The Story of Beautiful Girl [Hardcover]

I blame Rachel Simon. I blame her for the bags under my eyes and the toothpicks holding up my eyelids. And, it's all because of this book, The Story of Beautiful Girl. 3 nights this week it's had me just one more paging myself into a 2:30 am bedtime. Y'all, I have to tell you about this book. Editorial reviews describe this book as an enthralling or unlikely love story but it is so much more. In fact, by calling this book a love story, I think the editors do it a disservice and turn away a bunch of possible (read younger males) readers. Sure, The Story of Beautiful Girl tells the story of Lynnie and Homan, two people in love who tried to run away from the Pennsylvania State School for the Incurable and Feebleminded. But, their love story isn't what drives the book. The reader recognizes that despite Lynnie's and Homan's disabilities they have the same human needs and desires that each of us do. Yes, they need freedom, respect, beauty, shelter, education, and even love. With this recognition of a very basic kinship with Lynnie and Homan, the reader begins to care about these characters whose surfaces seem so different from us. Ms. Simon's ability to create characters that we identify with and care about allows her to enthrall her readers with a decades spanning story that at times horrifies with it's unflinching look at the mistreatment of the disabled. But, The Story of Beautiful Girl does not only horrify. It also delights and thrills the reader as you watch Lynnie and Homan grown and learn and become fully realized members of the big, wide world we all live in. The Story of Beautiful Girl is a rare gem of a book and is well worth having in your library. Do yourself a huge favor and pick up a copy as soon as you can.

I have worked with children who are developmentally delayed as well as those who are hearing impaired for over 30 years, so I know a thing or two about the field. I've been working long enough that I remember those institutions, how bad most of them were, how mistreated many of my students had been. So when I heard of this book, I was very interested in reading it. And in the end I was very disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the writer has done her research about the institutions, and has a lifetime of experience as a sibling of a person with a mental impairment. The writing though left a lot to be desired.

I like for authors to show me, not tell me. There were too many times when she described what someone was thinking or what was happening, instead of showing me. I didn't think she fleshed out the characters in a way that I could see them living and breathing. Think 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' - reading that made me see the people in the book. Here, they all felt cardboard and cliched- either good or evil, strong or weak. I also felt that the writing was rather juvenile; many times I wondered if the book was meant more for Young Adults.

Then was the unbelievability of much of the plot. First, I questioned how much Lynnie would have been able to hide her pregnancy, and/or hide the fact that she just gave birth. Second, People can indeed be generous and giving. But I found that too often Martha was given a door to escape to with each conflict, someone on the other end who was going to be helping her make it. I wanted all the characters to succeed, but I felt too often it was via other people, not themselves. Finally, people who are deaf don't usually have the kind of language that Homan uses. If the writing is good enough, I can brush aside these anachronisms. But it wasn't, and I couldn't.

I'm not looking for a literary masterpiece; I wanted a read that would pull me into that time and place, with characters I would remember long after I close the book. Unfortunately that didn't happen here. I am giving this book a 2* instead of a 1*, because I can see the promise of a good writer, and that I suspect her non fiction memoir was probably heads and tails better than this. I know I am in the minority, and fully expect folks to be up in arms, giving me 'not helpful' votes and making negative comments. So be it. I could care less about my rank here. What I expect from other reviewers are honest reviews. I hope at least I have written one.

Article first published on blogcritics.org.

The Story of Beautiful Girl was released in May 2011 by Grand Central Publishing, a division of the Hatchett Group. Within two weeks, the book hit the New York Times best seller list.

How does society deal with those of us who cope with disabilities? How would you want to be treated if you had a disability? The Story of Beautiful Girl forces us to address these questions. More importantly, it gives us a glimpse into the innermost thoughts of those treated as "feeble-minded" in what was at the time an uncaring, ignorant society. Both captivating and heartbreaking, the book is meant to be savored, not merely read. Adeptly nuanced and originally wrought, the book explores our compassion and intolerance toward people different than ourselves.

In 1968, Martha, an elderly widow, answers a knock on her farmhouse door. On her doorstep are two escapees from the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded. Lynnie, a white woman with a developmental disability has just given birth to a baby girl. Protecting them is Homan, a deaf African American man. Lynnie is recaptured by the authorities, and Homan escapes. Lynnie whispers to Martha, "Hide her." Those two words launch us into the forty-year story of characters whose love surpasses the insurmountable obstacles they face. Although Beautiful Girl and Homan live apart for decades, the author masterfully intertwines their life stories, inner thoughts and the hope that sustains them.

Life returns to normal for no one in this thought-provoking book. Martha, whose telephone rings only on December 24, when her former students call to arrange a visit on Christmas day, finds her life changed as she cares for baby Julia. The child draws people into Martha's life and gives her newfound purpose.

Rachel Simon, a nationally known public speaker, is the author of the critically acclaimed bestseller, Riding the Bus with My Sister. The memoir chronicles the year Ms. Simon spent accompanying her sister Beth, who is afflicted with an intellectual disability, on joyful bus rides through a city in Pennsylvania. Though this experience, the author gleaned an understanding of the inner life of the developmentally disabled. Haunted for years by the story of an unidentified, deaf African American man found wandering the streets in Chicago, Ms. Simons captures the essence of both in the novel she says, "Burst out of me like nothing before."

This reader (who has a physical disability) believes the feelings of those with disabilities remain a mystery to those outside of our sphere. Ms. Rosen convinces otherwise. The author's sensitivity to the world of the disabled comes from the personal experience of her sibling as well as interviews with people who had been wrongfully institutionalized and professionals who staff group homes. The book's dedication reads, "For those who were put away." Although Ms. Simon's awareness of the institutional life forms a backbone for the book, it is her insight into the indomitable spirit of the human soul that infuses The Story of Beautiful Girl with brilliance and honesty.

The book jacket brilliantly captures the bond between the characters. We see a silhouette of "Beautiful Girl, Lynnie" on the book cover. Feathers are imprinted on the inside cover. When Lynnie and Homan were together, she drew the night skies and "feather" was the name of a constellation he taught her. At their coming together in the cornfield a flying bird dropped a red feather, which they pressed together between their chests. "Red feathers are rare," says Lynnie's sister with whom she is ultimately reunited. "If you find one, you should keep it forever." On the back cover, a child's hand reaches for a feather, perhaps symbolic of a long-awaited reunion.

Reading The Story of Beautiful Girl will change your perception of those whose challenges differ from your own. This book will move you to a better place. Highly recommended.
Reviewed by Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont

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