The Story of Beautiful Girl is a tale of the purposely forgotten, the mentally and physically disabled who were forced into living in group settings in the 20th century. These homes were neglectful, abusive and harsh, extremely unpleasant for those living there, some of whom were not disabled much at all, only misunderstood.
Beautiful Girl is Lynnie, a resident at one of these homes, who along with her deaf boyfriend, who in the beginning of the story is only known as Number 42, escapes from the institution to give birth to her daughter. Since they have escaped, they must find someone to help them, which they do accidentally in the form of septuagenarian Martha, whom they press the newborn baby upon. When the authorities from the home find them there, Lynnie is caught, Number 42 (who we later find out is named Homan) escapes, and Martha keeps the child, Julia, and raises her.
This story is told over years, jumping from Martha, to Lynnie, to Kate one of the caretakers at the institution who helps tell Lynnie's story, to Homan. Lynnie and Homan love each other, and are separated by ignorance, geography and their respective disabilities.
This tale is a harsh one, although fiction, it baldly shows what these institutions were like and how they treated their residents. It manages to be a beautiful tale of love: both family love and romantic love.
Ms. Simon does a fantastic job of rendering the tale from the perspective of those who view the world in the way of those who are marginalized. Although we know Homan is deaf, he is unable to sign, read or write, and so his part of the story is told from his limited perspective, as is Lynnie's. We don't know her disability, but it appears she is of limited intelligence. However, she is an artist of rare talent, something that is eventually nurtured as it should be and blossoms to show she may be limited in her means of communication, but that she is not necessarily limited as a human being.
This is a beautiful story of how love can unite people, some who don't even know each other at all. It is also a social commentary, and a heart-wrenching one, making us all ashamed of the marginalization of the disabled in our society.
I would recommend this book to all readers.
