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Bride Trilogy #2
With My Body
A wife, a mother of three, she has everything a woman should want—and yet she has gone numb inside. Locked in a never-ending cycle of chores, errands, and mealtimes, she cannot find a way to live her life with the honesty and passion that once drove her. Even her husband, whom she loves, has never truly touched the core of her being. Only one person has ever come close. In desperation, she returns to the memory of an old love affair—a transformative relationship with consequences she has never fully resolved. Revisiting her past, she will begin an exhilarating journey into her sexuality while finally confronting the hidden truths of her heart.
Exquisitely lyrical, bold, and seductive, With My Body is a thought-provoking exploration of family, sex, marriage, and love—the love we give, withhold, and surrender to.
Exquisitely lyrical, bold, and seductive, With My Body is a thought-provoking exploration of family, sex, marriage, and love—the love we give, withhold, and surrender to.
462 pages, Paperback
First published October 7, 2011
94 people are currently reading
1733 people want to read
About the author
Nikki Gemmell
35 books304 followersNikki Gemmell has written four novels, Shiver, Cleave, Lovesong, The Bride Stripped Bare and The Book Of Rapture, and one non-fiction book, Pleasure: An Almanac for the Heart. Her work has been internationally critically acclaimed and translated into many languages.
In France she's been described as a female Jack Kerouac, in Australia as one of the most original and engaging authors of her generation and in the US as one of the few truly original voices to emerge in a long time.
The French literary review "Lire" has included her in a list of what it calls the fifty most important writers in the world - the ones it believes will have a significant influence on the literature of the 21st century. The criteria for selection included a very individual voice and unmistakeable style, as well as an original choice of subject. Nikki Gemmell was selected along with such novelists as Rick Moody, Zadie Smith, Jonathan Safran Froer, Rohinton Mistry, Tim Winton, Colum McCann, Michel Faber and Hari Kunzru among others.
Born in Wollongong, Australia, she now lives in London.
In France she's been described as a female Jack Kerouac, in Australia as one of the most original and engaging authors of her generation and in the US as one of the few truly original voices to emerge in a long time.
The French literary review "Lire" has included her in a list of what it calls the fifty most important writers in the world - the ones it believes will have a significant influence on the literature of the 21st century. The criteria for selection included a very individual voice and unmistakeable style, as well as an original choice of subject. Nikki Gemmell was selected along with such novelists as Rick Moody, Zadie Smith, Jonathan Safran Froer, Rohinton Mistry, Tim Winton, Colum McCann, Michel Faber and Hari Kunzru among others.
Born in Wollongong, Australia, she now lives in London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 254 reviews
March 10, 2017
This book obsessed me from the very first page. I read the full 462 pages in only two days. It is lyrically written, vulnerable, honest, authentic, and almost painful to read in its beauty. I noticed that in the reviews readers tended to hate it or love it. This is the kind of book that brings out strong emotional responses and either you 'get it' or you don't. The descriptions were intense, the language poetic, the characters layered, complicated and messy, and the sex was exquisite. It was so much more than erotica, however. It delved into many different aspects of being a woman. I did not like "50 Shades". I found it annoying, badly written, and the main characters irritated me. This, however, is the intellectual's erotica. This is for women who understand what it is like to live deeply, feel to the very core of their souls, and live life on an emotional roller coaster. There are several books of the thousands I've read in my life that have taken my breath away. This book will join that exclusive group.
July 19, 2012
"You" start to read the book.
Immediately you see why someone recommended it to you.
You like the descriptions of marital boredom.
You notice that the story starts to resemble a montage of everything under the sun and then throw in "the bush."
You wonder if at about Lesson 19 the author could have written a book you might recognize as like life, versus like someone throwing in the kitchen sink with a blender making you a cosmo.
You start to think that the use of the you is the most amazingly irritating literary device you ever read. You start thinking about when you ever read it before and decide you know why not.
You wonder if you can solve your own issues as a middle aged woman by asking your Dad to maim someone and show you he loves you too.
You go make a salad. You choose Thousand Island.
You read another romance book. You've had enough.
You think, if "you" wrote the book from chapter 19 on, called "lessons"- it would be a better book. You think of deducting another star.
Immediately you see why someone recommended it to you.
You like the descriptions of marital boredom.
You notice that the story starts to resemble a montage of everything under the sun and then throw in "the bush."
You wonder if at about Lesson 19 the author could have written a book you might recognize as like life, versus like someone throwing in the kitchen sink with a blender making you a cosmo.
You start to think that the use of the you is the most amazingly irritating literary device you ever read. You start thinking about when you ever read it before and decide you know why not.
You wonder if you can solve your own issues as a middle aged woman by asking your Dad to maim someone and show you he loves you too.
You go make a salad. You choose Thousand Island.
You read another romance book. You've had enough.
You think, if "you" wrote the book from chapter 19 on, called "lessons"- it would be a better book. You think of deducting another star.
November 27, 2014
With My Body is the second book in the Bride Trilogy by Australian author, Nikki Gemmell. In modern-day England, an unnamed woman, a wife and mother of three young boys, is unhappy with her life. She is almost forty, exhausted from the demands of husband and sons, the PTA president and the school obligations, and bored with the routine of life. She hasn’t had sex in two years. Her despair causes her to thinks back to her adolescence in Australia, and the man who taught her to make love. It was an affair that was passionate, liberating and transforming.
The story is told in the second person, which does take a little getting used to. It is split into ten sections, which are divided into 225 (mostly very short) chapters, headed as “Lessons” and each prefaced with a quote from a Victorian volume entitled “A Woman’s Thoughts About Women” (which actually does exist). The first section and the last two are set in the present day; the middle sections deal with the woman’s life from the impressionable age of eleven, through her sexual awakening and into her early adulthood.
Readers should be prepared for certain concepts that are touched on in this novel: teen sex, bondage, and group sex, as well as some fairly explicit descriptions of sex; this is erotica, after all. However, the narrative (which is perhaps just a little slow in the middle) also explores the woman’s relationship with her father, her step-mother, a predatory artist and the writer who eventually becomes her lover, the man whose lessons she is recording. The plot does not necessarily go quite where the reader might expect, and this book is certainly better that the first book in the trilogy.
The story is told in the second person, which does take a little getting used to. It is split into ten sections, which are divided into 225 (mostly very short) chapters, headed as “Lessons” and each prefaced with a quote from a Victorian volume entitled “A Woman’s Thoughts About Women” (which actually does exist). The first section and the last two are set in the present day; the middle sections deal with the woman’s life from the impressionable age of eleven, through her sexual awakening and into her early adulthood.
Readers should be prepared for certain concepts that are touched on in this novel: teen sex, bondage, and group sex, as well as some fairly explicit descriptions of sex; this is erotica, after all. However, the narrative (which is perhaps just a little slow in the middle) also explores the woman’s relationship with her father, her step-mother, a predatory artist and the writer who eventually becomes her lover, the man whose lessons she is recording. The plot does not necessarily go quite where the reader might expect, and this book is certainly better that the first book in the trilogy.
September 9, 2012
4.5 - 5 Stars!
I loved this book, and I think readers will either love it or hate it. You will either connect with it not. But for me Nikki Gemmell's writing sucks you in. I first thought the 'lessons' would make it too choppy. But that with the nameless lead character and the way how it is written in the second person is what made this book work for me. It's raw and it's honest!
I was totally sucked into her experiences. Never once flinching at the gap in age between her and Tol. Maybe if I was to criticize anything it may be that. Maybe I never fully felt the truth of her age. But maybe I always felt that she was older than her years (Maybe I felt that because of what she had endured)
I fell under Tol's spell just as our lead character did. And I felt cut off when those gates remained shut just as she did.
I loved how she fulfilled Tol's one wish that she live her life.
