From Britain comes a tale of terror that’s like a gone-horribly-wrong episode of that ridiculous MTV show where disillusioned teens undergo plastic surgery to look more their pop-music idols.
In Melvin Burgess’ SARA’S FACE, Sara Carter is a typical teenage girl: loves music, thinks she’s fatter and uglier than she really is. She’s borderline obsessed with an enigmatic rock star named Jonathon Heat, whose repeated dalliances with facial reconstruction make Michael Jackson look like an amateur. Heat doesn’t just take a little of the tip of his nose, you see; he has his entire face reshaped to look like that of a dog.
She gets the chance to meet her idol after she has a suspicious “accident” in which her face gets burned with an iron, and he visits her in the hospital. He also invites her to come live with him in his palatial estate, where his personal physician will repair her visage. Of course she accepts.
In the days leading to the procedure, Sara seems much happier. But strange things start to happen, too, like the glimpses she keeps catching of a girl running across a hall or around a corner – a girl who has no face.
SARA’S FACE is an interesting if not entirely successful commentary at self-image and how our society pretends to be horrified at such things, but actually supports it. Disturbing ideas are present in the book, both in the social aspect and in the idea of faceless ghost kids. No pun intended, but face it: That’s just a freaky image.
Structured a mix between transcriptions of Sara’s video diaries and a journalist’s investigation of the whole ordeal surrounding the man and his many masks, Burgess’ novel would be more involving if Sara were more sympathetic. But she’s unlikable from the very start – too corrupt already to get on our good side – so as the story progresses, we can’t really feel sorry for her. That doesn’t make us want to stop reading, but it does lower the emotional stakes.
Strangely, this is a young-adult novel, intended for ages 12 and up. When I was 12, I was still reading squeaky-clean things like Encyclopedia Brown and THE WESTING GAME. But this opens with a “fuck” and several pages’ worth of Sara and her boyfriend discussing her tits. Man, how times have changed. –Rod Lott
Related posts:
- The Face of Fear
- Jonah Hex: Face Full of Violence
- Conversations with the Devil
- Off Season
- The Confession
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Well, some of Heinlein’s older novels were classified as “young adult” even though there was nothing young about them. I suppose it’s just a marketing thing.
Gal