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Transplant: A Young Woman Struggles to Adapt to Her New Face

Gerald Neufeld
Novel Voices Press (2011)
ISBN 9780986877315
Reviewed by Enid Grabiner for RebeccasReads (8/11)

Jenny Beaulieu is an active, social young woman enjoying a career in software development when a horrific car accident suddenly destroys her life as she knows it.  Her face is sliced off in the collision, stripping away her ability to eat or speak.  Her face is unbearable to look at and needless to say, her confidence is eclipsed.  She becomes a prisoner in the home she shares with Rob, a boyfriend with whom she has a disintegrating relationship.  She resents his hovering but is reluctant to leave.  Despite the support of family and friends, she hides herself away, masking her face with veils.  Slowly, she forces herself back into the world.  Using a computerized speaking device developed by her colleagues she returns to work.  She learns to deal with the stares and the veils become her façade. 

As she is adapting to her changed life, she is offered the opportunity to have a face transplant.  It is a chance for her to have more normal appearing features.  She would be able to breathe more easily, eat normally and speak once more.  It is not an easy road ahead as there are medical side effects and unexpected emotional ones. 
Fortunately Jenny realizes she must be her own advocate.  Everyone seems to have his own agenda, not necessarily aimed at her benefit. She asks questions but the doctors and therapists are often condescending and cold. The transplant team, unsympathetic to her need for anonymity, is anxious for her to be their poster child so they can get funding.  Her friends seem to think that this will be an easy fix and question her reluctance.  No one seems to understand that she is fighting for an identity.  It finally takes the compassion of an old friend and a troubled young girl to make her grasp who she really is.

Although the story is fictional, much of the science associated with transplants is incorporated into the story, the reader learning about the medical and emotional impact right along with Jenny.  Neufeld sensitively explores possible results, both positive and negative, reinforcing the fact that advances in medical science should be approached with caution. 

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