I felt a sadness for Tol. But our nameless character also stayed firm to the person she had become, knowing she would stay with Hugh. Yes I cried when she came face to face with her past.... Oh to know Tol was up in that top bedroom all that time. But he stayed true to the fact that his one wish was for her to live her life.
Her realization that her father had shown true love of a parent, and she was able to move on and just let the past be. I am really torn actually .... gosh if Tol had been sitting on the porch waiting for all those years... but this..... him letting her go.... her letting him go. Cherishing their time together, but leaving it in the past.
(*ARGH* that last letter from Tol still has me in tears!!)
Her opening up to her husband, really being herself sexually with him for the first time together after all those years. And the fact that you are reminded even at the end how real and raw life can be, but our nameless character had her husband and children and knew all those experiences had bought her to this moment!
I loved this book, and I think readers will either love it or hate it. You will either connect with it not. But for me Nikki Gemmell's writing sucks you in. I first thought the 'lessons' would make it too choppy. But that with the nameless lead character and the way how it is written in the second person is what made this book work for me. It's raw and it's honest!
I was totally sucked into her experiences. Never once flinching at the gap in age between her and Tol. Maybe if I was to criticize anything it may be that. Maybe I never fully felt the truth of her age. But maybe I always felt that she was older than her years (Maybe I felt that because of what she had endured)
I fell under Tol's spell just as our lead character did. And I felt cut off when those gates remained shut just as she did.
I loved how she fulfilled Tol's one wish that she live her life.
I felt a sadness for Tol. But our nameless character also stayed firm to the person she had become, knowing she would stay with Hugh. Yes I cried when she came face to face with her past.... Oh to know Tol was up in that top bedroom all that time. But he stayed true to the fact that his one wish was for her to live her life.
Her realization that her father had shown true love of a parent, and she was able to move on and just let the past be. I am really torn actually .... gosh if Tol had been sitting on the porch waiting for all those years... but this..... him letting her go.... her letting him go. Cherishing their time together, but leaving it in the past.
(*ARGH* that last letter from Tol still has me in tears!!)
Her opening up to her husband, really being herself sexually with him for the first time together after all those years. And the fact that you are reminded even at the end how real and raw life can be, but our nameless character had her husband and children and knew all those experiences had bought her to this moment!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 21, 2012
So, you've read that Fifty Shades of something or other book (and the next one, and the next one). And you liked it enough, and now you're thinking you wouldn't mind some more bow chicka wow wow to while away your time beside the beach or pool this summer.
You know, IF said book would just happen to fall into your e-reader or beach tote or something.
Well, you're in luck because that's just the kind of book With My Body by Nikki Gemmell is. It's also disturbing as all hell, but we'll get to that in a minute. It's like That Other Book (which I admit, I haven't read but feel like I have). It's that sort of book that you WANT to read but you don't want people to KNOW you are reading and that while you ARE reading you're thinking, WTF is going on here and he/she/they did not just do that and if my mother/grandmother/neighbor saw me reading this I would die and by then, you're done the book. (Yes, even though this is 462 pages. These are the wham-bam-thankya-ma'am equivalent of 462 pages.)
Not like anything's wrong with wanting to read this sort of book. We are, presumably, all grown ups here ... all of us, that is, except for the teenage girl narrating the majority of With My Body, which is where the Creep-O-Meter factor with this novel comes into play.
She's a pretty young thing who is curious about All Things Grown Up. And I mean All The Things. She's lacking a mother, due to the death of her own mother from breast cancer and her father marrying the Wicked Biatch as All Get Out Stepmother, Anne. The father naturally favors the new stepmother over the young girl, who reminds him of the deceased wife. So, precocious and curious Narrator/Young Girl goes off in search of a father figure who will teach her the ways of the sexual world. (Cue up the George Michael: That's all I wanted, something special/ Something sacred in your eyes/ For just one moment, to be bold and naked/ At your side/ Sometimes I think that you'll never understand me/Maybe this time is forever, say it can be ....")
Nikki Gemmell doesn't give her Narrator/Young Girl a name in her novel, which is done for the purpose (I believe) of symbolizing to her reader that the narrator is truly Everywoman. For that's how we meet her in the first 43 pages of the novel: as a married woman who is extremely dissatisfied with her lot in life of taking care of her three kids, waiting for her physician husband to come home (or not), cooking dinner, running errands, doing laundry, and dealing with other snobby and competitive moms while picking up one's kids from school.
(None of us can relate to this, amiright?)
While our Narrator is lamenting how her life turned out and the lack of passion in it (she hasn't had sex with her husband in more than two years, hello!), she reflects inward to a time when she was happier and more connected with herself. That's when we flashback to The Narrator as the Pretty Young Thing, as described previously, who stumbles Goldilocks-like into a mysterious, artsy, and somewhat creepy (if I do say so myself) guy's McMansion. This guy - who has a name (it's Tolly) - is all too willing to teach her everything she doesn't know.
And by everything, I mean evvv-reee-thaaang. No detail is spared for you, dear reader. Nothing left to the imagination here.
This is where I started to lose my way with this novel. At this point (we're talking maybe page 227 or thereabouts), I was ready for this book to end. I had a difficult time with the relationship between The Narrator and Tolly. I was angry with him for clearly taking advantage of her, of mindfucking her while repeatedly reassuring her that their "lessons" were consensual, and I was annoyed with him when he spoke like this (which was all too often):
"'A fabulous kiss can be as evocative as smell, I think,' he smiles afterwards, in appreciation. 'One whiff - or one kiss like it again - and whoosh, it can plunge you back to another time, another place. A brighter phase of love. There can be something so .... restoring ... about it.'
You wipe your lip and stop. He suddenly feels past tense whereas you - achingly, enormously - are present.
'A passionate kiss can arrest a relationship's slow, glacial slide towards indifference,' he's murmuring on, pottering about, forever thinking, teaching, musing. 'Can wake a couple up - remind them of what they were.' He turns back to you. 'Thank you for that.'" (pg. 227)
Who in the hell talks like this?! Yeah, I know: my anger goes a bit deeper here and probably has to do with the fact that I'm a parent of a daughter not all that much far removed from the age of The Narrator and that I know there are weirdos, creepos, and sexos (to quote Archie Bunker) like Tol out there, uttering such banalities to impress the ladies.
I've also worked a bit in the domestic violence field, and as we go further into the novel and the relationship between The Narrator and Tol (she calls him Tol) deepens, there's no question that we're into heavy-duty emotional abuse. There are scenes where she is clearly hesitant and he is clearly being manipulative under the guise of "helping" her, of providing his warped tutorial sessions under the premise of giving her a foundation in what love really is (puh-leeze).
As an adult reader, this is downright painful and disturbing as hell to watch.
"'I must know. Everything. What's in that head of yours? Don't be afraid. I need to know. So I can help. With absolute, utter trust. Always that.' All his words, words, words, over the next few days of apart ....you don't know what's next, where it's meant to stop, who he's bringing in to this; you're a good girl really, you can't. You will not go back.
What happens if you've fallen in love with a person who will ultimately destroy you?
It is not the first time you've thought this.
Woondala [the name of Tol's mansion] has woven a spell around you; you are different there. You don't recognise yourself." (pg. 304)
"He comes right up close, his face tells you he is confident that no one, ever, can take his place, no matter who comes next; he is inked through your heart, through your blood, until the day you die he is there and he knows it. His smile tells you your pleasure is his, that he knows he will have succeeded if he sees you gaining ultimate pleasure, beyond him, beyond anything he can do; it will be his greatest gift. '
But how?' You furrow your eyebrows, frown, still don't get it. He tells you he is doing all this because he is a student of women and he needs to learn, as do you - it is the writer's curiosity - he is a student of life, of living to the limit in pursuit of of love, connection, soul-sharing, radiance. He loves you, never forget that. No matter what comes next." (pg. 310-311)
Seriously, do you want to punch this asshole first or should I do the honors? I. HATE. THIS. GUY. (And there's still another 151 pages to go!)
