My Dive into “No Face”
So, I was in a mood, you know? Kinda tired of the usual stuff everyone’s talking about, all shiny and happy. I wanted something… different. Something that felt a bit more, I don’t know, real, even if it was tough. That’s how I started this whole thing, this little project of mine, to just sit with a story that wasn’t gonna be easy.
I started digging around, looking for short stories, something I could really chew on. And then I found it, this piece by Junot Diaz. The name “No Face” just jumped out. Sounded grim, and I figured, okay, this might be it. So, I sat down and decided, right, let’s see what this is all about. My “practice” for the day was just to read it, really read it, and see where it took me.
Man, getting into it was something else. It’s about this kid, Ysrael. And the thing is, his face… well, the story says pigs got to him when he was just a baby. Horrible, right? So everyone calls him “No Face.” Just like that. Diaz writes, “He was a boy so ugly that everyone in Palenque called him No Face.” That line just hit me. Straight up, no sugar-coating.
As I kept reading, I really felt for this kid. The townspeople, they weren’t nice. Not at all. It’s like he was this walking, talking horror show for them. There was this one guy, Father Lou, who seemed to be the only one who treated him like a human being. It made me think a lot about how people treat folks who are different, you know? It’s a tough look at things.
The whole vibe of the story, it’s kinda heavy. Melancholy, I think is the word? And the way Diaz writes, it’s so vivid. Sometimes harsh, too. You really get a sense of Ysrael’s world, how he’s struggling with who he is and just trying to find a place where he fits, or at least isn’t stared at all the time. It’s not a happy story, not by a long shot. But it felt important, somehow.
So, what did I get out of this whole “practice” of reading “No Face”?
- It reminded me that stories don’t have to be pretty to be powerful.
- Diaz’s writing, it’s raw. It sticks with you.
- It really makes you think about loneliness and what it means to be an outsider.
Honestly, after I finished, I just sat there for a bit. It’s one of those stories that doesn’t just leave your head. It wasn’t exactly a fun read, but I’m glad I went through with it. It was the kind of “real” I was looking for, I guess. Made me think, and that’s what I was after when I started this whole thing. It’s a story about looking past the surface, or in this case, what’s missing from it.