Face: One Square Foot of Skin

Those of us who grew up in the 80s might best remember Justine Bateman from her role as Mallory in “Family Ties.” Her character was depicted as a stereotypical teen from that era: obsessed with materialistic success, appearance and conformity. It is interesting in this context to read her latest work of collected stories, Face, which is a repudiation of those very values that she used to portray. The book contains 47 short stories, each told by the point-of-view of American women of varying ages and occupations. The overarching theme is the marginalization of women once they reach a mature age, with or without opting for cosmetic surgery to mitigate its effects. In the introduction, Bateman discusses how the perceived value of women show more after child-bearing age is greatly diminished, especially when compared to men of similar ages. While the author is seeming to attempt a broad inclusion of different narrators, the book is heavily represented by the wealthy and privileged-especially those in the entertainment industry. This is unsurprising given Bateman’s own probable circle of associates and experience but results in a sense of elitism and repetitiveness. There is no mention of people for whom such surgeries are unavailable due to cost or opportunity, and the elective procedures are treated as choices available to all. Bateman’s own opinion on the subject becomes very clear, and this book appears to act somewhat as a personal rebuttal to her own critics and competitors in her industries. Those who choose to alter their appearance are for the most part disdained and judged as being superficial. Face is a book with a clear agenda that is meant to be considered admirable and affirming, but unfortunately often comes across instead as didactic and one-sided.

Thanks to the author and Akashic Books for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. show less

As a woman of early-middle-age, this book struck a chord with me. Our society worships youth and the appearance of it - especially for women. There is a constant stream of advertisements for goods like cosmetic procedures, creams, makeups, and other consumables - all telling aging women that there is something wrong with them. They need fixed. A woman who allows natural aging is in direct conflict with this message, and can be offensive to those who buy into the marketing. In this book, the author ultimately advocates for women to reject society's harmful standards of beauty and to embrace and feel pride in an aging face. It's a refreshing, feminist, and needed message.

This review is based on an advanced uncorrected proof provided by the publisher for the LibraryThing early reviewer program for Face: One Square Foot of Skin. According to the publisher's ad, this "book was based on “older face” experiences of the author" and dozens of people she interviewed. I assumed that the stories would primarily be about the elderly -- people who actually had older faces, and was deeply disappointed to discover that there were more stories about women in their 30s or younger (12) than in their 60s or over (5). In my opinion, the story about the first grade teacher teaching her students about what a face could do was entirely inappropriate. The stories featured people with money who could afford to pamper their show more faces and have various operations to make them appear younger. Some of the women felt pressured by society or their professions to look young. Several stories showed how men valued women on pretty faces; one story dealt with a man's asking his wife to tell the wife of a new employee to get a face lift so the couple would fit into the company culture. Fortunately, by the end of the book, more of the stories were about women's valuing their aging faces, and not as depressing as those at the book's beginning. show less

Oh gee, I was hoping for so much more. Justine Bateman took the time to do 47 short stories with people on the subject of women with aging face. She concentrates on women who are rich enough to spend $2,000 a year on face creams and those who get hooked into the face life addiction.

On the cover, her face is shown with the markings of a cosmetic surgeon. That lead me to think that this book is about her own personal story. If I could talk to Justine, I would tell her to write the story from her own heart, her own personal view, not from 47 different people.

What we got instead were one-word sentences, choppy, choppy and very repetitious. I started out reading the stories. Everyone ended abruptly and lacked depth. When I got to page 91, I show more began to skim. I felt that I was felt that I was floundering. I do believe that she is good at acting and directing, but I think that she needs to read, read, read and take writing courses to learn how to speak her heart and have people hear her message. show less

Face addresses women's concerns with aging. This is very much a book geared to white women with expendable incomes in the United States. On the first page, Ms. Bateman explains how she has always admired the looks of older European actresses. I feel this book has a limited audience.
However, it is well written and does have an important and valid message. I am interested in how coming out of Covid quarantines will affect women's pursuit of youth. I assume that as long as youth continues to be marketed to women that nothing will change. Too bad!

*I received a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
This book provides many personal stories about the relationship between women and their own physical appearance and how society's expectations and judgments affect that relationship. Some of the reflections hit very close to home, as I am a woman in my mid-fifties. But overall I was unenthused about the entire book. The focus is on the experience of white women with few or no financial constraints. I think the book would have been better if it had examined the experience of a wider swath of women. But I appreciate the willingness to address this topic with honesty.

Face by Justine Bateman is a work that tried so hard not to be too jargonish or theoretical that it became hard to discern what points are actually being made. While I think the book will still be empowering for many I also think another large group will be left scratching their heads.

I think the idea of presenting the types of things women go through with respect to appearance, and specifically the face, in short story form can be a very useful method. I recently read another book that did something similar. But what that book added that this book didn't was some context and theory around the stories. It really wouldn't have taken much, maybe grouping the stories by a common concept and offering a short conceptual chapter for each show more group explaining what is being shown and what we can learn and change in that area. Instead, it just becomes a collection of stories that leaves the reader largely wondering what they can gain from them.

I will still recommend this but mostly for those already well-versed in the theories surrounding this topic so that they can essentially insert their own conceptual chapters as they read. If I were still teaching any WGS courses I could see myself selecting some of these examples to highlight other more theoretical readings and discussions. I found her book Fame to be insightful and had expected something similar, so I would warn readers who think the same thing to temper their expectations.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing Early Reviewers. show less