Sunday, June 27, 2010
North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley
Release Date: February 1, 2009
Publisher: Little, Brown
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 373
Description:
Born with a port-wine stain birthmark covering her entire right cheek, Terra Rose Cooper is ready to leave her stifling, small Washington China Shanghai
My Review:
Terra was born with a port wine stain birthmark on her face, because of this mark on her face she believes she is not beautiful, she is flawed in some way. In order to compensate for this perceived flaw she works out every day to have a ‘beautiful’ body. She also has a large assortment of creams in order to hide her birthmark and underwent numerous painful laser treatments in order to remove or lighten the stain all of which failed. Apart from having to deal with her birthmarked face Terra’s also has to deal with her fractured family, her mother is emotionally needy, her father is emotionally abusive and her brother’s have left her to deal with it all by herself. This is a huge burden on Terra who has a plan to escape it all, study hard and get into college, all the while not questioning what she is doing. However, her plan soon hits a stumbling block when Terra literally runs into Jacob who sees Terra for who she really is and makes her question her previous assumptions on beauty and her family.
This was such an emotional book for me, it was beautifully written and really examines the issues that are raised in the book, they are not glossed over, especially Terra’s family issues. I can’t imagine what it would be like to live in a house where a father is so emotionally abusive to his family. Terra’s father was a vile man who treated everyone with disdain, he was a man shaped by his past. Each member of Terra’s family dealt with the abuse in different ways, Terra’s mother overate, her brothers left and Terra tried to be perfect. In the end, with the help of Jacob, Terra realized that whilst she would never be perfect, because there is no such thing, she was beautiful. Apart from Terra’s growth as a character, her mother also grew from a submissive housewife at the start of the novel into a strong and assertive character. Throughout the book we not only see how the abuse affected Terra and her mother but also see how the abuse affected Terra’s brothers, particularly Merc who lives in China
I really enjoyed the references about maps that are dispersed throughout the book, I’ve never really known that much about maps before, but I now know a little bit more. I was also introduced to geocaching (finding hidden containers) which I have never heard of before but it sounds like real fun.
North of beautiful is an important book that deals with family, peoples differing perceptions of beauty and finding yourself. I will definitely be reading more from Headley in the future. Amazing!
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2 comments:
What a fantastic review! I have a feeling this book will bring on the tears. I look forward to reading it in the future...with a box of tissues close by.
Oh and I totally understand your need to scream at Merc, I have that feeling all the time towards characters!
I read this not too long ago and I really enjoyed it. My heart hurt for both Jacob and Terra. They were both such wonderful characters. I totally want to go to China because of this book. =) Great review.
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