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    The Story of Beautiful Girl
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    The Story of Beautiful Girl
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    The Story of Beautiful Girl
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Story of Beautiful Girl

    Written by Rachel Simon

    Narrated by Kate Reading

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    THE STORY OF BEAUTIFUL GIRL gets right under the skin and into the heart with the story of Lynnie, a young white woman with a developmental disability that hinders her ability to speak, and Homan, an African American deaf man with only his home sign language to guide him. Both were institutionalized in the mid-twentieth century, when people with disabilities were routinely shut off from society and left to languish without attention, forgotten.

    One night, Lynnie and her sweetheart, Homan, escape. They find refuge in the farmhouse of the widow Martha, a retired schoolteacher. But the couple is not alone; Lynnie has just borne a child. The authories catch up to them; Homan escapes into the darkness and Lynnie is caught. But just before she is gruffly taken back to The School for the Incurable and Feebleminded, she utters two words to Martha: "Hide her." And so begins the tale of three lives desperate to connect, yet kept apart by seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateMay 4, 2011
    ISBN9781609411121
    Unavailable
    The Story of Beautiful Girl
    Author

    Rachel Simon

    RACHEL SIMON has written for the New York Times, Glamour, Vice, NBC News, Vulture, and more. Previously, she was an editor at Bustle, HelloGiggles, and Mic. When not writing, she teaches at Gotham Writers Workshop and Redbud Writing Project and creates custom crossword puzzles through her Etsy business, YourCrossword. A graduate of Emerson College and a New York native, she lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband, dog, and cat. You can find her on Twitter (@rachel_simon) and at rachelsimon.blog.

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    Reviews for The Story of Beautiful Girl

    4/5

    325 ratings46 reviews

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    • 5/5
      It is 1968 and developmental handicapped Lynnie and Homan, an African American deaf man are institutionalized at the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded. They manage to escape to the farmhouse of retired teacher , Martha. As the orderlies take Lynnie back, she tells Martha to protect her baby.
    • 4/5
      It is 1968. Lynnie, a young white woman with a developmental disability, and Homan, an African American deaf man, are locked away in an institution, the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded, and have been left to languish, forgotten. Deeply in love, they escape, and find refuge in the farmhouse of Martha, a retired schoolteacher and widow. But the couple is not alone-Lynnie has just given birth to a baby girl. When the authorities catch up to them that same night, Homan escapes into the darkness, and Lynnie is caught. But before she is forced back into the institution, she whispers two words to Martha: "Hide her." And so begins the 40-year epic journey of Lynnie, Homan, Martha, and baby Julia-lives divided by seemingly insurmountable obstacles, yet drawn together by a secret pact and extraordinary love. Summary amazon.caChallenging premise and tough characters to make real--Ms Simon succeeds on both counts. Told from various POVs, the storytelling voice remains true to each person. Ms Simon shows compassion for all players in the tragic situation; she doesn't demonize the caregivers at the "School". The Story of Beautiful Girl is not an expose of a criminally negligent system. I think the author would like readers to revise their definition of "disability" and their understanding of "capability". The ending might seem too neat for some but in the end, the reader will take with them a story of a "beautiful girl" that will hopefully change forever their attitude to those special people in our world.7 out of 10 Recommended to readers who enjoy unusual characters and stories with meaning.P. S. Another book on this theme from several years ago is In This Sign by Joanne Greenberg. Wonderful characterization from an outstanding author.
    • 3/5
      This was another read for an online book group to which I belong through Goodreads. I will unfortunately say I would have never picked the book up otherwise...and I would have been worse for it.

      It took me a bit of time to realize that Rachel Simon is the author of "Riding the Bus With My Sister;" a book over which I cried buckets. In that book, Rachel brings us through her personal difficulty in learning to be a friend and sister to her intellectually disabled sibling. She had a rough time seeing her sister as an individual in contradiction to, or perhaps in spite of, a person who needed oversight. Her sister had created for herself a whole world to which Rachel was oblivious. Seeing her sister operating in her own world opened the relationship to deeper dimensions of loving, understanding, and caring. Her sister could give as much to Rachel as Rachel could give to her sister.