But Tolly's not the subject of the book (as much as he probably would like to be). It's The Narrator, and this relationship is one that she revisits, as an adult, "in desperation" as salvation from her boring, dreadful adult life. This isn't a spoiler; the back jacket cover tells us as much, but it takes 300 pages to get there. (Could a bit of editing have been applied? Absolutely.)
While reading this, I felt a lot of sympathy for The Narrator (again, probably because of my domestic violence background; it's easy to say "why doesn't she just leave already?" but much, much harder to actually do, especially when you're a teenager, especially with no other means of emotional support) but most of the time I just wanted to be done with this part of the book. I rushed through it not because I wanted to see what happened, but because I wanted to get the pain of this over with. That's not the most pleasant of reading experiences. As such, this was almost a DNF (did not finish) book; I stuck with it because it was a review book. (Had this been one I picked up on my own, probably it would have been a DNF.)
At the same time, I could not put this novel down.
I will say this: the ending SURPRISED THE HELL out of me. It really did (I stayed up till nearly 2 a.m. to find out what happened) and as much as I was prepared to give this a negative review (this review has been almost completely rewritten), the ending redeemed it from such. If I haven't made it clear, I really hated several characters (Tol, the narrator's father) during much of the novel. Hated. Them. By the end of the book, though, I understood them much better. Even started to LIKE them. That's quite a feat for a writer, and I have to give Nikki Gemmell considerable credit for that.
With My Body is definitely not a novel for everyone. At times, I wasn't sure if it was for me - and even now, I'm not sure what to make of it. I can't remember ever having such a wide-ranging, love/hate reaction to a novel.
The question will be whether readers will stay with this provocative story long enough to find out for themselves.
(This would be 3.5 stars, if I was able to add that additional .5)
You know, IF said book would just happen to fall into your e-reader or beach tote or something.
Well, you're in luck because that's just the kind of book With My Body by Nikki Gemmell is. It's also disturbing as all hell, but we'll get to that in a minute. It's like That Other Book (which I admit, I haven't read but feel like I have). It's that sort of book that you WANT to read but you don't want people to KNOW you are reading and that while you ARE reading you're thinking, WTF is going on here and he/she/they did not just do that and if my mother/grandmother/neighbor saw me reading this I would die and by then, you're done the book. (Yes, even though this is 462 pages. These are the wham-bam-thankya-ma'am equivalent of 462 pages.)
Not like anything's wrong with wanting to read this sort of book. We are, presumably, all grown ups here ... all of us, that is, except for the teenage girl narrating the majority of With My Body, which is where the Creep-O-Meter factor with this novel comes into play.
She's a pretty young thing who is curious about All Things Grown Up. And I mean All The Things. She's lacking a mother, due to the death of her own mother from breast cancer and her father marrying the Wicked Biatch as All Get Out Stepmother, Anne. The father naturally favors the new stepmother over the young girl, who reminds him of the deceased wife. So, precocious and curious Narrator/Young Girl goes off in search of a father figure who will teach her the ways of the sexual world. (Cue up the George Michael: That's all I wanted, something special/ Something sacred in your eyes/ For just one moment, to be bold and naked/ At your side/ Sometimes I think that you'll never understand me/Maybe this time is forever, say it can be ....")
Nikki Gemmell doesn't give her Narrator/Young Girl a name in her novel, which is done for the purpose (I believe) of symbolizing to her reader that the narrator is truly Everywoman. For that's how we meet her in the first 43 pages of the novel: as a married woman who is extremely dissatisfied with her lot in life of taking care of her three kids, waiting for her physician husband to come home (or not), cooking dinner, running errands, doing laundry, and dealing with other snobby and competitive moms while picking up one's kids from school.
(None of us can relate to this, amiright?)
While our Narrator is lamenting how her life turned out and the lack of passion in it (she hasn't had sex with her husband in more than two years, hello!), she reflects inward to a time when she was happier and more connected with herself. That's when we flashback to The Narrator as the Pretty Young Thing, as described previously, who stumbles Goldilocks-like into a mysterious, artsy, and somewhat creepy (if I do say so myself) guy's McMansion. This guy - who has a name (it's Tolly) - is all too willing to teach her everything she doesn't know.
And by everything, I mean evvv-reee-thaaang. No detail is spared for you, dear reader. Nothing left to the imagination here.
This is where I started to lose my way with this novel. At this point (we're talking maybe page 227 or thereabouts), I was ready for this book to end. I had a difficult time with the relationship between The Narrator and Tolly. I was angry with him for clearly taking advantage of her, of mindfucking her while repeatedly reassuring her that their "lessons" were consensual, and I was annoyed with him when he spoke like this (which was all too often):
"'A fabulous kiss can be as evocative as smell, I think,' he smiles afterwards, in appreciation. 'One whiff - or one kiss like it again - and whoosh, it can plunge you back to another time, another place. A brighter phase of love. There can be something so .... restoring ... about it.'
You wipe your lip and stop. He suddenly feels past tense whereas you - achingly, enormously - are present.
'A passionate kiss can arrest a relationship's slow, glacial slide towards indifference,' he's murmuring on, pottering about, forever thinking, teaching, musing. 'Can wake a couple up - remind them of what they were.' He turns back to you. 'Thank you for that.'" (pg. 227)
Who in the hell talks like this?! Yeah, I know: my anger goes a bit deeper here and probably has to do with the fact that I'm a parent of a daughter not all that much far removed from the age of The Narrator and that I know there are weirdos, creepos, and sexos (to quote Archie Bunker) like Tol out there, uttering such banalities to impress the ladies.
I've also worked a bit in the domestic violence field, and as we go further into the novel and the relationship between The Narrator and Tol (she calls him Tol) deepens, there's no question that we're into heavy-duty emotional abuse. There are scenes where she is clearly hesitant and he is clearly being manipulative under the guise of "helping" her, of providing his warped tutorial sessions under the premise of giving her a foundation in what love really is (puh-leeze).
As an adult reader, this is downright painful and disturbing as hell to watch.
"'I must know. Everything. What's in that head of yours? Don't be afraid. I need to know. So I can help. With absolute, utter trust. Always that.' All his words, words, words, over the next few days of apart ....you don't know what's next, where it's meant to stop, who he's bringing in to this; you're a good girl really, you can't. You will not go back.
What happens if you've fallen in love with a person who will ultimately destroy you?
It is not the first time you've thought this.
Woondala [the name of Tol's mansion] has woven a spell around you; you are different there. You don't recognise yourself." (pg. 304)
"He comes right up close, his face tells you he is confident that no one, ever, can take his place, no matter who comes next; he is inked through your heart, through your blood, until the day you die he is there and he knows it. His smile tells you your pleasure is his, that he knows he will have succeeded if he sees you gaining ultimate pleasure, beyond him, beyond anything he can do; it will be his greatest gift. '
But how?' You furrow your eyebrows, frown, still don't get it. He tells you he is doing all this because he is a student of women and he needs to learn, as do you - it is the writer's curiosity - he is a student of life, of living to the limit in pursuit of of love, connection, soul-sharing, radiance. He loves you, never forget that. No matter what comes next." (pg. 310-311)
Seriously, do you want to punch this asshole first or should I do the honors? I. HATE. THIS. GUY. (And there's still another 151 pages to go!)
But Tolly's not the subject of the book (as much as he probably would like to be). It's The Narrator, and this relationship is one that she revisits, as an adult, "in desperation" as salvation from her boring, dreadful adult life. This isn't a spoiler; the back jacket cover tells us as much, but it takes 300 pages to get there. (Could a bit of editing have been applied? Absolutely.)
While reading this, I felt a lot of sympathy for The Narrator (again, probably because of my domestic violence background; it's easy to say "why doesn't she just leave already?" but much, much harder to actually do, especially when you're a teenager, especially with no other means of emotional support) but most of the time I just wanted to be done with this part of the book. I rushed through it not because I wanted to see what happened, but because I wanted to get the pain of this over with. That's not the most pleasant of reading experiences. As such, this was almost a DNF (did not finish) book; I stuck with it because it was a review book. (Had this been one I picked up on my own, probably it would have been a DNF.)
