A review by escape_through_pages
Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer

challenging sad slow-paced

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

4.0

🏆𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚎𝚛 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚣𝚎 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟸 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝟷𝟷🏆

'𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬;

𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐈 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐫.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮.'

Having read a plethora of mixed reviews, I really couldn’t guess what I was going to make of Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies before going in. On the other hand, it was easy to predict it was likely to strike some chord with me; I’ve been the child who lost their mother to breast cancer and I work with cancer patients week in week out, I’ve seen this journey but always from the outsider’s viewpoint (thankfully). Maps, however, isn’t from an observer’s perspective; it isn’t even from Lia’s perspective really. The loudest voice in this novel is the imagined cancer itself and the cells and structures that make up Lia’s body. It’s an interesting technique that this voice becomes the more dominant in the narration, the paragraphs getting longer and more frequent, as the cancer progressively metastasises throughout Lia’s body. 

But that voice of cancer read confusingly in parts, such that I questioned whether it was the malignancy talking. It’s a shapeshifter and I couldn’t always follow the abstractions. 

I otherwise enjoyed the way this was written verse-like, it flowed smoothly and lyrically, although I could take or leave Mortimer’s experiments with fonts of varying sizes and emphasis travelling over the pages in different directions. Bit unnecessary, it read uniquely without them. 

You can tell that Maps is borne from a personal experience of Mortimer’s, it has that authenticity about it, which is not to be underestimated. I felt this. 

What it doesn’t do is bring an emotional weight. It’s not about pulling on the reader’s heartstrings, but there is an argument that Mortimer has missed the opportunity to truly impact readers. You’ll be impressed by the stylistic skill but you won’t grieve for the characters. 

All in all, a striking debut that certainly brings something new. I understand why it’s dividing readers - you’ll be blown away by the style or you’ll be missing the connection.