Reviews

The Art of the Body by Alex Allison

mekowaletti's review

challenging fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

status_woe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Not perfect, but made me think a lot about how we view the human body, disability, life, death, art and religion and how they all play into one another.

The protagonist, Janet, is not a nice person, and I think she is more unpleasant than the author intended her to be. I think we are supposed to see redemption at the end of the story, but I'm not sure it quite worked. Perhaps if the book had been longer, that could have been explored more. Nevertheless I thought it was an interesting idea and I liked the writing style, which is fairly pared back. 

The author is male and able bodied with (self professed) limited experience of the care profession and disability. How accurate the personal care elements of the book are in the context of Sean's disability, I couldn't say. The therapist towards the end of the book, however, has some jarringly unrealistic dialogue. 

Overall though I thought it was an interesting idea, it raised a lot of questions about how we afford other human beings dignity when they require our care. 

hollymmcg's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Not so much a book about caregiving as it is a book about a deeply shitty person who is also a caregiver.

"When Sean is faced with an unexpected and deeply personal tragedy, Janet must let her guard down at last and discover what she's prepared to fight for." Except she doesn't let her guard down. And she isn't prepared to fight for anything, except maybe physically fight the person who's trusted his care to her for nearly a year.

2 stars because the longer the book went on, the less of a fuck I gave about Janet and the more I wished she'd fall down a hole. Poor Sean.

giunic's review

adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

katsmedialibrary's review against another edition

Incredibly ableist

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

nyreen's review

dark emotional reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Suicide, Death, and Abandonment

gemmaduds's review against another edition

2.0

This is a book by an able-bodied man with “limited experience of doing care work” (his words), writing about a woman who cares for a man who has cerebral palsy. There are so many inaccuracies that I just couldn’t escape them.

nei's review

dark emotional informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.0

Narration was clear and easy to understand. 

leilabp4's review

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

samaira's review

I don't know. I know I haven't gotten that far in the book but already I feel the way that the caretaker talks about Sean sounds patronising and I don't like it.