Truth & Beauty

A Friendship

By: Ann Patchett

Narrated by: Ann Patchett

Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

The author of Bel Canto, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Orange Prize, and long-running New York Times best seller, turns to nonfiction in a moving chronicle of her decades-long friendship with the critically acclaimed and recently deceased author, Lucy Grealy.

What happens when the person who is your family is someone you aren't bound to by blood? What happens when that person is not your lover, but your best friend? In her frank and startlingly intimate first work of nonfiction, Truth & Beauty, Ann Patchett shines light on the little-explored world of women's friendships and shows us what it means to stand together.

Ann Patchett and Lucy Grealy met in college in 1981, and after enrolling in the Iowa Writer's Workshop began a friendship that would be as defining to both of their lives as their work. In her critically acclaimed memoir, Autobiography of a Face, Lucy Grealy wrote about the first half of her life. In Truth & Beauty, the story isn't Lucy's life or Ann's life but the parts of their lives they shared together. This is a portrait of unwavering commitment that spans 20 years, from the long cold winters of the Midwest to surgical wards to book parties in New York. Through love, fame, drugs, and despair, this is what it means to be part of two lives that are intertwined.

This is a tender, brutal book about loving the person we cannot save. It is about loyalty and about being lifted up by the sheer effervescence of someone who knew how to live life to the fullest.

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©2004 Ann Patchett (P)2004 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Alex Award Winner, 2005

"This gorgeously written chronicle unfolds as an example of how friendships can contain more passion and affection than any in the romantic realm." (Publishers Weekly)
"An electrifyingly intimate portrait of a remarkable human being, and a profoundly insightful chronicle of an incandescent friendship." (Booklist)

Finally!

The best part about this story is that Lucy Grealy is dead. Ann is a good writer because even though she tortured the reader with Lucy's selfish and self absorbed life, she held our interest until the end. It was smart of her to wait until the last few seconds of the story to report Lucy's death. I am certain that Ann will agree that Lucy did her and her friends a huge favor by dying. It is a shame that it took so long. Autobiography of a Face gave insight as to who Lucy was, but it did not explain why Ann Patchett let Lucy emotionally abuse her for such a long time.

What a book, what a story!

Of all the things in life I have to be thankful for, living long enough to hear Ann Patchett read this amazing story to me on Audible is absolutely one of them. Thank you, Ann.

Listen with an open mind

This book is not about any one thing, much like women's friendships. You listen, you absorb, you think about your girlfriends, you ruminate. Don't expect anything, just listen to how 2 women navigate differently through life and friendship.

Better than expected

I really like Ann Patchett as a narrator, so that helped. I can see why some have called out codependency, but don't agree. Patchett makes good observations & the ones on doctors were especially astute. I'm planning to read Lucy's memoir at some point. Maybe I'll take a break though before doing that. The ending was very hard to read.

Needed trigger alerts

This is, at its core, a story of friendship and co-dependency. If I’d known it would devolve into such a graphic description of drug addiction and the heartbreak that accompanies that journey for family and friends, never mind the addict themselves, I would have steered clear. I love Ann Patchett’s writing but this was a sad, familiar tale I hated to relive. How I wish I’d read the reviews I now see described exactly what I was in for!

It got better....

I rarely give up on a book and I almost did with Truth and Beauty. I am a fan of other Patchett books, Bel Canto, Magician's Assistant, State of Wonder...but this one, was too much, just too much of this back and forth between these two mostly unhappy people. I find it hard to believe that Patchett would want to write about every conversation, every sad call yet perhaps if I had read Lucy Grealy's book I may feel otherwise. The book did begin to hold my interest as it progressed, but for me overall, I guess it was just too depressing.
I must say however that Lucy Grealy was an amazing woman it seems at least from her friend's account. And to have such a friendship, what a gift for Ann and Lucy.

Touching

Ann Patchett never disappoints! Fabulous writer! This is a Brilliant & extraordinary story of her best friend Lucy. What a character Lucy was! At 10 yrs old she developed a large cancerous facial tumor. Multiple surgeries & medical problems never stopped her from living a very BIG life. I would love to ask Ann more questions about Lucy. What was her relationship with her mother? Her Family? Just to name a few.. I highly recommend this book about a relentless spirit & an enduring friendship that was inspiring.

A moving story about friendship, addiction and love

I read this for extra credit assigned by my professor and never expected the story to be so touching. It really is a representation of human connection and the reality of drug abuse for some

Loving Lucy

Patchett’s love and respect for Lucy shone through the words of her memoir, and her account of their friendship brought Lucy to life for me. The brave way Lucy moved forth is something to be admired, and the kind of friends she and Ann were to each other are the kind anyone would be lucky to have. I appreciated hearing their story in Patchett’s voice-wise, humorous and humble.

You can afford a hundred bucks

You can afford a hundred bucks for a truly first-class literary experience, can?t you? Good.

Go to audible.com, and give them your credit card info. When your audible player comes, download Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett. Wait for a rainy day, and soak up some real pleasure.

This is a book by a woman, about her incredible friendship with another incredible woman?read by the author herself. If you are not interested in women, don?t bother.