My Life in Black & White (review)

Two things change Alexa's life when she's fifteen: "My best friend betrayed me. And my face went through a windshield." Prior to that she'd enjoyed the easy confidence of being the beautiful one, who drew universal approbation and attention from passing fashion photographers. Then came the drunken party where she found her boyfriend receiving a blowjob from her best friend, Taylor, and ended up in a car accident after leaving the party in a fury. The damage is sufficient to require a skin graft that leaves Alexa's pretty face permanently changed, so she hacks off her hair, eats herself silly, and stocks up on hoodies to cover herself, returning to school in a very different persona as she struggles with her estrangement from Taylor and her new role in a family that had celebrated her for her beauty. That's a solid and adolescent-appealing premise, and the accessibly written story is particularly perceptive at conveying Alexa's past ignorance about what her beauty spared her from and the contrast with what she experiences now—it's not so much that she's become a target as she's no longer spared from the cruel trash talk that most teens must endure. There's too much contrivance in the plot, though, from convenient eavesdroppings to fortuitous encounters, and characterizations are more functionary than vivid (save for that of Alexa's older sister, Ruthie, who surprises Alexa by becoming her anchor amid the storm). Especially since the medical details remain pretty vague and disappear quickly, the alarming initial intimations about Alexa's injuries ironically make her eventual scar seem pretty minor. The concept still will elicit plenty of discussion, though, and the book could make an interesting partner to Klam's The Pretty One (BCCB 4/06) or Westerfeld's Uglies (BCCB 2/05).