At the same time, I could not put this novel down.
I will say this: the ending SURPRISED THE HELL out of me. It really did (I stayed up till nearly 2 a.m. to find out what happened) and as much as I was prepared to give this a negative review (this review has been almost completely rewritten), the ending redeemed it from such. If I haven't made it clear, I really hated several characters (Tol, the narrator's father) during much of the novel. Hated. Them. By the end of the book, though, I understood them much better. Even started to LIKE them. That's quite a feat for a writer, and I have to give Nikki Gemmell considerable credit for that.
With My Body is definitely not a novel for everyone. At times, I wasn't sure if it was for me - and even now, I'm not sure what to make of it. I can't remember ever having such a wide-ranging, love/hate reaction to a novel.
The question will be whether readers will stay with this provocative story long enough to find out for themselves.
(This would be 3.5 stars, if I was able to add that additional .5)
August 14, 2012
The 411 by Maria:
From page one I am completely drawn in by the writing style.
The middle age, unnamed wife with three kids could be any of us. She is in a rut and bored with life as she knows it. Kids, chores, meals, etc,. She longs for something else, something to make her remember the person she was before all of it. Who can't say they have felt a sense of self loss in the mundane tasks of the everyday?
While trying to find herself she takes us back to her youth and a relationship she had as a child. While it isn't a relationship I felt comfortable reading about as it is a sexual one between her teen self and an older man, I am able to realize that there is a reason she needed the relationship. She lost her mom at a young age and her father remarried a woman who didn't want her. She was disconnected from her family and needed attention; anyone's attention. It is easy to see how this relationship manifested.
When reading other reviews, I disagree with them wholeheartedly. Yes! The relationship was scandalous. Yes! She should be happy with the wonderful life she has. Yes! Yes! and Yes! But the book is beautifully, eloquently written and while it is not for everyone, as the young girls has a very sexual relationship with a man named Tol who makes her into his little play thing by teaching her how to enjoy sex to the fullest, it is a story worth reading with an open mind.
I was rather surprised by the reviewers who couldn't understand the main characters need for affection and attention. As someone who grew up without a mother (she died when I was 12). Whose father took off to live his own life (selfish man) and being left with my grandparents from the age of 14 (my grandfather had been molesting me since I was 7), I can tell you that sex with an older man would have been the least trouble I could have gotten into.
My final thoughts are:
The book is not for everyone
If you don't like reading about sex definitely don't read this one. While I didn't find it graphic. The sex between a grown man and a young teenager could be unsettling.
The sexual relationship doesn't over power the book. It is there to enhance the scenes and allow us to understand why the main character (never named) is so drawn to him.
The feelings of an adolescent girl and all the craziness, madness, uncertainty, neediness, and emotional drama is captured in these pages.
Wonderfully written!
From page one I am completely drawn in by the writing style.
The middle age, unnamed wife with three kids could be any of us. She is in a rut and bored with life as she knows it. Kids, chores, meals, etc,. She longs for something else, something to make her remember the person she was before all of it. Who can't say they have felt a sense of self loss in the mundane tasks of the everyday?
While trying to find herself she takes us back to her youth and a relationship she had as a child. While it isn't a relationship I felt comfortable reading about as it is a sexual one between her teen self and an older man, I am able to realize that there is a reason she needed the relationship. She lost her mom at a young age and her father remarried a woman who didn't want her. She was disconnected from her family and needed attention; anyone's attention. It is easy to see how this relationship manifested.
When reading other reviews, I disagree with them wholeheartedly. Yes! The relationship was scandalous. Yes! She should be happy with the wonderful life she has. Yes! Yes! and Yes! But the book is beautifully, eloquently written and while it is not for everyone, as the young girls has a very sexual relationship with a man named Tol who makes her into his little play thing by teaching her how to enjoy sex to the fullest, it is a story worth reading with an open mind.
I was rather surprised by the reviewers who couldn't understand the main characters need for affection and attention. As someone who grew up without a mother (she died when I was 12). Whose father took off to live his own life (selfish man) and being left with my grandparents from the age of 14 (my grandfather had been molesting me since I was 7), I can tell you that sex with an older man would have been the least trouble I could have gotten into.
My final thoughts are:
The book is not for everyone
If you don't like reading about sex definitely don't read this one. While I didn't find it graphic. The sex between a grown man and a young teenager could be unsettling.
The sexual relationship doesn't over power the book. It is there to enhance the scenes and allow us to understand why the main character (never named) is so drawn to him.
The feelings of an adolescent girl and all the craziness, madness, uncertainty, neediness, and emotional drama is captured in these pages.
Wonderfully written!
June 30, 2012
This book was a bit...erm...creepy? Odd? And not at all erotic in the way that I felt it was supposed to be. The lead character who I think remains nameless throughout the book is a mother of three who is feeling unfulfilled in her sexual life.
At the beginning, I absolutely hated her. In fact, a few times I put the book down, because this woman aggravated me about how she let another woman knock her down because of play dates and my child is better than your child.
GAH...PUKE!
I would be a terrible mother...children do not have play dates..unless the mom/dad etc is buying the friendship. Children go and play with their friends. This woman should have told Susan to go do some rather rude things to herself, because it was obvious she wasn't a friend.
But I'm not really sure how that part of her life played in with the rest of the story, which is told in flash backs. Our main nameless? character has a horrible homelife. A father that loves her but has a hard time showing it, and a wicked-ish stepmother that can't be bothered with her. Somehow all of this turns her into a raging little slut by 14.
Yikes?!?!
Her true awakening comes with Tol. Her experiences with him reminded me a lot of The Story of O, which is kind of an instruction manual for her.
I couldn't stop thinking, OMG she's not even 18 and she's doing stuff most prostitutes do!
What I don't understand is how someone that ends up so sexually aware ends up in a passionless marriage.
On top of all of this she takes off for Australia to find Tol again, but he doesn't want to see her. That whole thing along with some revelations about her father made the ending very anti-climatic for me.
The book, however, was beautifully written, though I have to admit, it was hard dealing with the main character being written in the 2nd person. It was a little hard to deal with.
Over all, this was only a so so read for me, but I can definitely appreciate the author's ability to tell a unique erotic tale.
At the beginning, I absolutely hated her. In fact, a few times I put the book down, because this woman aggravated me about how she let another woman knock her down because of play dates and my child is better than your child.
GAH...PUKE!
I would be a terrible mother...children do not have play dates..unless the mom/dad etc is buying the friendship. Children go and play with their friends. This woman should have told Susan to go do some rather rude things to herself, because it was obvious she wasn't a friend.
But I'm not really sure how that part of her life played in with the rest of the story, which is told in flash backs. Our main nameless? character has a horrible homelife. A father that loves her but has a hard time showing it, and a wicked-ish stepmother that can't be bothered with her. Somehow all of this turns her into a raging little slut by 14.
Yikes?!?!
Her true awakening comes with Tol. Her experiences with him reminded me a lot of The Story of O, which is kind of an instruction manual for her.
I couldn't stop thinking, OMG she's not even 18 and she's doing stuff most prostitutes do!
What I don't understand is how someone that ends up so sexually aware ends up in a passionless marriage.
On top of all of this she takes off for Australia to find Tol again, but he doesn't want to see her. That whole thing along with some revelations about her father made the ending very anti-climatic for me.
The book, however, was beautifully written, though I have to admit, it was hard dealing with the main character being written in the 2nd person. It was a little hard to deal with.
Over all, this was only a so so read for me, but I can definitely appreciate the author's ability to tell a unique erotic tale.
