The Changed Face is a translation of a book by German author Heinz Konsalik.
[Someone mentioned that I seemed to like reading paperbacks or *pulp fiction*. I don't see anything wrong with them. Books are expensive these days and I can get paperbacks cheaply at secondhand stores. They were written at a time when men smoked and Africans were called *negros*. I find that much less stifling than today's politically-correct climate. Anyway, what's PC today may not be PC tomorrow.]
The book is about soldiers who received terrible injuries on the face and their rehabilitation into normal society after months and years of surgical repair. Here is a photo of facial injuries suffered during war time.
You can imagine the kind of emotional trauma these men have to go through. It's akin to a roller coaster ride between hope and suicidal despair. The book is so well written that it feels like non-fiction. An excerpt:
The orderlies lifted the blanket from the head of Rudolph Fischer. There was no head left, no face; it had no human form. It was a miracle that he still lived and breathed. Only one eye was left. It lay in a mess of splintered bone and torn flesh. In the windpipe he had a slit into which a cannula had been inserted.
Dr Mainetti stared at the one remining eye. 'On to the table with him - carefully!' She moved to one side and the eye followed her.
And another:
They left Erich alone, and that was a good thing. He lay flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling, and the tears ran out of his eyes and were soaked up by the new bandage. I've got a new nose, he thought. Mother ... Ursula ... I've got a new nose. And suddenly he began to think of silly, ridiculous things. I can wear sun-glasses again. I can smell mother's baking. I can - I can. God! There are so many things you can do with a nose. And you don't realise it till you haven't got one any more. Later he wrote a letter to Cologne. He was the happiest man in Block B.
You'll be pleased to know that the book has a happy ending. :)