      In this book, Rachel takes on the daunting task of writing a fictional story of developmentally challenged individuals. Simon admits that it was difficult to write from the perspective of a challenged person. She has no concept of their thought processes or how they understand the world within their limitations. She needed to find a way to make the characters relatable to functional readers, a skill that requires the reader and author to jump a wide canyon. For example, [SPOIL ALERT] Lynnie was very aware of the changes occurring in her body and that she would eventually give birth to her child; yet, the social workers did not feel she was capable of living on her own. As such, it is difficult to decipher the extent of Lynnie's disability. Her thoughts seem far advanced of her depicted capabilities. This question of Lynnie's disability put a barrier to fully relating to the character.

      This does not mean the book is not well written and the characters are lacking that connecting force with the reader. On the contrary, I found myself very much engaged in the characters and cheering them on! It only means that there is a leap that the reader is expected to make in order to fully immerse in the story.

      The book relates an embarrassing history of our country's treatment of people with disabilities. Doctors, friends, and clergy who insisted that those who are not "normal" should be placed away and forgotten. The institutions of the book did exist, along with orphanages and "schools" for Native Americans. Jesus warned us to be careful how we treated those in our midst who are not like us. Our "Christian" nation (an ill-used and over-cited motto I greatly challenge) fell drastically short of its responsibility to those developmentally and physically challenged. Even today, as I work retail, I can see how uncomfortable "normal" people become when faced with a person who is mentally or physically disabled. Their first instinct is to turn away...divert their route so they do not have to encounter these individuals. I refuse to say I am completely different in this regard; but I do challenge myself and my discrimination by walking toward these individuals remembering simply to treat them as I wish to be treated. Some of the least among us have the ability to teach us the most. Perhaps we owe them a minute or two of our time to discover the possibilities. I can honestly say that when I have given friendship and love, I have never regretted the outcome.
    • 4/5
      This was a wonderful but sad story about people who have disabilities and how we treat them.it is also a story of human kindness and a reminder that we are all just peop;e regardless of our physical or intellectual limitations. Lynnie and Homan are two people who manage to survive but set themselves free.
    • 4/5
      I think writing about disability, perhaps particularly intellectual disability is a tricky thing to do without being patronising and/or sentimental. Rachel Simon handles it well here; this may be due in part to growing up with a disabled sister. This is a love story, yes, but it's also a story about finding oneself, and of course, a story about some of the blacker times in the history of mental health & disability and the way society coped (or didn't) with those issues. Highly readable.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this story of three people on a journey to reunite after being separated in 1968. The story centers on a deaf, black man, a mentally disabled woman, and the woman's baby. The most remarkable character in the story, for me, is the old woman, Martha. I raced through the sections dealing with the other characters to learn more of Martha, the woman who ventures everything she holds dear. Martha, a retired and widowed schoolteacher with an extensive network of willing students, who jump to her assistance. Simon also brings into the story, the terrible conditions of institutions for those abnormal individuals of society. A compelling look at human nature.
    • 4/5
      On one of my LibratyThing friends recently added this book and she has similar taste in reading. The Story of the Beautiful is told through the minds of three individual; one who is mentally challenged, one deaf and the other an older woman who is lonely.Ms. Simon tackles a difficulty subject of the mentally ill before the reforms of the late 1970's. My town had the house on the hill where unwanted children and adults were sent to be cared by the State. This institution was the center of the biography of Marie Balter who was misdiagnosed and kept in a state mental hospital for more than 15 years. Reading this novel and knowing what did go on in mental asylums across the United States before the 1970s is a black mark on the mental health profession and the society who shunned imperfect human beings. The novel is touching, endearing and educational.
    • 5/5
      I really liked this book! The author was able to show the contrast between the characters who were caring and sympathetic and those who were cruel and indifferent while entertanig the reader. I espicially enjoyed how the point of view of the characters was told independently of each other. I would recomend this book but beware...you might find it hard to put down.
