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Book Review

Publisher's Note:

An intelligent and madly entertaining debut novel reminiscent of The Crying of Lot 49, White Noise, and City of Glass that 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. A woman known only by the letter A lives in an unnamed American city with her roommate, B, and boyfriend, C, who wants her to join him on a reality show called That’s My Partner! A eats (or doesn’t) the right things, watches endless amounts of television, often just for the commercials—particularly the recurring cartoon escapades of Kandy Kat, the mascot for an entirely chemical dessert—and models herself on a standard of beauty that only exists in such advertising. She fixates on the fifteen minutes of fame a news-celebrity named Michael has earned after buying up his local Wally Supermarket’s entire, and increasingly ample, supply of veal. Meanwhile B is attempting to make herself a twin of A, who hungers for something to give meaning to her life, something aside from C’s pornography addiction, and becomes indoctrinated by a new religion spread throughout a web of corporate franchises, which moves her closer to the decoys that populate her television world, but no closer to her true nature.…

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You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine: A Novel

by Alexandra Kleeman

Reviewer: Lydia
Genre: Mystery
Recommended Age: 18+

Overall Book Review:

This book is like none I have ever read. I don’t even know what to compare it to, and usually I can come up with something I have read in the past that is reminiscent of my current read. Nope. This book was something else. Parts of it were confusing, and others were really weirdly gross, but all of it was so fascinating and surprisingly good.

This book is primarily about three characters: A, B, and C. Yes, those are their names. A and B are roommates. A is dating C. B is just kind of there to egg A on and to make her develop odd eating habits and feed her addiction to TV–or so A thinks. A, B, and C never seemed to have any obligations or jobs, which was a little strange. I assume they really do have more in their lives than television and each other, but nothing in the book really struck me as “adult” about them.

And then there is the commercial that A is obsessed with–one that made me hungry for some kind of Hostess treat. This book was good, but I will admit it left me feeling a little hungry; not only hungry for food, but hungry for more substance to this book. I would recommend it to a few carefully chosen friends who have the same opinion on books as I do, but otherwise, I think this book might disappoint most of my fellow readers. If you think it looks like something you might enjoy though, give it a go. You might get more out of it than I did!

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  3 anatomical terms; 1 F-word derivative.

Violence/Gore:  A character is reported to have coughed up blood; a cartoon explosion occurs; a character recalls killing ants for “fun”; a character steals meat from a gorcery store; characters are mentioned to go missing and their families don’t know where they are; two siblings fight and a knife is involved, the fight ends with one sibling bleeding profusely and dying; people are mentioned to be observed dying.

Sex/Nudity:  Genitalia is referenced; a man kisses his girlfriend; a woman says she owns porn DVD’s; a woman mentions watching porn and getting turned on by it; genitals are portrayed on TV; a man and woman have sex and watch porn at the same time; nudity and sexual encounters are referred to with no detail; a game occurs where nude people grope at each other; a woman is mentioned to be nude in a non-sexual way.

Mature Subject Matter:

Death, theft.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

A character drinks vodka; a character smokes.

Overall Book Rating
Profanity/Language
Rating:
6
10
Violence/Gore
Rating:
3
10
Sex/Nudity
Rating:
7
10

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About the Reviewer

Lydia
Books and reading have always been an important part of my life. When I was very young, my grandma was the library director at our local public library. Years later, after she had retired, I became a librarian at the same library and worked there for several years before taking a part-time job at a local coffee shop, which gives me more time to do what I love, to read and to review books! A few of my favorite authors are Aimee Bender, Diane Chamberlain, and Curtis Sittenfeld however, I will read almost any book I come across! In my spare time you can find me reading (of course), volunteering at a wildlife animal rehab, or hanging out with my three house rabbits.

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