Body: Amazon.ca: Books

Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.

First Sentence
HE SAID, Listen: you say you can't hear well and your back hurts. Read the first page

Explore More
Concordance

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

Tag this product

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

6 Reviews

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

3.7 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing Questions, May 27 2004

By

Louis N. Gruber "Author of Jay" (Lexington, SC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Body: A Novel (Hardcover)

Adam is a sixtyish writer who has achieved sucess, but is now in failing health. He decides to pursue a most unusual offer--the chance to have his brain (his personality, really) transplanted into a young healthy body. Never mind where this body comes from or how it got that way. He is assured that lots of "in" people are doing this now, becoming "newbodies," with a whole new chance at life, youth, sex, and time.

Good deal? Maybe not. Maybe not so good if you can't take your status with you, if you can't take your friends with you, or your wife, or your relationships. Maybe not if somebody wants your new young body enough to kill you for it, and there's no way to get back to your own.

Yes, the concept is preposterous. It isn't science fiction, as there is no attempt to bring in any science. However it is a concept that has occurred to most of us at one time or another. What if we could live again, be young again, with all the wisdom we've acquired by aging? Would you do it? Would I? Might be fun for a while, but there would be a price to pay. Maybe more than I would be prepared to pay.

Author Hanif Kureishi does a wonderful job with the concept, writing in an elegant, literary style that is simply a delight to read. This is not a book you should over analyze, just enjoy it and let it stimulate your thinking. Yes, the premise is absurd, but the book works. I enjoyed it immensely and I recommend it highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

4.0 out of 5 stars An impressive collection of short stories, April 27 2004

By

HORAK (Zug, Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Body: A Novel (Hardcover)

Mr Kureishi's collection of stories opens with "The Body" in which the protagonist, Adam, is an ageing professor of literature and writer. His wife Margot claims that men tend to get "particularly band-tempered, pompous and demanding" when they reach a certain age. Furthermore, one of his students nearly offends Adam when he states that he now looks anything like his picture on the back of his books. All this happens as Adam meets one of his admirers, Ralph, at a party. Ralph explains to Adam that some old - and rich - people are now having their living brains removed and transplanted into the bodies of young dead people. He assures him that the operation has already been performed successfully hundreds of times, as was the case on himself. Finally convinced by the numerous women eyeing Ralph at the party, Adam decides to undergo the operation and selects from a broad variety of dead corpses at the clinic the body of an athletic and very handsome young Italian footballer, settling for a "shot term body rental" of six months. The outcome of the operation is successful and so begins for Adam - now Leo - a very surprising new life indeed.
Mr Kureishi's short stories are witty, incisive and funny. He is a keen observer of the human condition and he treats subjects like love, parenthood and the problem of happiness very skilfully.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

3.0 out of 5 stars Starts off well but fades..., Mar 18 2004

By

BookWorm (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Body: A Novel (Hardcover)

I agree with the reviewer's take on this book: a really interesting premise and it starts off great, but then it shoots off in a bunch of strange directions. Not horrible but not great; I was expecting much more.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 6 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Want to see more reviews on this item?

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 8 reviews 3.4 out of 5 stars

Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Just not up to snuff
Reads like late Ballard (not a good thing). The characters are thin and obvious, and the retreat was handled far more expertly by Lorrie Moore in her story, "Terrible... Read more

Published on Mar 2 2004 by Thomas W Cooney

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Read
I enjoyed this book, but agree with the review, not long enough to really explore the intricacies of such a ridiculous situation. Read more

Published on Mar 1 2004 by Angie M. Yingst