    • 4/5
      A controversial topic (institutionalization) can sometimes be dull to read. However, Ms. Simon really came through in The Story of Beautiful Girl. The weaving of three characters telling their story kept the story moving, while her writing allowed me to visualize everything that was happening. This is a book that is well worth reading again and again.
    • 5/5
      I absolutely adored this story of a mentally handicapped girl and the deaf man she fell in love with. It was also a story of a wonderful woman who kept her word to a stranger and put her whole life aside to raise someone else's baby. The story opened my eyes to the way handicapped & mentally ill people were treated until not too long ago. Wonderful story.
    • 5/5
      Again, a book I read recently that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was a story that I did not want to end.. I emailed the author to commend her on writing such a lovely story and received a really nice letter back.
    • 2/5
      This book has been likened to The Memory Keeper's Daughter and The Help, both of which I really enjoyed. It is quite similar to the first title, but for some reason it didn't really grab me half as much.It's the story of Lynnie, a woman with learning or mental health problems, and Homan, a deaf man. Both have been incarcerated in 'The School', an institution for those marginalised from society. It's a horrendous place where people are routinely mistreated. One night, Lynnie and Homan escape together and find refuge in the home of retired schoolteacher, Martha. Lynnie has just given birth to a baby girl and, just as she is carted off back to the school she hands over her baby to Martha and asks her to hide her.This is a sad story, and does highlight the plight of people who simply cannot communicate very well. They were often placed in institutions because nobody could be bothered to spend time trying to understand them. However, I'm afraid I just found this book to be very sugary and by the half way point I was just wanting to get to the end. I liked Lynnie and Martha's stories more than Homan's, but none of it really grabbed me and pulled me into the story as much as I would have liked. The ending confused me too as I didn't understand why what happened did happen. It was as if the author had used up her quota of words and just had to put something in to finish it off.All in all, a bit of a disappointment I'm afraid.
    • 2/5
      The Story of Beautiful Girl is not so much a novel as a series of vignettes during the lives of the three main characters, Martha, Lynnie and Homan. What is most frustrating about this structure is that most of the character development takes place between scenes. To cite just one example, Homan, a deaf man, goes from being a sort of caretaker for a commune who spends most of his free time smoking pot to motivated man about to study engineering. Along the way he also picks up American Sign Language, which he had previously never known. How did this happen? The reader doesn't know because it happened in between Homan's scenes in the novel. Simon is taking the easy way out by skipping through her story without providing the reader with details and character motivation. Even the love between Homan and Lynnie, the engine that drives this entire story, isn't explained. They appear at the beginning of the novel fully formed and in love. There are other problems with the novel. The language is pedestrian and dull and the story's resolution wildly improbable.
    • 5/5
      Great story of disrupted lives trying to reunite. She's mentally challenged, he's deaf and the story is told from their point of views. I had a hard time towards the beginning but once I got into it I couldn't put it down. I cried through the last few chapters.
    • 4/5
      I wish this was a better book, it could have been. The storyline was so good ... a man and woman institutionalized and marginalized for being deaf and mildly retarded. When the woman becomes pregnant as a result of a rape at the institution, the two escape long enough for the child to be born and for them to seek shelter with a retired widow who ends up keeping the child and raising it. Then the story got very murky between what was going on at the "school"/institution and the widow on the run with the baby. The end was fanciful to say the least and I just didn't buy it. Still an interesting, probably fairly accurate portrayal of how society wants to hide away people who are even slightly different than the majority.
    • 3/5
