Face

Product Information

Can you imagine waking up in a hospital, and not even knowing for sure whether you have still got all your limbs? I just read it, then at the end, when I found out it was Benjamin Z and he was only 'up the road' in Birmingham, I loved it more. 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. Stimulating activities in the book and a free downloadable scheme of work available to download on publication. The holidays have started, he’s got a gorgeous girlfriend and everyone agrees he’s the coolest dancer around.

Face by Benjamin Zephaniah is an interesting, compelling and emotional story that tackles social problems about physical disfigurement. When he finds out that his girlfriend and bestfriends had moved on, he realises that for some people life isn't always easy. Zephaniah shows the different ways in which the society/world reacts to huge physical changes and how difficult it can be to cope with 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. I did go into reading this book thinking purely about students/ya reading this but a few chapters in and I was hooked and read it for my own enjoyment and forgot about reading it to recommend. He is the author of a number of acclaimed novels for young adults, including Refugee Boy and the upcoming Gangsta Rap. 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.

Like Refugee Boy that I also listened to recently, Face was brilliantly read by Ben Bailey Smith, who moves seamlessly in and out of a London accent. But when his world is turned upside down by a crash in a stolen car, he has to come to terms with more than his facial injuries…. It was a good base but there wasn't a lot of depth in the characters, there was a lot of telling and not showing (which was the biggest problem in my opinion. 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.It follows the story of Martin, a British teenager living in east London, and how his and his friends and family’s life changed after a horrific car crash. 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. The intriguing synopsis and amazing cover made this seem like it would be great, but I had so much trouble connecting with the characters. I wanted to know more about Martin because I never felt like I got a good grasp of who he is and his personality.