This Body: A Novel Of Reincarnation (2000) - Plot & Excerpts
I just couldn’t relate very well to the plot. Katharine was such a real character with real concerns and problems, but having her end up in a 22 year old’s body just sort of ended it for me before it began. There was really no hope for her to deal with her life because she was removed from her life and would never go back to it. I guess there were truths to be learned on a deeper level, but I just didn’t feel invested enough to figure them out. A novel about a middle-aged woman inhabiting the body of a 22 year old should be funny and this wasn’t funny. The Shakespeare stuff was okay, but I never really figured out the family dynamics. And they didn’t seem to learn anything from Katharine/Thisby. I just don’t really see the point. When I read, I either want to learn something or be entertained and this novel did neither for me.From Publishers WeeklyA fresh, thoughtful spin on the well-worn fantasy of inhabiting another body, this offbeat debut borrows the cast of A Midsummer Night's Dream and submits them to a very 1990s enchantment. On midsummer night?June 21?39-year-old Katharine Ashley dies of a heart attack in Northern California. The mother of two, whose worldliness consists of having seen the film Woodstock five times in 1970, wakes up a year after her death on a squalid bathroom floor in L.A. She finds herself trapped in the drug- and alcohol-dependent body?and in the unhappy family?of 22-year-old photographer and all-around gilded youth Thisby Bennett. Without any of the discomfiture one might expect in such sitcom circumstances, Katharine navigates Thisby's world, which includes a harelipped sister named Quince and an all-too-attractive brother called Puck. Determined to save everyone (Quince, Puck, her own children and Thisby herself), Katharine discovers much about the temptations and risks of mothering and second chances. It doesn't matter whether this is "a three-second dream before she really dies" or a wonderfully believable wake-up-as-someone-else. The more Shakespeare (and Fawlty Towers and Sesame Street) one knows, the more pleasurable it is to read this crisply written, wry and intelligent book; yet even the reader who falls far short of Doud's knowledge of the Bard will appreciate the emotional resonance of the Katharine/Thisby identity struggle.
I'm sorry - normally I only write reviews of books I've enjoyed and found useful, but this book was such a disappointment, I have to put my two stars worth in.The concept is great - I really like the notion of being reincarnated and knowing as a new person what you know now. The idea of coming back in the body of a young junkie, and then helping her out (since you're body is definitely dead, anyway), is also interesting.But after the introduction, this book didn't go where it could have. There are underdeveloped characters, side plots that don't go very far before fizzling off and a bit of incest that is, but isn't.This is Laurel Doud's first novel, and this reads like a first novel with a mediocre editor. If you think you'll like it, borrow it from a friend or from the library.But do look for her second novel - she's got what it takes, she just isn't quite there yet.
What do You think about This Body: A Novel Of Reincarnation (2000)?
This book has peaks and valleys, but in the end I loved it. The main character's inner thoughts are raw, unapologetic, and may mirror our own thoughts in some ways. The ending consists of several pages of rambling, confusing explanations as the antagonist reaches inner harmony (which is expected as a story wraps up). I did not work to try to make sense of her final state of mind; it didn't seem necessary to do so. But how she reached that end is surprising, endearing, and worth reading. The references to Shakespeare become annoying, but they drop off in the second half of the book.
—C Lasseter
Would really appreciate the ability to add a half star here. Full disclosure: I know the author's family very well. I read this almost out of obligation in 1998 and wasn't quite sure what to think about it. Here I am in 2011 reading it with a family of my own. What a difference! It was painful and scary to read, particularly the parts about the teenage kids and all the years of uncertainty I have ahead. I think some people may have problems with the general premise of the plot and others will definitely squirm through some scenes, but I for one really enjoyed this one. Fantastic book. I'm looking forward to the next one.
—Ross
Freddy,The movie died. it was very exciting for while. we had a director--george armitage of gross pointe blank, a producer and a decent screenplay. Fox backed out after awhile. it got optioned to melissa joan hart twice but she let it go as well--this was way before marriage, children and dancing with the stars!excuse the ee cummings typing but i had hand surgery last week and doing everything wih one hand--of course, which is not the domininat hand! it's also messing with my brain. i think i might understand a bit how someone who is born left-handed feels when the world tries to make them right-handed. your brain hurts!thank you for the 5 stars! i really appreciate it!laurel doud
—Freddy
