Review: You Too Can Have A Body Like Mine

You Too Can Have A Body Like Mine

Alexandra Kleeman
HarperCollins
Street: 08.15

I started reading You Too Can Have A Body Like Mine the day after I fractured my ribs, and I think the combination of the surrealism in Kleeman’s story and my slightly unhinged mental state (due to the pain) made me crazier than normal for a few days. This book is kind of out there in a lot of the best ways possible, but it never completely hits home for me, and I’m still puzzling to figure out why. I think the main character’s sudden mental breakdown, two-thirds of the way through You Too Can Have A Body Like Mine, took me out of it since I hadn’t really expected it, but I can’t give any concrete reason why I didn’t love this thing. I think, for the sake of this review, I’ll blame my own temporary insanity and suggest that if you want to read a female version of David Foster Wallace, then you’re in the right place. Kleeman’s take on modern advertising and female beauty standards rings true and was an unexpected look into a world that, by virtue of my gender, I’ll never inhabit. –Alex Gilvarry