Synopsis

Ambrose Young was beautiful. He was tall and muscular, with hair that touched his shoulders and eyes that burned right through you. The kind of beautiful that graced the covers of romance novels, and Fern Taylor would know. She’d been reading them since she was thirteen. But maybe because he was so beautiful he was never someone Fern thought she could have…until he wasn’t beautiful anymore.

Making Faces is the story of a small town where five young men go off to war, and only one comes back. It is the story of loss. Collective loss, individual loss, loss of beauty, loss of life, loss of identity. It is the tale of one girl’s love for a broken boy, and a wounded warrior’s love for an unremarkable girl. This is a story of friendship that overcomes heartache, heroism that defies the common definitions, and a modern tale of Beauty and the Beast, where we discover that there is a little beauty and a little beast in all of us.

*USA Today Bestseller book*

Véleményem a könyvről

Egyszerűen nem tudom, hogyan öntsem szavakba azt az élményt amit ez a könyv adott nekem… Egyszerre volt csodálatos, megrázó, felemelő, mélybe taszító, humoros, szomorú, kilátástalan és reményt adó. Azt hiszem ez az egy mondat elárulja, mennyire hihetetlenül ellentmondásos és vegyes érzelmeket váltott ki belőlem ez a történet. Kicsit úgy érzem, mintha kiszakították volna a szívemet majd még egy-kettőt ugráltak is volna rajta, de ennek ellenére mégsem cserélném el ezt a könyvélményt semmi pénzért.

A történetnek három főszereplője van, akik egy végzős gimnáziumi évfolyam diákjai. Ott van Bailey, aki betegsége miatt kerekesszékben kényszerül leélni megszámlált napjait, az unokatestvére Fern, egy kevésbé szép vörös hajú, szemüveges, fogszabályzós lány, és a suli sztárja, a birkózó Ambrose Young, akibe Fern örök idők óta szerelmes.

A történet elején Fern szerelmes leveleket ír Ambrose-nak a legjobb barátnője, Rita nevében. A leveleken keresztül közte és Ambrose között kialakul egy igen szoros kapcsolat, ám amikor kiderül, hogy titokban ő írta a leveleket, Ambrose úgy érzi, hogy kijátszották a bizalmátés az érzelmeit. Aztán időugrás. 2001. szeptember 11. után Amerika háborút indít Afganisztán, majd Irak ellen, és Ambrose úgy dönt négy barátjával együtt, hogy bevonul. Így kezdődik a történet.

A könyvben sok az időugrás, sok a visszaemlékezés és különleges a kötet felépítése, de ez számomra nem volt zavaró, sőt talán még többet adott a könyvélményhez. Az írónő gyönyörű stílussal ír, és nem is tudom elmondani, hogy hányszor csordította ki a könnyeimet a történet elmesélése során. A karakterek különösen kidolgozottak voltak, és számomra feledhetetlenekké váltak.  Úgy gondolom, hogy ez a különösen szép történet attól nem mindennapi, hogy a sötétség és szomorúság mellett folyamatosan ott van az optimizmus, ott van a fény. (Ehhez legjobban Bailey és Fern humoros karaktere járul hozzá.)

Ez tényleg egy csodálatos és elgondolkodtató történet volt, és teljes szívvel ajánlom mindenkinek.

Victory is in the Battle

My Review in English

I really can’t put into words the experience this book gave to me. This was amazing, devastating, uplifting, powerful, humorous, sad, hopeless and hopeful at the same time. I think that the above line alone is able to tell you how exceptionally contradictory this story was, and how my emotions were all over the place.

I felt like someone ripped my heart out and then danced a little on it, but despite that I wouldn’t give the experience for anything. I think this is the book students should be required to read in school.

