara, as hungrily as she devours her home-baking, if not her husband's obsessive religious leanings. But Barbara's altruism has its own cause - a lost child in her past - and her teenaged son, Mark's, initially poe-faced response to greedy, sensual Natalie is dangerously laden with repression. Is it wise for Barbara to invite Natalie to join her family at a cult camp where the child will be the only non-believer? What will the congregation do to Natalie when they discover she'd broken their laws by stealing away to watch the first moonwalk on a forbidden T.V.? We are shown this scene from all points of view and await the outcome spellbound, feeling the heat and textures of an English summer invade us - only for Page to cunningly whisk us back to freezing Finland to complete a similarly tense moment there.
The Story Of My Face is more than a gripping read. As well as being beautifully written, it raises disconcerting questions about the nature of affection, appearances and the need for belief-systems. But whether read as a thriller or philosophy it proves a rare literary gem. Let us hope we won't have too long to wait for Kathy Page's next offering.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The Story of My Face grabbed me on the first page and carried me deep into an exploration of neglect, disfigurement and religious fundamentalism. The engaging voice of a needy thirteen year old drives the novel but her story is interwoven with the voice of her adult counterpart and as the novel progresses, we walk the shaky bridge between childhood and adulthood. Kathy Page's ingenious, innovative use of point of view gives Natalie's uncanny insight, the product of her traumatic life, a spooky edge. Like magic, we see the inner workings of many minds and hearts, filtered through one. As well as being an emotional thriller, the novel takes on the religious experience, the birthing of a sect and its difficult growth, leaving the reader to ponder the complexity and power of the image in the modern world. An entertaining, insightful and thought-provoking read...
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an excellent book to be recommended to anyone. The tension is maintained throughout and the contrasting scenes between a Finnish winter and a blazing English summer are wonderful.
The central character, Natalie, is very well written. Her greed, deceit, manipulation and longing for a loving home are all clearly shown, as is the way in which she becomes a catalyst for change.
Having read this book, I now will be looking for anything else written by Kathy Page.
The central character, Natalie, is very well written. Her greed, deceit, manipulation and longing for a loving home are all clearly shown, as is the way in which she becomes a catalyst for change.
Having read this book, I now will be looking for anything else written by Kathy Page.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Slow, steady, and superb
Starting in present day Finland, disfigured religious academic Natalie is there to uncover what prompted a man to set up Envallism, a (fictitious) strict Protestant sect, which... Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2008 by NB
Beautifully and movingly told
I loved this book. - it will definitely be one of my top three for 2006. A moving story about a disaffected teenager who is drawn to a family who belong to an extreme religious... Read more
Published on 1 May 2006 by H. Ashford
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