This Body: A Novel of Reincarnation [Paperback]

Laurel Doud (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 8, 2000

When Katharine Ashley dies her departing soul finds its way into the lifeless body of Thisby Bennet, a rich, skinny young woman with a thirst for drugs and men. This Body borrows the cast of Midsummer Night's Dream and brings them into the 1990s.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A fresh, thoughtful spin on the well-worn fantasy of inhabiting another body, this offbeat debut borrows the cast of A Midsummer Night's Dream and submits them to a very 1990s enchantment. On midsummer night?June 21?39-year-old Katharine Ashley dies of a heart attack in Northern California. The mother of two, whose worldliness consists of having seen the film Woodstock five times in 1970, wakes up a year after her death on a squalid bathroom floor in L.A. She finds herself trapped in the drug- and alcohol-dependent body?and in the unhappy family?of 22-year-old photographer and all-around gilded youth Thisby Bennett. Without any of the discomfiture one might expect in such sitcom circumstances, Katharine navigates Thisby's world, which includes a harelipped sister named Quince and an all-too-attractive brother called Puck. Determined to save everyone (Quince, Puck, her own children and Thisby herself), Katharine discovers much about the temptations and risks of mothering and second chances. It doesn't matter whether this is "a three-second dream before she really dies" or a wonderfully believable wake-up-as-someone-else. The more Shakespeare (and Fawlty Towers and Sesame Street) one knows, the more pleasurable it is to read this crisply written, wry and intelligent book; yet even the reader who falls far short of Doud's knowledge of the Bard will appreciate the emotional resonance of the Katharine/Thisby identity struggle.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The premise of this Shakespearean tribute is arresting: a middle-aged housewife dies suddenly of a stroke. A year later she wakes up in the apartment?and body?of a slim 22-year-old substance abuser, alcoholic, and drug courier, Thisby Bennet. Katharine's painful quest to integrate her consciousness with Thisby's body and its demands and to accept the loss of her former family is beautifully rendered, as is her complex relationship with Thisby's Shakespeare-mad family. Desperate for information about the family she has left behind, especially about her beloved teenage children, Katharine hires a detective, and complications ensue. The names of all the Bennet clan come from A Midsummer Night's Dream, and most of the words they utter are quotations from Shakespeare. This can be annoying, but the richness and intricacy of the plot propel the reader swiftly toward its satisfying conclusion. First novelist Doud is a librarian. Suitable for all fiction collections.?Judith Kicinski, Sarah Lawrence Coll., Bronxville, NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books; 1st Back Bay Pbk. Ed edition (February 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316196614
• ISBN-13: 978-0316196611
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,069,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absorbing and well-told story., October 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: This Body (Hardcover)

I picked up This Body merely because it was by a local author and I was curious. Much to my surprise, it turned out to be one of the best books I've read in years. The characters are likeable, the story is involving, and the heroine is someone I would like to know. Dumped suddenly and unceremoniously into the middle of Thisby's life, Katharine is faced with difficult choices, heart-rending dilemmas, and fascinating opportunities. On the surface, this is the story of how she feels her way along a path beset with unpredictable pitfalls as she comes to an uneasy accomodation with her new family, her new identity, and the addiction she inherited along with her new body. And on that level alone, it is an inventive and entertaining read. But on a more fundamental level, This Body is the story of a woman who gets a unique and priceless opportunity to view herself quite literally through someone else's eyes. Katharine, who never got the chance to be a child, comes together with Thisby, who never got the chance to be an adult, and together they find a wholeness that neither was able to achieve alone. Along the way the book delivers tragedy, loss, hope, humor, warmth, scandal, insight, and the simple voyeuristic fun of getting a peek into someone else's life and family. This Body is a book that will keep you highly entertained while you read it, and will keep you thinking long after you've finished it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars very intriguing premise, July 15, 2003

By 

F. Mercer "bibliophile" (Phoenix, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: This Body: A Novel of Reincarnation (Paperback)

I had a recurring dream where I died and came back in another body and tried to resurrect my life, so it was interesting to read someone else's take on what that might be like. I agree with the reviewer who found the last quarter of the book disappointing. It seems Doud just lost the energy to write more. Up until the gallery showing, she did an excellent job of showing Katharine's interactions with Thisby's family and her life, but then there is an abrupt, inexplicable change in Katharine that speeds us towards the end of the novel. I found the ending to be disatisfying and hurried. Still, this novel is worth the read for the other three quarters!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you could be young again and know what you know now, July 27, 2006

By 

Wendy Schroeder (Englewood, Co United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: This Body (Hardcover)

I simultaneously wanted to savor this story and plow through the book. To me, it was that good. Can you really call this a story of reincarnation? The main character, Katherine Ashley, wakes up in a skinny, no, make that emaciated body of a rich girl from Beverly Hills. A drug addict and alcoholic. Katherine is a middle class Baby Boomer. Married young, two kids, housewife. Worries too much about her children. And dies fairly young (mid to late 40s?).

She copes in her new life and body as she did in her old one. Trying to be in control of the situation as best as possible under the circumstances. I felt Katherine was both more vulnerable yet also in some ways tougher than she thought she was. And to me the story was around that aspect of her personality. That in her new surroundings (in every imaginable way) she got to finally explore what being alive is about and also about herself.

I think women of all ages will really enjoy this book. I highly recommend it.