Body (Folio Policier) by Harry Crews (2007-07-13)

The book I received s old with YELLOW pages! Not GOOD at all. What happened?? Purely deceptive advertising!

An outstanding, fast-paced, laugh-out-loud dark comedy that you will find difficult to put down. Also provides fascinating and hilarious insights into the excessses of professional body building.

This is a really fun novel to read. It is a tragicomedy about a female bodybuilder who is competing in a major bodybuilding contest and has completely re-invented herself from a redneck to a hard as nails bodybuilder. Unfortunately her redneck family shows up and this threatens to destroy her image and her chances of winning the contest. And they are a bunch of nutcases indeed. Its a really great novel that is funny throughout yet does end tragically. It also touches on the issue of female bodybuilding direction and struggle of whether the women need to pump themselves full of steroids and get as big and muscular as possible or whether they should stay drug free and stay more feminine looking. It is a real struggle for female bodybuilders today and its great that the book does touch on that issue.

A strange dark comedy, "Body" is the story of a small-town Southern hick transformed into a bodybuilding superstar. "Shereel Dupont" is everything Dorothy Turnipseed was not -- sophisticated, admired, perfect. But although she could mold her physique, unfortunately she could never change her pedigree. And when the Clampet-esque Turnipseeds show up at the Ms. Cosmos contest to root for their hometown gal, all hillbilly hell breaks loose. The bizarre characters in this novel are remniscent of the wacky creations of Carl Haaison, yet they bear a disturbingly creepy familiarity to real people. The narcissistic Shereel, the steroid-monstress Marvella, and the bullying trainers -- every gym rat has met these folks. The eccentric, socially-inept kinfolk, an embarrassing reminder of a former forgotten life... And the brooding redneck boyfriend whose violent Vietnam past is constantly on the verge of eruption... Thanks to Crews' absolutely brilliant writing, these characters are real and their antics believable. I couldn't put this book down. The fastpaced plot careens wildly and often uproariously toward an unexpected, twisted climax. "Body" is out of print, as are many of Harry Crews' works -- a shame really. He is a truly unique author.

_Body_ was my introduction to Harry Crews. Years ago I devoured Kurt Vonnegut, and recently wanted to renew my passion for off-the-wall characters in strange situations. This book certainly filled the bill. About half way through _Body_ I asked myself "Why am I reading this?"; but I couldn't put it down. Crew's characters are outlandish; yet believable. Those people really exhist out there somewhere, and I'm convinced that he knows them.Since _Body_ I've read several other Crews novels. None of the others are put together quite as well as this one, and none of them ends in such a sledgehammer-to-the-gut way. Good job, Harry!

brilliant. fascinating. got me working out more often. intense balls-out nasty. the ending kept me awake for the rest of the night. read it in one sitting. viva crews. hallelujah.