The Man Without a Face

The writing is good, and the story is only a little dated, but I thought it was rushed, and some things were not well explained. A couple of names were introduced to the story near the end, but their introduction was fuzzy. Who was Evans? How did the new stepfather, Barry, come to be a "staunch"

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friend of Justin McLeod's? Was it meant to be a story about homosexuality, or just a boy's need for a father figure? Ultimately, a little unsatisfying. Charles' family are very one-dimensional; is his Mom really so shallow and self-absorbed? His older sister really such an equally shallow narcissist?

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Eleven year-old Charles Norstadt is the only male in a house of women: his Mother, who has just finished with her fourth husband and is on the lookout for Number Five; his hateful older sister Gloria; and his wise younger sister Meg. While at their summer cottage, Charles must study to pass the

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entrance exam at St. Matthew's, a boarding school he wants to attend to be away from Gloria. Unfortunately, he hasn't inherited his sisters' scholastic abilities, so Meg suggests that he ask Justin McLeod to coach him. Justin is the town recluse, mostly due to a horribly disfigured face. Charles manages to convince him to help, and a wonderful friendship ensues. Charles learns a lot about Justin, and a lot about himself.

My only negative about the book is that I found the ending rushed. It was a good ending, but I felt like the author was on a deadline and just wanted to finish it, so it wasn't as fleshed out as I wish it would have been. I would have enjoyed reading more.

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This award-winning novel tells the story of a teenage misogynist and compulsive underachiever, Charles Norstadt (Chuck), who strains to pass his boarding school entrance exams the second time around and thereby escape the constraints of his much-married mother (castrating even in her desire to

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alter the cat which Chuck sees as ""just part of (her) wholesale plan for the taming and domesticating of the male species"") and nymphet sister. He finds a mentor in the horribly scarred and romantic recluse Justin McLeod who proves a demanding tutor (smashing some straw-man defenses of "progressive education"). This relationship between two emotional cripples leads to a once-only homosexual encounter (though the episode is handled very subtly). Chuck's bitterness is painfully real and the recognition of his sexual feelings commendably frank, but in return for this measure of honesty, the whole story is slanted to justify the daring subject matter -- the psychological underpinnings are intrusive (talk of Oedipus complexes and sibling rivalry), the twin mysteries in the pasts of Chuck's dead father and Justin unlikely, the decadence and nastiness of Chuck's family is somewhat over stressed. In spite of these flaws the novel works well, especially as a morality tale for young adults who, at least in 1971, may not be very sophisticated.

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Fourteen year old Charles is desperate to pass the entrance exam to St Matthews; he failed it once but at the time it did not matter and he was unconcerned, but changes to his self-centred older sister's plans mean he was now desperate to go away to school, desperate enough to sacrifice his summer

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holiday to study. But can he do it on his own; rumour has it that the man who lives alone up on the cliff was once a teacher, the Man Without a Face, McLeod, disfigured by various causes according to rumour, Charles is willing to grasp at any straw.
Unwillingly McLeod takes Charles on, on strict conditions. Over the course of the summer an uneasy relationship between the boy and man grows into something beyond the ordinary, and over the course of the summer Charles, who one might initially call something of a smart-Alec with (despite his claims) a ready answer for most situations, matures into a thoughtful and caring young man.
This is a charming book, beautifully written and the with appealing main characters. These is pervading the novel an uneasy sense of pending doom, but what transpires is unexpected; I found it a most rewarding, relatively short read.

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I read this years ago as a teenager & recall it was pretty good, but there was some pretty creepy subtext, especially at the end, that ruined it for me. I've never had the urge to re-read it & skipped the movie starring Mel Gibson even though I heard it was pretty good.