June 6, 2012
I was sent this book by the publisher to review. At first sight I wasn’t sure I would enjoy the writing style, the way it was broken up into “lessons”, or that I would like the whole story being in second person. WOW! Nikki Gemmell really can pull this off. Her writing is so lyrical, just stunning. Her words are raw, powerful, and captivatingly beautiful. I was addicted by page 2. Had it not been for my kids needing me I would have devoured all 462 pages in one sitting. I have never read that many pages so fast.
This book really took me by surprise. At many times I felt like Nikki was picking my brain, putting my thoughts and feelings into words that I have never been able to articulate. I had so many “AHA” moments. What woman doesn’t feel like she is pulled to exhaustion in every aspect of life. She is stuck in the everyday treacheries of life.
Nikki is not afraid to touch on very sensitive, intimate aspects of a relationship. This book is “soaked in love”! It touches on many different kinds of love. Fatherly love, True romantic love, selfish love, (if there is such a thing) loveless love, and the list goes on. She is able to articulate feelings that I always knew I had but could never explain, let alone express to another person.
The middle of the book did get a bit tedious, maybe a bit to much on the sexual end of things, I really wanted the main character to go back and find the gate open no matter how wrong it was.
I would only recommend this book to 18+, if you are easily offended this is not your read!
This book gives me hope! I love how she found her voice and ultimately by doing that she learned to love and be loved again. After reading this I had to buy Nikki’s first novel called A Bride Stripped Bare. I can’t wait to read it!
January 10, 2012
The Bride Stripped Bare was one of my (if not THE) all-time favourite books. It was simply pitch-perfect in my opinion, and I think I've re-read it nearly 20 times. Certainly, it comes out at least once a year, maybe twice. It just really, really struck a chord with me - and I absolutely loved Gemmel's writing style. Loved everything about it, really. So it was with ridiculously high expectations I held With My Body in my trembling hands. I guess it was inevitable it wasn't going to live up to the lofty pedestal I'd put its predecessor on; having said that, I didn't mind this book. You really do have to be a fan of Nikki Gemmel's style and "voice" to appreciate this book - I am, so I was very forgiving. Even so, some of the sentence structure began to grate, even on me. Poetic started to slide into pretentious, just a bit.
I also didn't engage so much with the erotica in this novel; I'm not a 16 year old girl, after all. I wanted more writing about the protagonist as an adult - that's where the juiciness lay in the last novel for me. This novel is also deeply conventional compared to the first - *spoiler alert* - the protagonist stays with her husband, doesn't cheat on him; refuses a lesbian encounter, won't give blow jobs. What the? Nikki, don't lose your shock value, please!
I also didn't engage so much with the erotica in this novel; I'm not a 16 year old girl, after all. I wanted more writing about the protagonist as an adult - that's where the juiciness lay in the last novel for me. This novel is also deeply conventional compared to the first - *spoiler alert* - the protagonist stays with her husband, doesn't cheat on him; refuses a lesbian encounter, won't give blow jobs. What the? Nikki, don't lose your shock value, please!
July 11, 2012
The book starts out with the (unnamed) main character married with three children. After we learn a bit about her, we learn about her younger years, and her relationship with Tol. This relationship is intense, and at times disturbing. I couldn't get it out of my mind that she was only 16 or 17 during this summer with Tol.
The lessons (chapters) are very short and repetitive. And the POV in which the book is written was annoying at times.
However, I found that this book had me thinking about it well after I was done reading. When I first finished the book, I was thinking it was only a 2 star book, but because I could not stop thinking about it after I was done with it, it gained an extra star from me. It really got me thinking.
Although at times it was disturbing to me personally, as a mom and a wife, there were portions of this book I could completely related to and I was able to apply that to my personal life. I was pleased with the way it ended and didn't feel that there wasn't closure.
Overall, I would recommend this book.
The lessons (chapters) are very short and repetitive. And the POV in which the book is written was annoying at times.
However, I found that this book had me thinking about it well after I was done reading. When I first finished the book, I was thinking it was only a 2 star book, but because I could not stop thinking about it after I was done with it, it gained an extra star from me. It really got me thinking.
Although at times it was disturbing to me personally, as a mom and a wife, there were portions of this book I could completely related to and I was able to apply that to my personal life. I was pleased with the way it ended and didn't feel that there wasn't closure.
Overall, I would recommend this book.
August 29, 2012
At first glance, the cover of With My Body may seem like an erotica romance but after reading the blurb, I realised there is something far more than just sex and lust, for behind the sensuality this is a story about family, marriage, self-discovery and love.
Written in second person point-of-view, the nameless character is a mother of three and she has what many women want - a husband who is a GP and one who will not let his family down. She is supposed to be happy with her life, but she is not. She realised that she and her husband have reached a point of stopping in the relationship; where they both are either too busy, or too swamped by everything else. There is not much romance or sparks left, so to speak. Deep inside, the woman is craving for a release and she can't help but to think of her ex-lover, whom she has kept hidden in her mind all these years. She didn't want to ruin her marriage, for she thinks her husband is a good man and all, and she will make sure that he will never know of her past as she revisits her memory (and a notebook whereby she had noted down lessons she had learnt from her ex-lover) where the core of this story is.
The woman had a secret affair with an older man when she was about seventeen. She had accidentally came across a secluded house where she discovered the man, who had chosen the quiet and remoteness of the place from the city so he could write his second book. Initially Tol wants nothing to do with the girl but he is piqued by her naivety and in the end, he gave in through her persistence of seeking him out. And there begins their relationship and their secret affair. Through their affair, she has learned things from Tol that would make one raise eyebrows and frown. Tol seems to learn something from her too, as he finds out more about a woman's psyche. One could say their relationship is a complex one, and there are times I wondered about Tol and if there are other agenda behind his acts. But of course I would not spoil the story and say anything more about him.
Though With My Body mainly looks at the discovery of sexuality of a teenage girl to a woman, there is one aspect which I think drives the greatest impact and that is the father/daughter relationship and the redemptive part which is surprisingly moving once the readers understand the intention behind it.
Bold, honest and thought-provoking, With My Body will be one of the most unforgettable books on my read list. This book also includes an interview with author Nikki Gemmell and her insights of writing this story (which allowed me to learn more about womanhood, in all its complexity).
Written in second person point-of-view, the nameless character is a mother of three and she has what many women want - a husband who is a GP and one who will not let his family down. She is supposed to be happy with her life, but she is not. She realised that she and her husband have reached a point of stopping in the relationship; where they both are either too busy, or too swamped by everything else. There is not much romance or sparks left, so to speak. Deep inside, the woman is craving for a release and she can't help but to think of her ex-lover, whom she has kept hidden in her mind all these years. She didn't want to ruin her marriage, for she thinks her husband is a good man and all, and she will make sure that he will never know of her past as she revisits her memory (and a notebook whereby she had noted down lessons she had learnt from her ex-lover) where the core of this story is.
The woman had a secret affair with an older man when she was about seventeen. She had accidentally came across a secluded house where she discovered the man, who had chosen the quiet and remoteness of the place from the city so he could write his second book. Initially Tol wants nothing to do with the girl but he is piqued by her naivety and in the end, he gave in through her persistence of seeking him out. And there begins their relationship and their secret affair. Through their affair, she has learned things from Tol that would make one raise eyebrows and frown. Tol seems to learn something from her too, as he finds out more about a woman's psyche. One could say their relationship is a complex one, and there are times I wondered about Tol and if there are other agenda behind his acts. But of course I would not spoil the story and say anything more about him.
Though With My Body mainly looks at the discovery of sexuality of a teenage girl to a woman, there is one aspect which I think drives the greatest impact and that is the father/daughter relationship and the redemptive part which is surprisingly moving once the readers understand the intention behind it.
Bold, honest and thought-provoking, With My Body will be one of the most unforgettable books on my read list. This book also includes an interview with author Nikki Gemmell and her insights of writing this story (which allowed me to learn more about womanhood, in all its complexity).