The story has three main characters, who are seniors at the local high school. There is Bailey, who has to live his life in a wheelchair because of his illness, his cousin Fern, a not-so-beautiful ginger girl who wears glasses and braces, and the wrestling star of the high school, Ambrose Young. Fern has a lifetime crush on Ambrose and she writes love letters to him on behalf of her best friend, Rita. Through the letters between Abrose and Fern a special bond develops, but when Ambrose starts to date with the Rita, he really quickly realizes that she couldn’t write those funny and smart letters, and probably Fern wrote them and he felts himself cheated. Then we jump in time. After 9/11 America starts a war against Afghanistan, then Iraq and Ambrose decides with four of his best friends that he will sign up. This is where the story starts.

This book has a lot of time jumps, reminiscence and the book has a really special structure, which I absolutely loved! I think this structure gave a lot to the experience. The writing style of the author was beautiful and flawless and I can’t tell you how many times made me this book cry. The characters were so complex, developed and unforgettable. I think that the story was so special because beside the darkness and sadness there was always the optimism and the light (Mostly because of Bailey’s and Fern’s humorous character). This was a truly beautiful story with pure love, and stunning writing style and it made me think. I recommend this book with all my heart to everybody.

Victory is in the Battle

My Favorite Quotes From the Book

“You loved ferris wheels more than roller coasters because life shouldn’t be lived at full speed, but in anticipation and appreciation.”

“But after tonight, I can’t say that anymore. There’s a lot I don’t understand . . .  but not understanding is better than not believing.”

“And so we endure. We have faith that there is purpose. We hope for things we can’t see. We believe that there are lessons in loss, power in love, and that we have within us the potential for a beauty so magnificent that our bodies can’t contain it.”

“Death is easy. Living is the hard part.”

“Maybe everyone represents a piece of the puzzle. We all fit together to create this experience we call life. None of us can see the part we play or the way it all turns out. Maybe the miracles that we see are just the tip of the iceberg. And maybe we just don’t recognize the blessings that come as a result of terrible things.”

“Books allow you to be whoever you want to be, to escape yourself for a while.”

“True beauty, the kind that doesn’t fade or wash off, takes time. It takes pressure. It takes incredible endurance. It is the slow drip that makes the stalactite, the shaking of the Earth that creates mountains, the constant pounding of the waves that breaks up the rocks and smooths the rough edges. And from the violence, the furor, the ranging of the winds, the roaring of the waters, something better emerges, something that would otherwise never exist.”

“There isn’t heartache if there hasn’t been joy. I wouldn’t feel loss if there hadn’t been love.”

“I will spend the rest of my life trying to make you happy, and when you get tired of looking at me, I promise I’ll sing.”

Six -Beautiful- Stars

“In big black letters she wrote KITES OR BALLOONS across the whiteboard, and she taped a red balloon, his favorite color, to the side. He would know it was Fern. Once upon a time, they had asked each other a million questions just like this. In fact, Ambrose had been the first to ask this particular question. Kites or Balloons? Fern had said kites because if she were a kite she could fly, but someone would always be holding onto her. Ambrose had said balloons: “I like the idea of flying away and letting the wind take me. I don’t think I want anyone holding onto me.”

About the Author

Amy Harmon is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and New York Times Bestselling author. Amy knew at an early age that writing was something she wanted to do, and she divided her time between writing songs and stories as she grew. Having grown up in the middle of wheat fields without a television, with only her books and her siblings to entertain her, she developed a strong sense of what made a good story. Her books are now being published in several countries, truly a dream come true for a little country girl from Levan, Utah.

Amy Harmon has written eight novels – the USA Today Bestsellers, Making Faces and Running Barefoot, as well as The Law of Moses, The Song of David, Infinity + One, Slow Dance in Purgatory, Prom Night in Purgatory, and the New York Times Bestseller, A Different Blue. For updates on upcoming book releases, author posts and more, join Amy at www.authoramyharmon.com

Update:
*I cried like a little girl,when I got this beauty for Christmas. And I don’t know that if it is because this is the most beautiful book I’ve ever held in my hands, or because I have the most wonderful husband in the whole wide world. <3 *