      The Story of a Beautiful Girl started out well but then seemed to race to a conclusion...a conclusion that I found very far fetched and unbelievable. How can a woman that has been challenged and institutionalized her entire life become completely functioning and independent at 50 years of age?There were excessive gaps in the story that spanned decades. At one point we discover that Julia, Lynnie's daughter, who is living with Martha has become troublesome. While walking on the beach, Martha asks her husband to promise that he will take care of her if she should die. End of chapter! Then tons of chapters later, we are fast forwarded to Julia as an adult and the reader discovers that almost moments after Martha got her husband to make this promise she died??????This book was recommended to me by someone who likes the same books I do. I need to speak with her this morning and ask why she liked it because as far as I can see there is nothing here worth recommending.
    • 4/5
      A coworker LOVED this book and insisted I read it. Perhaps that contributed to my lukewarm feelings about it (anything praised too highly is more difficult for me to like - I'm just stubborn that way, I guess). It was a good book, but it didn't move me the way it did for so many others. Beautiful Girl, her baby, given to a widow to raise when she was forced back to the institution, and Homan, a deaf man, are separated for several decades. Homan and BG's love for each other sustain them through their years and hardships. The novel tells the story of how they find each other and happiness. The characters are written well; Simon is obviously knowledgeable about and sensitive toward these kind of institutions. The story just dragged a bit for me, and the romance between Homan and BG wasn't strong enough for me to really believe it would last through so many years apart. But all in all, it was a good book. Just not one I need to own.
    • 4/5
      Emotionally charged story of Lynnie and Homan, persons with disabilties (Lynnie intellectually challenged and Homan is deaf), who meet at an Institution in Pennsylvania where the 'feeble minded where put away'. I cried at least 5 times throughout the story, the moments poignant, the injustice cruel and resanontly true. The ending was uplifting but as I have experience with family in the mental health system, rather unlikely to occur. As Lynnie mentioned about small hope, I have a small hope my brother will find happiness the way these characters did.
    • 4/5
      The Story of Beautiful Girl revolves around two disabled adults from an abusive state school and the child they both love. The victim of rape, Beautiful Girl, as her savior, Homan, thinks of her, escapes the institution and conspires with Homan and the kindly Martha to hide the resulting baby. Beautiful Girl is caught and returned to the school, Homan escapes but is soon presumed dead. The book relates their decades long journey to reunite and find their voices to proclaim themselves worthy, contributing members of society. The tale is well-written and unique, but at times I found myself losing interest when it strayed too much into Homan's story. I was also disappointed that there was not more focus for Beautiful Girl on finding the child she lost and creating a lasting bond. Other readers may find The Story of Beautiful Girl more engaging.
    • 4/5
      A compeling story of two institutionized young people in the 60's. They escape the institution and with her newborn baby find refuge with an older lady. The baby is hidden and left with the woman when they are recaptured. Story develops several characters very believably but the story dragged at points. I wanted the story to be more about the baby's life and less about Homan.
    • 4/5
      A beautiful story about love, hope, and survival!
    • 4/5
      I was interested in this novel from the outset. It tells the story of Lynnie and Homan, both residents at a ghastly state "school" for the so called "feeble minded" in the 1960s. Having an adult daughter with severe learning disabilities and autism made this an obvious choice for me.The couples' story begins on a stormy November night in 1968. We meet Martha, a widow and retired teacher who answers a frantic knock on her door. There she is confronted by a distressed young woman and a tall African American man who is obviously deaf. Against her better judgement, Martha allows them in and is startled to find they also have a new born baby with them. It isn't too long before the Authorities come in search of the couple. They seize Lynnie, but Homan flees in to the night and before she is led away, Lynnie whispers to Martha "hide her". Thus begins an engrossing story of our main characters, told in seperate chapters. It is also a depiction of the appalling cruelty suffered by the disabled before legislation was passed in the 1980s.The tale itself is extremely moving and it is very obvious that Rachel Simon, who has a learning disabled sister herself, has poured her heart and soul in to this work. However, I do have some misgivings about the book. Trying to give a voice to a learning disabled young woman was never going to be easy. Lynnie has limited speech and understanding, and yet her thoughts are expressed in structured sentences within the book. Yes, she expresses herself well through her art and this seemed very genuine. I can also understand why the author wishes to portray the huge improvements made to the couples' lives and abilities when they leave the "Snare" (their