June 17, 2012
With My Body
By
Nikki Gemmell
My " in a nut shell" summary...
Wife and mother of three young boys ...married to a doctor...felt dead inside...no closeness with her husband...they had not slept together in years and although they loved each other...they had no intimacy.
My thoughts after reading...
Loved the way the story was told...the prologue sort of set it up but of course I didn't really get it until the end. Short one or two page chapters that totally held my interest. I thought that I was just reading about this woman 's present life and childhood and then bam...she meets Tol...and although I have not read Fifty Shades Of Anything...I think I got a shocking...lol...glimpse of what reading it might be like! She had this weird fascination for this author...Tol...and he was equally fascinated with her and there was a ton of weird sex stuff going on. He was older...she was under age...he gets her sort of hooked on him and one day he is gone...rather his gate is locked...she can't get in and and she suffers through growing up without him...and never really finds out what happened to him until she takes her sons to her father's house in Australia. She has all kinds of issues...no mother, really horrible stepmother, weak father, and a wild child kind of personality. And now she is a miserable grown up...for a while.
What I loved about this book...
I loved the story...the characters, the sad bits, the life she had to live while growing up. I even loved that she could never manage to get her family's laundry put away and she was one of those moms who needed space and her tv babysitter...and that often her kids wore their tees to school inside out.
What I did not love...
I have no clue what her name is...I either don't remember...doubtful...or she was never named...this kind of fascinated me and drove me crazy!
Final thoughts...
Intriguing book with way too much descriptive weird sex for the Catholic school girl in me!
By
Nikki Gemmell
My " in a nut shell" summary...
Wife and mother of three young boys ...married to a doctor...felt dead inside...no closeness with her husband...they had not slept together in years and although they loved each other...they had no intimacy.
My thoughts after reading...
Loved the way the story was told...the prologue sort of set it up but of course I didn't really get it until the end. Short one or two page chapters that totally held my interest. I thought that I was just reading about this woman 's present life and childhood and then bam...she meets Tol...and although I have not read Fifty Shades Of Anything...I think I got a shocking...lol...glimpse of what reading it might be like! She had this weird fascination for this author...Tol...and he was equally fascinated with her and there was a ton of weird sex stuff going on. He was older...she was under age...he gets her sort of hooked on him and one day he is gone...rather his gate is locked...she can't get in and and she suffers through growing up without him...and never really finds out what happened to him until she takes her sons to her father's house in Australia. She has all kinds of issues...no mother, really horrible stepmother, weak father, and a wild child kind of personality. And now she is a miserable grown up...for a while.
What I loved about this book...
I loved the story...the characters, the sad bits, the life she had to live while growing up. I even loved that she could never manage to get her family's laundry put away and she was one of those moms who needed space and her tv babysitter...and that often her kids wore their tees to school inside out.
What I did not love...
I have no clue what her name is...I either don't remember...doubtful...or she was never named...this kind of fascinated me and drove me crazy!
Final thoughts...
Intriguing book with way too much descriptive weird sex for the Catholic school girl in me!
November 28, 2021
In this second book in The Bride trilogy, an unnamed female narrator is living in Gloucestershire with her husband and three young children. Her life is in a bit of a rut so she reminisces about her first real love with writer Tolly and the joy that their sexual relationship brought her. In a Lolita-esque revelation, although this being different as it is told from the point of view of the child, our teenage narrator describes her life as a bush-child in an isolated settlement in New South Wales and her stumbling over a house occupied by writer Tolly, the development of their intimacy, what he taught her and her despair when he abandoned her suddenly with no explanation....
I enjoyed this one far more than the first in the series, moving, emotional and quite erotic at times - 8.5/10.
I enjoyed this one far more than the first in the series, moving, emotional and quite erotic at times - 8.5/10.
August 17, 2012
With My Body is not for everyone. Like The Bride Stripped Bare it is not for the faint of heart. Second person narratives can be awkward and challenging, unwieldy in hands less capable. Fourtunately, Nikki Gemmell excels at the difficult POV. I've always loved second person narratives (WAY WAY more than first person which seldom feel very organic for me) and I love Gemmell's especially. The unflinching rawness of the text grabs hold and shakes loose expectations. It's challenging and difficult and truthful about women and marriage and sex and sexuality. But to focus on the sex or the gap in ages, I think, is selling the book short. Those things are meant to be disturbing. I think that we are meant to think outside of the prescribed boundaries of socially acceptable normalcy. What I read between the lines is that sometimes women lose themselves (or never get a chance to discover themselves at all) because they are too busy trying to be what other people say they should be. I know a few of those women.
It's not that that kind of life is a bad thing. Our narrator comes to terms with that kind of life when she finally comes to terms with her stepmother, but it's also not the only way, and I think that the heart of this book comes in encouraging, describing, and depicting a woman who approaches life from a different perspective. She is less tied down by conventional constructs because of her very unconventional relationship with Tol. I am not commending the relationship. If anything I find it questionable that an older man feels that he is equipped in any way to teach a young woman HOW TO BE a woman (in any sense). That said, learning to take ownership of ones own body and sexuality is pretty damn huge. The female body and sexuality are fraught, sociopolitical battlegrounds and no negotiation of that identity can be treated without inciting someone.
I readWith My Body a few books after I finished the Fifty Shades of Gray trilogy and it makes an interesting counterpoint. If only James's books had been so self-aware. But then this book is not a romance. Yes, it is about love and romantic love does play a part in it, but it is NOT a romance novel. If anything it builds up ideals only to strip them down, emphasizing that locating happiness, self-acceptance, and self-worth in any place besides within oneself is foolish and destructive. With all that said, I would still choose Tol over Christian Gray any day of the week.
It's not that that kind of life is a bad thing. Our narrator comes to terms with that kind of life when she finally comes to terms with her stepmother, but it's also not the only way, and I think that the heart of this book comes in encouraging, describing, and depicting a woman who approaches life from a different perspective. She is less tied down by conventional constructs because of her very unconventional relationship with Tol. I am not commending the relationship. If anything I find it questionable that an older man feels that he is equipped in any way to teach a young woman HOW TO BE a woman (in any sense). That said, learning to take ownership of ones own body and sexuality is pretty damn huge. The female body and sexuality are fraught, sociopolitical battlegrounds and no negotiation of that identity can be treated without inciting someone.
I readWith My Body a few books after I finished the Fifty Shades of Gray trilogy and it makes an interesting counterpoint. If only James's books had been so self-aware. But then this book is not a romance. Yes, it is about love and romantic love does play a part in it, but it is NOT a romance novel. If anything it builds up ideals only to strip them down, emphasizing that locating happiness, self-acceptance, and self-worth in any place besides within oneself is foolish and destructive. With all that said, I would still choose Tol over Christian Gray any day of the week.
January 24, 2012
I love Nikki Gemmell. I loved 'The Bride Stripped Bare'. I love her column in The Australian and I loved this book. I have many friends who found this almost pornographic and unnecessarily so but for me I think she chooses to be provocative, sexual and at times confronting to test the stereo type of women as asexual. She takes women's sexuality almost to the extreme in order to awaken something in women and remind us of who we are and who we can be if we so CHOOSE!. For the main character sex is not something she tolerates with her partner but something she desires for herself. There is a great line that says íf sex is going to be mediocre I would rather not have it'. The middle section where she reflects on her sexual awakening with the character Tol - the man who literally opens her up and teaches her about sexuality does feel a little disconnected from the rest of the book but I still loved it and found it hard to put down. The way she talks about life with mothers at school is for me brilliance and so perceptive. If you are not afraid to read about women and sex this is a great book! I devoured every word
July 11, 2012
I was shocked by the diverse reviews. Wow! I needed a break from my current reading preferences and thought this looked interesting. I was not disappointed.
I too, put it down shortly after starting it because it was a bit depressing, however, it was only because it spoke more to true life than say, 50 shades. But after a couple of days, I picked it up again and didn't stop until I finished it.
