After This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, I wanted to read this. The chapter which detailed how Clemson University campaigned against the book and its author because of its frankness about sex had me curious to see what all the fuss was about.

In this portrait of the friendship between Patchett and Lucy Grealy, yes, Lucy had a robust sex life, but that's not the focus. It's about Lucy, a bundle of contradictions, both likable and unlikable, and not an easy friend to have.

I do wish Patchett had shared more details about Lucy's background. Her siblings are barely mentioned. She has a non-identical twin sister, apparently, but where was she throughout all this?

When I looked up the book afterwards, I found this interesting article by one of Lucy's sisters -- who isn't happy with Patchett's portrayal.

An interesting read because it's true. Acclaimed authors Ann Patchett and Lucy Grealy were close friends before their fame, living together while attending the Iowa Writers Workshop and remaining close until the end of Lucy's life. Lucy had sacamona in her face as a child, and extensive radiation treatments ravaged her face; her lower jaw practically dissolved and she had but few teeth. Eating, drinking and kissing were problematic.
Ann was more than supportive and always there for Lucy, who understandably had some emotional issues with her appearance and was constantly having surgeries to fix her face.
My reaction was pity, and a bit of impatience because Lucy was very self-centered, like a small child would be Nevertheless she must have been quite adorable and lovable. There is no doubt that Patchettt loved her very much and evidently Grealy had many adoring friends, but it seemed never enough and she never stopped agonizing about being lonely and never finding true love (although she did have several boyfriends along the line.)
Now I must read Grealy's book, Autobiography of a Face, as I must admit I'd never heard of her, though I'm a fan of Patchett.
Upon searching via DuckDuckGo, I found this interesting piece by Lucy's sister, who felt that the family's grief upon Lucy's death had been "hijacked" by Ann's book. (How do you "hijack" someone's grief? I'm still not sure.) https://www.theguardian.com/books/200...

Ann Patchett was a true friend and it was obvious she loved Lucy.She is also a terrific writer.It was almost as if I was there,she described events so clearly.One of the things that really disturbed me was how arrogant,incompetent,and unfeeling so many of the medical practitioners were.