Flawed

This sweet and perceptive graphic memoir, based on Dorfman’s Emmy-nominated short film, explores how falling in love with a plastic surgeon forced Dorfman to face her own long-held belief that she was physically flawed. When she first meets Dave, she disdains “the fact that his job was to operate on perfectly healthy people in an attempt to make them ‘beautiful’ ” but begins to fall for him nonetheless, impressed that he treats people for injuries and for illnesses such as skin cancer. The cosmetic aspect of his career, however, still disturbs her. She reflects on her own negative self-image, which began as an adolescent when she fixated on the idea her nose is too big. One of her close friends gets a nose job on the first day of ninth grade, but Dorfman declines while still carrying her flawed self-image into adulthood. The affair with Dave becomes the ironic catalyst for reexamining her prejudices about her appearance, and reaching self-acceptance. Dorfman’s characters are drawn in a simple, almost childlike style, with short text in a picture book layout; her use of bright colors and decorative patterns in a flattened perspective may remind readers of works by Matisse. Dorfman’s whimsical portrayal will speak to any reader who struggles with body image. [em](Oct.) [/em]