There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

Lee Kofman is an incredible writer, and I must say that he has done a great job on this book! I enjoyed reading it a lot, it was an amazing reading, full of culture, reality, and the social criticism that he makes through his words is fascinating, very sincere, this book explains the feeling of a person with a disfigured body and how they reflect that in their own lives.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy.

An honest story of how we view bodily perfections and the relation to how beautiful we are seen. Having gone through eczema that have left skin discoloring, I understood some,of the authors feelings. A good memoir worth reading.

BY THE TIME she was eleven and living in the Soviet Union, Lee Kofman had undergone several major operations on both a defective heart and injuries sustained in a bus accident. Her body harbours a constellation of disfiguring scars that have shaped her sense of self, her view of the world and the choices she has made. But it wasn’t until she moved to Israel and later to Australia that she began to think these markings weren’t badges of honour to flaunt but were, in fact, imperfections that needed to be concealed.

In a seductive mix of memoir and cultural critique, Kofman casts a questioning eye on the myths surrounding our conception of physical perfection and what it’s like to live in a body that deviates from the norm. She reveals the subtle ways we are all influenced by the bodies we inhabit, whether our differences are pronounced or noticeable only to ourselves. She talks to people of all shapes, sizes and configurations and takes a hard look at the way media and culture tell us how bodies should and shouldn’t be.

I liked this book, but I felt like the combination of their critique and a narrative didn’t sit well with me.

This book could have been a little bit more powerful had Koffman stuck with one or the other, not both.
Koffman wanted this to be so artsy, I felt like she lost her identity in the artsiness of this book. For me, a memoir or a biography should be less about the prose and more about the story.

I’d recommend giving this a try but this book isn’t for everyone.