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Body
Shereel Dupont--who abandoned her former name, Dorothy Turnipseed, when she left Waycross, Georgia, to seek fame and fortune with bodybuilder Russell Morgan--finds her new life threatened by the arrival of her corpulent, redneck family
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1990
About the author
Harry Crews
67 books689 followersHarry Eugene Crews was born during the Great Depression to sharecroppers in Bacon County, Georgia. His father died when he was an infant and his mother quickly remarried. His mother later moved her sons to Jacksonville, Florida. Crews is twice divorced and is the father of two sons. His eldest son drowned in 1964.
Crews served in the Korean War and, following the war, enrolled at the University of Florida under the G.I. Bill. After two years of school, Crews set out on an extended road trip. He returned to the University of Florida in 1958. Later, after graduating from the master's program, Crews was denied entrance to the graduate program for Creative Writing. He moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where he taught English at Broward Community College. In 1968, Crews' first novel, The Gospel Singer, was published. Crews returned to the University of Florida as an English faculty member.
In spring of 1997, Crews retired from UF to devote himself fully to writing. Crews published continuously since his first novel, on average of one novel per year. He died in 2012, at the age of 78.
Crews served in the Korean War and, following the war, enrolled at the University of Florida under the G.I. Bill. After two years of school, Crews set out on an extended road trip. He returned to the University of Florida in 1958. Later, after graduating from the master's program, Crews was denied entrance to the graduate program for Creative Writing. He moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where he taught English at Broward Community College. In 1968, Crews' first novel, The Gospel Singer, was published. Crews returned to the University of Florida as an English faculty member.
In spring of 1997, Crews retired from UF to devote himself fully to writing. Crews published continuously since his first novel, on average of one novel per year. He died in 2012, at the age of 78.
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April 4, 2023
Me encanta Harry Crews. "Cuerpo" me ha gustado tanto o más que "El cantante de Gospel", dos narraciones bien distintas pero con la inconfundible impronta del autor.
Un nuevo y espléndido grupo de frikis en el que no podía faltar ese personaje inquietante capaz de ponerte mal cuerpo (Cabeza Clavo, espectacular, propio del David Lynch de Corazón salvaje). Hay sexo, hay violencia, pero, junto a ello, está la ternura y la delicadeza (la escena en la bañera de Billy Murciélago y Earline es una cosa mala) y, sobre todo, hay mucho humor, y esa es la principal diferencia con aquel otro libro. Es imposible no sonreír y hasta reírse abiertamente con esas absurdas, ridículas y hasta disparatadas escenas que generan el choque cultural que sufre una familia de palurdos (eso que llaman white trash o basura blanca) al asistir a una competición de culturismo donde participa una de la hijas (en ocasiones la risa es nerviosa y hasta agradecida por la suerte de asistir a la escena únicamente como lector).
Pero ojo, en ese choque cultural, donde sería fácil caer en el histrionismo, Crew trata a sus personajes con un enorme respeto. Esta familia del sur americano más profundo, orgullosa de su barbarie, que desecha todo lo que supone un cambio respecto a lo conocido o respecto de aquello que se ha hecho todalavidadedios y que desprecia lo extranjero o no habitual (de una extrañeza diferente a la de ellos, se entiende), sin aspiraciones más allá de mantener las tradiciones y el núcleo familiar como el centro de la vida, para la que buena parte del ocio masculino consiste en beber hasta caer rendidos y del ocio femenino en intentar que eso no se produzca y cuidarlos cuando se termina produciendo, este grupo familiar, digo, mantiene su dignidad como buenamente saben ante ese mundo competitivo, ambicioso, amante del poder, en el que el dinero es el centro y la clave del éxito o del fracaso. Como en todo choque que se precie alguien debe salir dañado, y quien mejor que aquel que lo apuesta todo, que aquel que se ha atrevido a cruzar la línea y quemar sus naves.
P.D. Estoy seguro de que ha sido grande el esfuerzo realizado por los traductores para adaptar el habla sureña y, sin poder comparar, no me quejo del resultado, pero estoy convencido de que es imposible que no se haya perdido nada por el camino, por lo que recomiendo que de poderse se lea la versión original.
