Transplant: A Young Woman Struggles to Adapt to Her New Face

In Neufeld's tedious debut novel, a team of doctors selects Jenny Beaulieu to be the first recipient of a face transplant in Canada after she is disfigured in a car accident. Her friends and family are enthusiastic about the opportunity, but Jenny is hesitant because of both the medical and psychological side effects: transplant rejection, notoriety, lowered life expectancy, and feeling disconnected from her new face. Jenny decides to have the procedure and is grateful that she can finally eat, breathe, and talk normally. But postsurgery, she feels like her new face is only a mask. To fight depression, she dedicates herself to her job as a linguist, through which she meets a blind child who finally helps her accept her new life. Neufeld interviewed both transplant surgeons and recipients and his thorough research is evident in many scenes depicting the debate over Jenny's decision to have transplant surgery. While the author's background in science writing%E2%80%94he was a professor of linguistics and psychology%E2%80%94lends well to these types of medical discussions, he struggles to develop compelling characters. Even Jenny is more of a vehicle for addressing medical issues than an interesting protagonist, which makes for a very dry read.