I thought it was a beautiful read, her style of writing was captivating and made me want to read more.
As a mother of two, 17 years married and thinking I may be going through a midlife, dare I say, crisis, it was refreshing to read about someone else's struggle with monotony, and life in general. It was also heartwarming and seriously sexy to read about the love affair with Tol. If the age difference bothers you then you probably need to be reading something else because their story is so much deeper than age.
Just my two cents worth but I highly recommend.
I too, put it down shortly after starting it because it was a bit depressing, however, it was only because it spoke more to true life than say, 50 shades. But after a couple of days, I picked it up again and didn't stop until I finished it.
I thought it was a beautiful read, her style of writing was captivating and made me want to read more.
As a mother of two, 17 years married and thinking I may be going through a midlife, dare I say, crisis, it was refreshing to read about someone else's struggle with monotony, and life in general. It was also heartwarming and seriously sexy to read about the love affair with Tol. If the age difference bothers you then you probably need to be reading something else because their story is so much deeper than age.
Just my two cents worth but I highly recommend.
July 16, 2012
I won a drawing for this book through First Reads!
I was unable to get into this book at all. It seemed very disjointed and unconnected to me. I did not enjoy at all the 100 or so pages that I tried to read before finally admitting that there are too many books I want to read and will enjoy reading to continue trying to wade through With My Body.
I don't know if it was the erotica and sexuality that was the stumbling block or not. Perhaps it is because of the author being Australian and the story being set in England. Don't know for sure but just had to admit this story wasn't for me.
I am donating it to a book sale where someone will discover it and love it!
I was unable to get into this book at all. It seemed very disjointed and unconnected to me. I did not enjoy at all the 100 or so pages that I tried to read before finally admitting that there are too many books I want to read and will enjoy reading to continue trying to wade through With My Body.
I don't know if it was the erotica and sexuality that was the stumbling block or not. Perhaps it is because of the author being Australian and the story being set in England. Don't know for sure but just had to admit this story wasn't for me.
I am donating it to a book sale where someone will discover it and love it!
February 29, 2012
A largely dissatisfying read - it's well-researched, Gemmell is clearly well-read. But her prose is awkward at times, and repetitive. And if there's one thing that annoyed me more than anything, it's her use of second-person narration. It creates a sense of distance between author, lead character and reader. The 'you' she addresses is clearly not the reader - this creates a relationship between writer and character, but excludes the reader. It is a very isolating technique. First third is tough work, it does get easier after a while, but not a book I would readily recommend.
August 5, 2012
The second person format and the very short chapters seemed distracting at first but somehow by the end of the book oddly worked. The age difference between she and he was a bit disconcerting but what I really liked was that they both learned from each other and I liked the literary bend that the book had. I love sex and I love love. Both were described with a gritty realism that I enjoyed. No bodice ripping here just a realistic at times somewhat crude descriptions that I felt were well balanced to the story. I liked the fact that she was this rough and tumble tom boy that knew how to take care of herself in the bush. When she feels the tug of her dawning sexuality she sets out to research what love and sex are about, rather than just letting it happen.
I liked this book a lot but feel that the weaknesses described in the spoiler section reduced it from being a potentially very good novel to just good. Even with those weaknesses, I still battled with the star rating. I want to be kinder than I am, because for most of the book I really liked this character and I loved the non-syrupy descriptions of sex and love, the journeys into the mind of a woman. But I can not ignore the incongruity of the character's reaction to what happened compared to my expectations for her reaction--that just didn't play real to me for as good as the remainder of the book was. I have flipped the coin in my mind over and over, three stars or five stars. Part of me wants to do both. So I settled for four.
I liked this book a lot but feel that the weaknesses described in the spoiler section reduced it from being a potentially very good novel to just good. Even with those weaknesses, I still battled with the star rating. I want to be kinder than I am, because for most of the book I really liked this character and I loved the non-syrupy descriptions of sex and love, the journeys into the mind of a woman. But I can not ignore the incongruity of the character's reaction to what happened compared to my expectations for her reaction--that just didn't play real to me for as good as the remainder of the book was. I have flipped the coin in my mind over and over, three stars or five stars. Part of me wants to do both. So I settled for four.
October 25, 2023
I love the kinds of books that make me feel seen and heard. How I can be completely understood by a complete stranger. This book did this for me. With My Body felt like every thought and feeling I experienced as a teenager discovering sex and love, while it also imitates my own feelings now as I’m older. While this books topic is centered around sex, that by no means lessens it’s value or makes it shallow in any sense. There are many thoughts of love of all sorts, being in a family that pushes you out, being a woman in a world run and judged by men. Loss, truth, value. I cannot recommend this book enough, beautiful writing accompanied with honesty and unfaltering lenses looking out on a cruel world.
July 18, 2023
She just has sex like every chapter I mean Come On.
What was the POINT ?!!!!!
Did not enjoy. Nothing to enjoy, really.
What was the POINT ?!!!!!
Did not enjoy. Nothing to enjoy, really.
August 22, 2023
This book for sure isn't for everyone. Raw, intense, exploring women's sexuality and the choices made.
February 12, 2013
This book will be a hard review for me. The book is unlike any other I have read both in the style and the content. It is not a book of erotica, however there is alot of erotica in it. This may not ever make sense unless you read the book. The majority of this book is more of a recollection of the main subject who goes un-named thru out the book. She recalls her childhood and difficulty with being part of a new family when her father remarries. She recalls her journey of sexual discovery starting at the age of 14 and then later a summer long affair with an older man when she was about 16 or 17. Again, the book does not specify her age or his for that matter, all we really know is that he is older. The story of their affair is erotic , sensual and deeply intimate as he teaches her not only about sex itself, but of owning her own body and truely feeling. There are intimate moments that most of us who are grown have never experienced with a lover. This affair ends abruptly and she is not aware as to why it did, only that it was probably bound to end that way. I believe the man truely loved her despite the age difference.
What is interesting is that this book follows what the aftermath of this affair did to her life, how it affected every other relationship she had up to and including her marriage. Like many wives who are coming upon an older age, she too began to feel the affects of "is this all there is then?". In this way the book was very scarily realistic. In an effort to ease what had become stagnant in her life, she chose to return to where the affair took place and to try to find herself again. In doing so, she finds out the true reason why this affair ended so suddenly. She finds him (Tol) again and her life lesson from him takes another shape that was unexpected. The ending made me a little sad, yet hopeful at the same time. This is not an easy book to read, you have to be patient and really try to grasp the lessons told within. That being said, I enjoyed this book very much.
What is interesting is that this book follows what the aftermath of this affair did to her life, how it affected every other relationship she had up to and including her marriage. Like many wives who are coming upon an older age, she too began to feel the affects of "is this all there is then?". In this way the book was very scarily realistic. In an effort to ease what had become stagnant in her life, she chose to return to where the affair took place and to try to find herself again. In doing so, she finds out the true reason why this affair ended so suddenly. She finds him (Tol) again and her life lesson from him takes another shape that was unexpected. The ending made me a little sad, yet hopeful at the same time. This is not an easy book to read, you have to be patient and really try to grasp the lessons told within. That being said, I enjoyed this book very much.
November 3, 2012
As many reviewers have commented, the second person style is initially unsettling. But once you adapt to it, it lends a certain "rightness" to this tale of a sexual awakening. There aren't many books that tackle this subject with the intensity of feeling Nikki Gemmell manages here.
There are things I didn't like about it but they are minor quibbles really -- it's somewhat too long, there are a lot of needless, rather strained passages struggling for literary oomph that if tightened up would actually increase the reader's connection to the main character.
Having said that, there are many things that I think should lead you to read this book:
1) Even if you can't relate to the main character getting involved with an older man when she's seventeen, read it as if it could be a woman at any age that decides to explore her sexuality. I did the same thing with an older man when I was twenty-one and Gemmell gets the feeling tones just right. Also, for that reason alone, men should read it. Stick it in your man's face and tell him he'll learn more about how to open up a woman's sexuality than 50,000 Penthouse letters.