Un nuevo y espléndido grupo de frikis en el que no podía faltar ese personaje inquietante capaz de ponerte mal cuerpo (Cabeza Clavo, espectacular, propio del David Lynch de Corazón salvaje). Hay sexo, hay violencia, pero, junto a ello, está la ternura y la delicadeza (la escena en la bañera de Billy Murciélago y Earline es una cosa mala) y, sobre todo, hay mucho humor, y esa es la principal diferencia con aquel otro libro. Es imposible no sonreír y hasta reírse abiertamente con esas absurdas, ridículas y hasta disparatadas escenas que generan el choque cultural que sufre una familia de palurdos (eso que llaman white trash o basura blanca) al asistir a una competición de culturismo donde participa una de la hijas (en ocasiones la risa es nerviosa y hasta agradecida por la suerte de asistir a la escena únicamente como lector).
Pero ojo, en ese choque cultural, donde sería fácil caer en el histrionismo, Crew trata a sus personajes con un enorme respeto. Esta familia del sur americano más profundo, orgullosa de su barbarie, que desecha todo lo que supone un cambio respecto a lo conocido o respecto de aquello que se ha hecho todalavidadedios y que desprecia lo extranjero o no habitual (de una extrañeza diferente a la de ellos, se entiende), sin aspiraciones más allá de mantener las tradiciones y el núcleo familiar como el centro de la vida, para la que buena parte del ocio masculino consiste en beber hasta caer rendidos y del ocio femenino en intentar que eso no se produzca y cuidarlos cuando se termina produciendo, este grupo familiar, digo, mantiene su dignidad como buenamente saben ante ese mundo competitivo, ambicioso, amante del poder, en el que el dinero es el centro y la clave del éxito o del fracaso. Como en todo choque que se precie alguien debe salir dañado, y quien mejor que aquel que lo apuesta todo, que aquel que se ha atrevido a cruzar la línea y quemar sus naves.
P.D. Estoy seguro de que ha sido grande el esfuerzo realizado por los traductores para adaptar el habla sureña y, sin poder comparar, no me quejo del resultado, pero estoy convencido de que es imposible que no se haya perdido nada por el camino, por lo que recomiendo que de poderse se lea la versión original.
June 7, 2026
I recently read a disturbing article called Climbing the Tower by Harry Crews. It was about his visit to the University of Texas campus where Charles Whitman had shot dead many people from atop a tower. Crews basically says in the article that there are many people around the world who are on the verge of doing what Whitman did. They pass each day, barely able to control themselves and their violent urges. Even worse, Crews believes he could be one of them.
Crews novels (like Feast of Snakes and The Gypsy's Curse) feature characters who commit impulsive acts of violence. Body features one such character. Crews novels involves the main character trying to accomplish some feat - rattlesnake competition in Feast of Snakes, eating a car in Car and the upside down walking showman in The Gypsy's Curse.
In Body, the setting is a Florida Hotel where the Miss Cosmos bodybuilding contest is taking place. Shireel Dunlop, who is actually Dorothy Turnipseed, a typist from Georgia, is the major contender for the top prize. But while she waits for the day of the contest, she wrestles with her trainer Russel the Muscle (who made an appearance in The Gypsy's Curse) and her opponent the black body builder Marvella and her four mouthy sisters. Then there is Shireel's own family from Georgia - lead by her violently crazy and jealous fiancee Vietnam war veteran Nailhead.
I initially thought the novel was a weird coming of age novel where Dorothy Turnipseed aka Shereel Dupont would escape her roots and make a place for herself in the world. As an Indian, I could identify with her plight where she has to deal with an overbearing family who tries to thwart her ambitions. But I underestimated Crews and the ending was quite heartbreaking.
The touching teacher-student relationship between Russel and Shereel is an important part of the novel. It involves rough furniture breaking sex (to make Shereel sweat because she drank too much water), but also great understanding and empathy.
