Book Review: You too can have a body like mine (UNFINISHED)

Published in 2015, Alexandra Kleeman’s novel ‘is at once a missing-person mystery, an exorcism of modern culture, and a wholly singular vision of contemporary womanhood from a terrifying and often funny voice of a new generation.’

Contrary to what may be thought of from reading the title, which perhaps suggests that the book will be entirely based around the topic of self esteem or body image, this book is superbly and carefully written.

The characters are anonymised through the address of ‘A’ ‘B’ and ‘C’, which depicts the nature of their relationships to each other, as they turn from those who have somewhat idealised values of the topic of interpersonal relationships, a more bleak look on this topic.

The novel ends with a cutting moral statement from the main character about the idea of relationships as being that which involves an individual manipulating their partner into getting what they want out of them.

Small press review

This publication involves a small amount of text on 4 folded pieces of paper. It is written in uncapitalized, lowercase simple, plain font. There are 8 words on each page, directly below each other, but function together as a phrase. It is made out of a page slightly smaller than an A4 sheet, folded in half lengthways, then twice widthways. It is printed by Moschatel Press 2003, by Thomas A Clark. This is written on the back of the booklet, and on the front of the booklet is the one word title ‘grove’. The paper is slightly off white, and slightly more rough textured than usual paper.

Manifesto – A skeptic’s approach to satisfaction

Fulfilment. Meaning satisfaction; the idea of a life not wasted and spent wisely. ‘Life is short’ – a commonly known phrase, jolting the inner being into a state of chaos, of panic, transforming to a false call to action. One might call this a ‘mid-life crisis’, or a ‘fear of death’; the sense that what they have been doing has not been enough, but this comes only when faced with the crux of human immortality.

This doesn’t just happen later in life. It starts with the teacher asking the child what job they want to do – what they want to spend their entire life doing, a question that children often struggle to comprehend. Common replies would be “a fireman”, “a doctor”, “a teacher”. These are, understandably, the glorified careers in our society, the ones that ensure to satisfy us at the end of life.  Later, when graduating, someone is asked, “why did you want to become a doctor?”, they reply “I just wanted to do something meaningful with my life”. Of course, some people do truly care. But the core motivation of so many is for them to be able to satisfy the tick box criteria of being fulfilled at the end of their lives, which vocational careers can guarantee.

Why are our good deeds only motivated by a feeling of wanting more? We throw money at charities merely to quell the surge of dissatisfaction.

Surely there is some way for us to want to do good for the sake of it being good, rather than to see and be satisfied with the tangible difference we have made.

Many charities rely on the idea of people being motivated to travel and volunteer, promising a ‘trip of a lifetime’. Charitable marketing is forced to be centred on the individual. The idea of poverty is not enough to call anyone to action, but the chance of sponsoring a child and receiving photos and letters from that child is.

Why the quick trips overseas to ‘make a difference’ rather than steady generosity to invest into a community that we can’t see the benefits of?

‘Charity’ means an act of love.

Let not our apathy be destroyed only by a sense of futility,

but by a sincere care for the world around us. Let us be generous now, and give now, not because we have been jolted to by emotional marketing, but because it is our actual desire to make such changes in the world.

 

Welcome

Welcome to my blog!

I’m a second year English Literature student at the University of Warwick, and this is a space for various musings, reviews, opinions and thoughts.

This may include posts about art, about culture, faith, books and music. I’m not sure exactly which direction this blog will take us, but it’ll be an adventure you’re welcome to join.

“Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.” ― G.K. Chesterton