Customer Reviews

Bodies and Souls

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Anyone who wants to learn about Los Angeles should read this novel. Inventively narrated, with alternating chapters that follow the lives of three drifters, "Bodies and Souls" features a broad range of characters that for the most part can only be found in LA. Many of the chapters can be read as standalone short stories. Some are hilarious, others quite poignant; all are beautifully written. The great mystery of the book is trying to figure out why one of the main characters is obsessed with a preacher woman and what he is planning. As the story progresses, and as more characters are introduced, the reader will wonder how the author will tie the various threads of his narrative together. That Rechy manages to link this cross-section of lives is testament to his abilities as one of this country's greatest living writers.

Bodies and Souls' follows the touristic roamings of Olin, Jesse and Lisa, three youg adults from other states in the USA, as they experience Los Angeles for the first time in Olin's indigo 1953 Cadillac and alternate chapters which bring a wide variety of disparate characters to provide Rechy a vehicle to describe a number of different aspects to LA life in the early 1980's. My instincts were to give up this book but sadly I persevered through all 420 pages hoping for some improvement. To be fair the book does have some entertaining parts usually in the one off character chapters as the connections in these were very loose and afforded Rechy fairly wide scope: a body building Mr Universe, a university lecturer, a Judge's wife, a young hustler Billy and his boyfriend Stud, a sex crazed News Reporter Mandy to name just a few. What did not work for me was not so much the structure but the very tedious meanderings of Olin, Jesse and Lisa. Why Rechy took up so much of the book with these characters mystified me and the final denouement, rather than being a tension gripped episode, was just welcome relief as to have finally got to the end! It is a book possibly for LA Lovers and perhaps old movie buffs as there are many references to these. If the book has not captured your interest after 70-80 pages then my advice is give up, it is just not worth the effort.

As per the above statement this book is emotionally devastating at times. Clearly the author's most focussed and encompassing novel, summing up most of the themes of his other novels.