Interview with Ivy

I've decided to take a considerably different format with this review. I want to introduce you to Ivy Clark, fashion model with a beautifully recognizable face.

Me: How did you get your start in modeling?
Ivy: My uncle Bruce Clark is an agent. My mom was spending time in rehab, so I was living with my dad. My uncle Bruce offered to get me into modeling, so I took him up on it.

Me: What's it like being a model?
Ivy: you have to watch everything you eat, your looks are your ticket to advancement, and you have to "rent out your body" to get ahead.

Me: "Rent out your body?"
Ivy: yeah, it goes with the territory, men expect things, ya know? It's what you have to do, sometimes just to get a modeling job. And the industry expects their models to look sexy.

Me: Okay, well, let me ask you this: Who is your favorite photographer to work with?
Ivy: Hands down, Davis Grant. His mother is my step-mother's sister. I just wish he hadn't given up his camera. Right now, he's a maintenance guy for a church. He won't say why he gave up his camera, just that it's what God expects of him.

Me: Does he give a clue WHY God expects this of him?
Ivy: Something about his sister's accident, and how he feels it's his fault she's blind.

Me: So why have you come back to Greenbrier, South Carolina?
Ivy: Marilyn, my step-mom, owns a bridal boutique and she wants me to do a photo-shoot for her wedding dress designs.

Me: What's the most frustrating thing about modeling?
Ivy: No one sees you, no one fights for you, no one cares. It's a heartless world, really.

Me: Can you explain?
Ivy: Well, to the photographer, you are just something to get on film, so to speak. To the designer, you are just a dress-form that walks; to the agent, you are just another commodity to push. No one takes the time to see the real you, there's no connection; it's all really a waste, but . . . it's all I know. So I guess I'll keep on going with modeling as long as my looks hold out.

In A Broken Kind of Beautiful, Katie Ganshert has taken a rough world, and given the readers a small peek into it. She portrays society's desire for beauty, regardless of consequences, and some of the consequences she portrays are dire. Death, hollowness, losing oneself, eating disorders, and a certain kind of invisibility are just a few of the things that inhabit the world of modeling.

While the book doesn't fit my favored genre, I found many connections in the book that made it a worthwhile read. I understood what Ivy went through just trying to be liked, I understood Davis' guilt that kept him a prisoner when God had already freed him. Definitely a Five Star book, two thumbs up, and a trip down the runway.