Scan barcode
A review by jaclyn_sixminutesforme
My Body Keeps Your Secrets by Lucia Osborne-Crowley
5.0
There have been some tremendous releases in the last few years by writers examining personal and collected experiences of shame, sexual violence, trauma and abuse. Chanel Miller and Bri Lee’s memoirs are two I recommend paired together quite a lot, and I am now adding Lucia Osborne-Crowley’s work into this oeuvre. Both Miller and Lee are visible influences on the writing and thinking in this book, the structure and division of the book into parts a direct nod to Miller and the “reactions in the aftermath.” The extensive bibliography and intertextual referencing in the writing show how much this text is writing into an existing body of work by global thinkers, conscious of its contribution as much as it is of the work done by others already.
I particularly enjoyed the way personal writing in this overlapped so seamlessly with the curated selection of interviews with women and nonbinary people—there was an empathy with the subject matter and care in what level of information was shared that shone in the writing (and the explanation of method in the early parts of the book really frames this more explicitly, helpfully so for context).
I loved the theme based meaning each chapter had, I only wish the chapters had been titled or led with a quote (the epigraph shares some brilliant ones, and the quotes embedded throughout the writing are so perfectly selected!) to give some framing and insight into what each chapter would delve into—while there’s narrative and thematic elements to the writing, it seems to hold back from putting experiences in these neatly separated categories (which, despite my comment about chapter naming convention, I think worked really well! I also read an ARC so not sure if the finished copy is different)
I found the discussion towards the end of the text about trauma and it’s connections to chronic illness really interesting, and I know this is something I heard Astrid Edwards discussing on her podcast (Anonymous Was a Woman)—can’t wait to keep reading what Osborne-Crowley writes and the nuanced attention to details she invests in her research methods and writing itself.
Many thanks Allen & Unwin for a review copy.
I particularly enjoyed the way personal writing in this overlapped so seamlessly with the curated selection of interviews with women and nonbinary people—there was an empathy with the subject matter and care in what level of information was shared that shone in the writing (and the explanation of method in the early parts of the book really frames this more explicitly, helpfully so for context).
I loved the theme based meaning each chapter had, I only wish the chapters had been titled or led with a quote (the epigraph shares some brilliant ones, and the quotes embedded throughout the writing are so perfectly selected!) to give some framing and insight into what each chapter would delve into—while there’s narrative and thematic elements to the writing, it seems to hold back from putting experiences in these neatly separated categories (which, despite my comment about chapter naming convention, I think worked really well! I also read an ARC so not sure if the finished copy is different)
I found the discussion towards the end of the text about trauma and it’s connections to chronic illness really interesting, and I know this is something I heard Astrid Edwards discussing on her podcast (Anonymous Was a Woman)—can’t wait to keep reading what Osborne-Crowley writes and the nuanced attention to details she invests in her research methods and writing itself.
Many thanks Allen & Unwin for a review copy.