Face

Product Information

Face was okay, but it wasn’t Zephaniah’s best – it was a little too preachy, too much like a moral tale, and it took me a while to get into it. Even once I’d been absorbed into the story line, I didn’t enjoy it much, although I did appreciate that the large print made it easy for me to power through it. It perfectly executes a change in character for Martin, who you go from having a distaste to, to supporting every step of his lifechanging journey. The pacing is excellent as well, with events naturally following on from one another - whilst never lingering on certain situations for too long. Constantly remaining engaging and new with each chapter. I really wanted to like this book. The cover is good and thought provoking and the concept behind it was really interesting. I feel like if it had been executed better this book could have been brilliant. Unfortunately it wasn't. The first problem I had was with Martin and his two friends called Matthew and Mark, it took me until the accident to be able to differentiate between the two of them and at that point they became much small characters. While they seemed like they could have been more interesting it also seemed as though they were assigned one character trait and that was the whole basis of who they were. Little depth was given to them.

With this being my 3rd reading of 'Face' (reading the book twice, and the play once), I still love this book and the message it teaches the reader. The other characters are additionally well written - with their portrayals remaining relatable throughout, thanks to Zephaniah's realistic youth dialogue. Fleshing out a very clear world these young characters live in, with the change in dialogue between speaking with their child counterparts and adults conveying an accurate fictional narrative, within a non-fictional setting. I did like his friends from after the accident the Jamaican sisters and Anthony. I thought that they were interesting and unique characters and I would have loved to learn more about them.

It’s just a little too shaky in places, and whilst there aren’t any overt mistakes in terms of grammar and punctuation, I did occasionally find myself being jerked out of the story when somebody behaved strangely or said something unusual. You could tell it was purely for the sake of advancing the moral. And then there was the part where Zephaniah said it was a Friday, and in the following scene it was “the next day” and still Friday, somehow.

If you are looking for something grounded in reality which manages to perfectly balance issues around discrimination and prejudice towards appearance, race, culture, and personal interest, then this is a MUST read.