TBR Tues – Making Faces Audiobook by Amy Harmon, narrated by Rob Shappiro

“Maybe we just don’t recognize the blessings that come as a result of terrible things”

Rob Shappiro perfectly submerses the listener into Amy Harmon’s Making Faces. Originally published in 2013 and narrated in 2014 this book has been on my TBR for years since I was first introduced to Amy with the release of The Songbook of Benny Lament in 2021. Billed as “collective loss, individual loss, loss of beauty, loss of life, loss of identity” around the active and passive experience of war, I was particularly drawn to this story as my two sons and daughter-in-laws are actively serving in the Army and a our close friend’s son, who was in his early 20s at the time, almost died and lost a leg in the Afghan conflict. Amy uses the backdrop of personal identity and how it is impacted by hardship and loss to perfectly bring to life the many facets of emotions found within the struggles around self-worth. But, while the topic makes it seem like this might be a depressing listen it is anything but. Amy uses her storytelling gift and Rob his charismatic delivery to give us an uplifting and heartwarming hope that transcends the story of Ambrose and Fern.

“If God made all our faces, did he laugh when he made me?

Does he make the legs that cannot walk and eyes that cannot see?

Does he curl the hair upon my head ’til it rebels in wild defiance?

Does he close the ears of a deaf man to make him more reliant?

Is the way I look a coincidence or just a twist of fate?

If he made me this way, is it okay, to blame him for the things I hate?

For the flaws that seem to worsen every time I see a mirror,For the ugliness I see in me, for the loathing and the fear.

Does he sculpt us for his pleasure, for a reason I can’t see?

If God makes all our faces, did he laugh when he made me?”

Fern in Making Faces

“Death is easy. Living is the hard part.”

Ambrose and Fern’s story, from their high school friendship while at two opposite ends of the social ladder to a reconnecting as young adults with the roles reversed, is emotionally captivating from the opening chapter. Amy deftly uses flashbacks to flesh out their story and give context to a relationship that must defy expectations and odds if it hopes to have a chance. A relationship that might be the only thing that can help both Ambrose and Fern see that they are so much more than their outward appearance. I love how Amy consistently adds prominent secondary characters in many of her stories. In Making Faces this is Fern’s handicapped cousin, Bailey Sheen. Bailey not only ends up playing a major role in both their lives but his story and struggles are a source of laughter and inspiration for all of us.

The icing on the cake of this masterful audiobook is the narration by Rob Shappiro. His velvet, mesmerizing voice and ability to verbally create a distinct presence for each character whisks you away. Listening to him makes me feel like I’m actually a part of the events and not just listening to an audiobook, so much so I had to start watching where I was listening as at any moment I might be laughing or crying out loud. And this book comes with so many of those moments! Amy has written Making Faces for the heart not just the head in a way that is signature Amy Harmon. I love, love, loved the story of Ambrose, Fern, and Bailey that not only have I listened to it, but I have now read it and will probably do both again at some future time. It really is that good!