name for the institution) behind them. However, I know, from personal experience, that things are not that easily achieved and more detail of how this is implemented would have been welcome.If Ms Simon's main objective was to illustrate how we have moved on, in a comparitively short length of time, from the horrendous way the intellectually disabled were treated to a more open and society inclusive level of care, then she has succeeded in this endeavour. I found the character of Homan to be the most compelling and, the fact that he was literally dumped in a home for the "feeble minded" in the first place, shows the appalling lack of understanding and compassion that abound some fifty years ago and more.I also liked the character of Kate, an almost a unique caring worker at the institution who knew what had happened to Lynnie and did her best to care for her and keep contact with Lynnie's baby girl. Thank goodness there are more Kates in the world these days, but we must not kid ourselves that all is perfect in the care of our most vulnerable people. I certainly still recommend this book and it would make a perfect reading club novel. Would I have liked to tweek it a bit? Yes I would, but the overall story is tragic, heartwarming and absorbing.This novel was made available to me, prior to publication, for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      A young couple, the girl developmentally disabled and very pregnant and the man a deaf mute escape from an institution in 1968. The girl gives birth on the run and couple hurriedly seeks shelter in a farmhouse where an elderly retired teacher lives. They are being pursued by the institution's workers so the newborn baby is given to the teacher and told to hide her. The story follows all the individuals in the story through the years. Very well done.
    • 3/5
      A lot of the story seemed contrived, especially everyone who is separted meet up at the end. Lynette,( Beautiful girl,) Kate, social worker, Hannah her sister, and the man she has been searching for for over 30 years.
    • 3/5
      I picked this book up from the new section of my library because the summary captivated me. A white woman with a developmental disability (Lynnie) and a black deaf man (Homan) are sent to a school, School for the Incurable and Feebleminded. They find themselves in love and break free of the school, a school that they hate and has treated them so horribly (with the exception of Kate). On the run, they find one house, that of Martha's. Lynnie shows up with a baby in her hands and Homan next to her. It is Lynnie's baby, but not Homan's. The story reveals, in the beginning, that unspeakable things happened at the school. So the reader can derive how the child came about. When the police arrived, Lynnie was caught and brought back to the school and Homan ran (assumed to later be dead by Kate). The only words Lynnie said to Martha was "hide her." This woman, with no kids of her own and no intentions for one did just that. She hid her. So for 40 years Lynnie, Homan and the young girl (Julie) were separated. The story in the book is about their journey over those 40 years.With that said, I really really liked the concept. I was hooked for the first 60-100 pages. Then it seemed to drag a bit, particularly with Homan's sections, since each chapter was told in a different perspective. I loved Homan but I found the chapters about him boring storytelling. I gave this a three because I did like it, particularly the beginning and the ending. I loved the warm feeling it gave me. It was only that the storytelling in between seemed to fade.
    • 5/5
      I had only read to page 11 when I had the feeling that this book was going to be something special and quite possibly one of the best books I have read this year. So it was. I am usually a quick reader but when I like a book alot I tend to slow down quite a bit as I did with this book. One night changes the lives of all the characters, either directly or indirectly,and it is in turn heartbreaking, compassionate and joyful.
    • 3/5
      I can't say I wasn't moved by this book. I had tears in my eyes at certain points. I can't say I wasn't involved in the characters. I was rooting for them throughout. But the ending just didn't fit the rest of the novel. It was too manufactured and...yes...seemed creaky to me. Now I'm sad. Sigh! Still, I did enjoy the book for the most part. And Rachel Simon tells her story with great compassion. But...that weary ending knocked me off my reading chair. Double sigh!
    • 4/5
      Beautiful story that will make you cry. Couldn't put it down.
    • 5/5
      This is an amazing story that spans 44 years beginning in 1968, when the "feeble minded" were tossed away into institutions with horrible living situations. It is a love story but not one like you have ever read. When you start reading about Homan and Lynnie, be sure you have time to read as you will not want to put this book down.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed reading this novel, but I much preferred Simon's other book, Riding the Bus with My Sister.