It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished
It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished
Joanna McFarlane-Frampton
, Itraa Gold
, Dot Mann
, Tanya Blake
, Marjorie Roy
, Emily Johansen
, Prabh Toor
, Jude Castillo
, Brad MULLER
, Darryl Taylor
, Katie Kah
, Alanna Virtue
, Agnes Marshall
, Sheila Cornelisse
, Charly Wreggitt
, Penny Connolly
, Mitchell Schmidt
, Sarah Dalton
, Andrea Pole
, Tracy Johnston
, Marilyn Stanley
, Marc-André Taillefer
, Marissa Yip-Young
, Brittney Warren
, Emily Steiner
, PATRICIA SOPEL
, Cheryl Johnson
, diana cao
, Nicki D'Angelo
, Shelley Butcher
, Ryan Woods
, Wanda Hearn
, Anita Jones
, Tami Osato
, Kirsten Lyon
, toni velthuis
, cassandra schiemann
, Anndee Newson
, Sailaxmi Sahoo
, Stephen Pinder
, Dian Anderson
, Yutong Wu
, Wendi Waage
, Paula Adam
, Christine Labelle
, Debra Fisher
, Noelle Walsh
, Sharon Forzley
, Andrea Gillespie
, kristine hibbs
, Chris Carvalho
, Mary Therrien
, Desmond Tsang
, Natasha Andres
, Laurie Burns
, Margaret Palmer
, Marla Schecter Howard
, Hilary Squires
, Janet Meisner
, Rodney Cross
, Sharon Bird
, Dana Francoeur
, Pam Keetch
, Pamela Roberts Griffith
, Kim Cappellina
, C. Ray
, Heather Belliveau
, Zara Garcia-Alvarez
, Susi Lovell
, Kate Hudson
, Mary Woods
, Paula Ritchie
, Sarah Van Dyk
, Sara Conway
, Benita Hartwell
, Margaret McKay
, Liz Carlin
, Karen Lowe
, Katie Macalister
, Margo Walton
, Tanis Anne
, Hoda Montazeri
, Lynn Bechtel
, Lisa Bilodeau
, Rosa Cross
, Ken Gilmour
, Laurel Nikolai
, Joe Mitchell
, Kim Patrick
, Melissa Dingwall
, M. Ingibergsson
, Christopher Purvis
, Lindsey Andronak
, Ellen Clarke
, Sarah McComb
, Margo Beredjiklian
, Joshua Lewis
, Pamela Humphrey
, Barry Kazimer
, Sarah Schwartz
, Vivian Thorgeirson
, Janet Hosokawa
, Sue MacDonald
, Deana Bueley
, Michelle Arsenault
, Gabrielle Wolfe
, Elle Kishia
, Daniela Rowane Thapa
, Joseph Chirayil
, LJ Law
, Teagan Sedberry
, Louise Walsh
, Ariane Béland
, katie locke
, Ashley Pocrnich
, Melissa Rivosecchi
, Sherri McKibben
, Meaghan Krygier
, Simran Grover
, Jennifer D.
, Pat Johnston
, Jen Bailey
, M M English
, Flatbush Library Library
, Joe Titone
, Roland Schigas
, Melissa Kohlman
, Christine Lion
, Nicole Maxwell
, Lynn Andrews
, Melissa Poremba
editor@49thShelf.com
A raw, beautiful memoir of a girl born missing an ear, a medical system insistent on saving her from herself, and our culture’s desire to “fix” bodies.
When Kate Gies was four years old, a plastic surgeon pressed a synthetic ear to the right side of her head and pulled out a mirror. He told her he could make her “whole”—could make her “right”—and she believed him. From the age of four to thirteen, she underwent fourteen surgeries, including skin and bone grafts, to craft the appearance of an outer ear. Many of the surgeries failed, leaving permanent damage to her body.
In short, lyrical vignettes, Kate writes about how her “disfigured” body was scrutinized, pathologized, and even weaponized. She describes the physical and psychic trauma of medical intervention and its effects on her sense of self, first as a child needing to be fixed and, later, as a teenager and adult navigating the complex expectations and dangers of being a woman.
It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished is the story of a girl desperately trying to have a body that makes her acceptable and of a woman learning to own a body she has never felt was hers to define. In an age of speaking out about the abuse of marginalized bodies, this memoir takes a hard look at the role of the medical system in body oppression and trauma.
