What hopes can a young man still have when he loses not only his face but also his identity? Marc Dugain depicts the oppressive existence in the cramped officers' quarters of the hospital, the friendship that develops among the fellow sufferers, their hope for new surgical techniques, and their despair over the irretrievably lost visage, as well as the disgusted yet reverent reactions of their compatriots when the mutilated individuals dare to venture onto the Parisian boulevards for the first time. Dugain's almost archaic language, which expresses suffering as well as the will to live with dignity without forced pathos, has made "The Officers' Room" a "literary discovery of the year" in France.