The Facemaker: A Visionary Surgeon's Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I
By: Lindsey Fitzharris / Narrated By: Daniel Gillies
Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
Ahhhhh… m’ sister read the Publisher’s Summary… something you should NOT do if you’re going to enjoy this VAStly AWEsome book!
M’ sister and I both listened to this book, and when we got together to discuss it, she (Most uncharacteristically!) kinda took in a breath and said, “You first…”.
Uh oh, thought I to m’self: She haaaaated it… Cuz, see, if she likes something, she gets excited… and she doesn’t have the air of one waiting to throw a punch.
Uh oh, cuz, see, I LOVED The Facemaker. It was my perfect blend of history of a horrific war, rabbit holes to go down, cutting edge empathy, and bits and pieces thrown together in juuuuust the manner that author Lindsey Fitzharris did so well in The Butchering Art. And so I waxed enthusiastic for a while and then waited for the blows to land.
She was really torn… which is a relief cuz if she haaaaated it? I get a one-sided conversation that is ALL IN CAPS, NARY A BREATH TAKEN, and OY! You think I’M harsh when I oh, say, Want My Hours Back?! Oy and Ouch to whomever doesn’t cut the mustard with her. -BUT- She totally had a point with her reservations about the book.
It’s like this: She took the audiobook’s title at (Wait for it! Wait for it!) face! value (And PUN!!!!), and thought the whole thing was going to be about master surgeon of face reconstruction, Harold Gillies.
And oh dear Accomplice, The Facemaker was about soooo much more than just the one man. Fitzharris (Who counts master historian Erik Larson as comrade in writing) channels her inner-Larson and gives us SUCH a well-rounded story of the tragedy and traumas around the First World War, complete with rabbit holes about just how it started (Think that motorcade in Sarajevo and just how many attempts were planned, or made on the Archduke’s life) and rolling on hour after hour with even more asides on the fellow experts who attempted to bring kindness and skill to returning victims of the War back to a semblance of normal. We’re given details about the dentists who worked to build back structural jaws and teeth for Gillies to work from. We’re introduced to artists who chronicled the surgical stages and results as each soldier underwent the knife (Artwork that captured color and were thus even more impressive than black and white photographs were). Women skilled in sculpture sometimes crafted masks, working from every obtainable photograph available of the injured man prior to injury so as to capture the essence of them.
I LIVE for stuff like that!
So, while she applauded and appreciated the history? Big Sis was wholly let down by the fact that Harold Gillies and his work is mentioned, gone over, and then swept aside for the Next Rabbit Hole that researcher-extraordinaire Fitzharris goes down. Indeed, there are times when Gillies the Avid Golfer gets more airtime than does Gillies the Facemaker. So I do understand her point.
It’s just that oh my good golly gosh! I dunno why, but it never occurred to me before about why just soooo many facial reconstructions should be a surprise. But Fitzharris relays the brutal fact: WWI was fought largely in the trenches when peeking above and out to suss out the territory provided a headshot for the enemy to take. Gruesome devastation, and whereas a “wounded” soldier who lost a limb garnered sympathy? A man with no nose, jaw, cheeks, eyes inspired revulsion and desperate weeping and/or dead faints. I neeeed these facts cuz I like authors who tell me how Things Really WERE.
Daniel No-Relation-To-Harold? Gillies is the narrator, and while I enjoyed what he brought to the performance (Gentleness, pathos, wry humor, severity), I must admit that I had to jack my usual x1.3 listening speed up to around x1.8. I KNOW! Even for me, that’s more than I care to listen at. But Gillies kinda does the whole ponderous: This Is Somber thing, and that’s grating on my nerves. Waaaay more than the bit o’ tinniness that occurs during higher speeds. Still, he’s a Brit, so I applaud him just for being a Brit!
I’m such an easy crowd.
Come for the title, don’t expect it to be aaaallll the book is about, and you’ll come outta the just over 8-hours vastly entertained and enlightened. And do make sure you view the Accompanying PDF as the photos tell a story just by themselves.
And?
Fitzharris makes sure to include a pic of Harold Gillies golfing…
History History Biography Surgery Golf History Surgery Surgery and GOLF YET AGAIN?
You betcha. And I loved every minute of it…!!!
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