2) The bits about the competition between mothers at an elementary school are precious. I'm going through this right now and it is spot on.
3) Her affection for her homeland Australia is a marvelous part of the story -- quite unexpected but very charming.
4) The waxing and waning (and re-waxing) of a woman's sexuality through her life is extremely well done. Having gone through much of this myself, I recommend that the book should be read by women who may despair that their passion for sex will never return.
5) I don't have a fifth thing but lists always look better in fives or tens.
There are things I didn't like about it but they are minor quibbles really -- it's somewhat too long, there are a lot of needless, rather strained passages struggling for literary oomph that if tightened up would actually increase the reader's connection to the main character.
Having said that, there are many things that I think should lead you to read this book:
1) Even if you can't relate to the main character getting involved with an older man when she's seventeen, read it as if it could be a woman at any age that decides to explore her sexuality. I did the same thing with an older man when I was twenty-one and Gemmell gets the feeling tones just right. Also, for that reason alone, men should read it. Stick it in your man's face and tell him he'll learn more about how to open up a woman's sexuality than 50,000 Penthouse letters.
2) The bits about the competition between mothers at an elementary school are precious. I'm going through this right now and it is spot on.
3) Her affection for her homeland Australia is a marvelous part of the story -- quite unexpected but very charming.
4) The waxing and waning (and re-waxing) of a woman's sexuality through her life is extremely well done. Having gone through much of this myself, I recommend that the book should be read by women who may despair that their passion for sex will never return.
5) I don't have a fifth thing but lists always look better in fives or tens.
July 3, 2012
Nikki Gemmell's With My Body is a pretty good book that is not just some kind of Harlequin Romance--a bodice ripper or heavy breather of interest only to frustrated women who have to be home by 12 O'Clock. It covers a lot of questions about love, marriage, and the need for writers to be brave and express their truth in spite of what other people think. The concern for keeping the journals hidden and the consequences of having them read by the wrong people are also a subject of Nikki Gemmell's previous book, The Bride Stripped Bare.
Gemmell has a way with words, and she turns her phrases with occasional Aussieisms that really add to the flavor, even if you don't quite know the precise definitions. Though the book has many pages, the short "lessons" surround the words with a lot of white space, so it is not really as long as it seems. Plus, you are carried along by the story, wanting to know what happens next, getting caught up in the breathy prose. I burned through it way ahead of schedule. I would recommend this book to readers of a literary bent, mostly women, but also men who are interested in how women think.
The Moth's Kiss, A Review by Chris Craddock of Nikki Gemmell's With My Body
July 11, 2012
I have to go there and bring up a certain book!!! Simply because I have nothing else to compare it to. Fifty Shades of Grey is all the rage in the book world. I've been tempted to read it........but I read an excerpt on Amazon and was appalled!! Not by the sex, but by how bad the writing was!! If I'm going to read a book with graphic sex scenes, it would be nice if the writing was actually good.
The writing in With My Body by Nikki Gemmell is actually good. Her writing style does take some time getting used to. The "chapters" are really lessons for a middle-aged woman who has lost herself. The lessons are very short and to the point. It's also written in the second person, which isn't my favorite. I'm so used to books in the first person. I'm just torn on the book as a whole.
The story is one that a lot of women can relate to. A middle-aged wife and mom of three is stuck in a passionless marriage. ...
Read the rest of my review at: http://www.asiturnthepages.blogspot.c...
The writing in With My Body by Nikki Gemmell is actually good. Her writing style does take some time getting used to. The "chapters" are really lessons for a middle-aged woman who has lost herself. The lessons are very short and to the point. It's also written in the second person, which isn't my favorite. I'm so used to books in the first person. I'm just torn on the book as a whole.
The story is one that a lot of women can relate to. A middle-aged wife and mom of three is stuck in a passionless marriage. ...
Read the rest of my review at: http://www.asiturnthepages.blogspot.c...
August 4, 2012
With My Body by Nikki Gemmell is definitely a book, after reading, you need to think and reflect upon before sharing your thoughts, at least for me. I admit, as many others, the short "lesson" made the reading a bit awkward. I was initially troubled by a teenage girl experiencing such explicit sexual experiences. Without the strong influence of her mother... or even a mother figure, the "rights of passage" were guided by the older male lover. But, this man seemingly took advantage of her youth and inexperience.
All women need to come to the same realization... we are first and foremost a woman. We wear so many hats... wife, mother, sister, aunt, teacher, nurse, etc... but we are always the woman. So I applaud Ms. Gemmell in focusing on the number of directions a woman is pulled and often loses her inner most self based on the hat or hats she's wearing at a particular time in her life. The import message is in a woman not forgetting herself regardless of the number of hats she balances...
All women need to come to the same realization... we are first and foremost a woman. We wear so many hats... wife, mother, sister, aunt, teacher, nurse, etc... but we are always the woman. So I applaud Ms. Gemmell in focusing on the number of directions a woman is pulled and often loses her inner most self based on the hat or hats she's wearing at a particular time in her life. The import message is in a woman not forgetting herself regardless of the number of hats she balances...
March 13, 2013
I'm not sure what I think about this book. It's put together oddly and has annoying affectations, but explores interesting issues.
Pros first, as there's only one but it's a biggie - exploring female sexuality and the power it holds. To say any more would probably be a spoiler.
Cons - oo boy, I have a list. First, there are over 200 chapters, each spanning one to three pages. Each chapter starts with a quote, sometimes just a phrase, that kinda sorta relates to the content. If there were one quote to puzzle out every 20 or 40 pages I'd do just that, but every other page? It wasn't worth the mental energy so I skipped them.
Neither pro nor con - the book is in the second person. It adds an immediacy that serves the story but at other times grates.
This is not a "happy read", but a decent one none the less.
Pros first, as there's only one but it's a biggie - exploring female sexuality and the power it holds. To say any more would probably be a spoiler.
Cons - oo boy, I have a list. First, there are over 200 chapters, each spanning one to three pages. Each chapter starts with a quote, sometimes just a phrase, that kinda sorta relates to the content. If there were one quote to puzzle out every 20 or 40 pages I'd do just that, but every other page? It wasn't worth the mental energy so I skipped them.
Neither pro nor con - the book is in the second person. It adds an immediacy that serves the story but at other times grates.
This is not a "happy read", but a decent one none the less.
June 11, 2012
This book starts out with the portrait of a middle-aged woman who feels trapped in her life of a passionless marriage, fake friendships, and a never-ending cycle of errands and chores. She has lost herself and her zest for life. But then we travel to the past--when as a teenager she was bursting with passion and meet the man who fed and nurtured it. So what became of him . . . and her?
I found this book difficult to get into at first. The 2nd person point of view was so distracting and the repetitiveness of her hopeless life was kind of boring . . . but then when the book moved into the past, I got hooked into the story and even forgot (most of the time) about the annoying POV and enjoyed the book.
I found this book difficult to get into at first. The 2nd person point of view was so distracting and the repetitiveness of her hopeless life was kind of boring . . . but then when the book moved into the past, I got hooked into the story and even forgot (most of the time) about the annoying POV and enjoyed the book.
August 10, 2016
I love this book but it also made me depressed at some points, making me feel like I haven’t live my life to the fullest when I was younger lol! The story revolved around a woman in her early 40s reminiscing her sexual awakening starting when she was only 14. At 16, she met Tol (who can be safely assumed to be in his 20s) and embarked on an illicit affair. Tol not only taught her about sexuality, but also love and life in general. Then the affair abruptly stopped. It broke her. Her love for Tol prevented her from opening her heart to any other man that came after. It took her years later (in her 40s) to realize that Tol not only broke her but he also mended her when she finally got what he’d been teaching her all along.
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