Nailhead, Shereel's batshit crazy fiancee is a great creation. Here is Nailhead after he slashes a hotel employee's nose - "That was for nothing, motherfucker. Now, do something and see where I cut you." I love these Crews' characters who are like forces of nature. What does that say about me?
A subplot involving an erotic sweaty encounter between Shereel's overweight bonbon eating sister and another bodybuilder was a bit of a distraction. It took away a star from my rating.
The book might have a subtle feminist theme. But I would not encourage any feminists to read it.
Body is another vicious, gripping and hilarious Harry Crews novel. He provides an intimate and hilarious view of the sacrifices that the freaks who are blessed by nature have to undergo in this world. But madness and desperation lurks beneath the surface of these characters. Crews knows too much about life to give them a happy ending.
Crews novels (like Feast of Snakes and The Gypsy's Curse) feature characters who commit impulsive acts of violence. Body features one such character. Crews novels involves the main character trying to accomplish some feat - rattlesnake competition in Feast of Snakes, eating a car in Car and the upside down walking showman in The Gypsy's Curse.
In Body, the setting is a Florida Hotel where the Miss Cosmos bodybuilding contest is taking place. Shireel Dunlop, who is actually Dorothy Turnipseed, a typist from Georgia, is the major contender for the top prize. But while she waits for the day of the contest, she wrestles with her trainer Russel the Muscle (who made an appearance in The Gypsy's Curse) and her opponent the black body builder Marvella and her four mouthy sisters. Then there is Shireel's own family from Georgia - lead by her violently crazy and jealous fiancee Vietnam war veteran Nailhead.
I initially thought the novel was a weird coming of age novel where Dorothy Turnipseed aka Shereel Dupont would escape her roots and make a place for herself in the world. As an Indian, I could identify with her plight where she has to deal with an overbearing family who tries to thwart her ambitions. But I underestimated Crews and the ending was quite heartbreaking.
The touching teacher-student relationship between Russel and Shereel is an important part of the novel. It involves rough furniture breaking sex (to make Shereel sweat because she drank too much water), but also great understanding and empathy.
Nailhead, Shereel's batshit crazy fiancee is a great creation. Here is Nailhead after he slashes a hotel employee's nose - "That was for nothing, motherfucker. Now, do something and see where I cut you." I love these Crews' characters who are like forces of nature. What does that say about me?
A subplot involving an erotic sweaty encounter between Shereel's overweight bonbon eating sister and another bodybuilder was a bit of a distraction. It took away a star from my rating.
The book might have a subtle feminist theme. But I would not encourage any feminists to read it.
Body is another vicious, gripping and hilarious Harry Crews novel. He provides an intimate and hilarious view of the sacrifices that the freaks who are blessed by nature have to undergo in this world. But madness and desperation lurks beneath the surface of these characters. Crews knows too much about life to give them a happy ending.
April 26, 2015
Harry Crews's Body is a grim comedic free-for-all focusing on the bizarre niche of competitive body-building. Starring a Georgia country girl turned sculpture-esque hardbody named Shereel Dupont, Crews—an author with a life-long proclivity for bouts of drug addiction, reclusiveness, tattoos of e.e. cumming's poetry, and mohawks—uses this determined competitor's story to win the Ms. Cosmos contest at a pseudo-swanky hotel in Florida as a diving board from which to launch into his merciless assault on that purulent scab we call the human psyche. Crews's depictions of his ribald line-up of grotesques are both hilarious and unsettling, and serve as different representatives of that notion of bodily perfection that we loathsome human beings so fetishistically obsess over. The story plays out over three days, during which Shereel sheers off the last traces of fat from her bones (through means of intense weight-lifting regimes; dangerously refined acts of starvation; and even fierce, furniture-smashing fury-fucking) as well as tangling with her screwball family of rednecks who have come to do their familial duties of cheering her on and uttering every racial slur imaginable. Also there's the elephant in the room (this cliche is dedicated to MJ Nicholls), Shareel's childhood sweetheart Nail Head, a deranged Vietnam vet with an acquired taste for strangling people to death. Naturally, hilarity ensues.
Slim and fast-paced, this book doesn't give a shit about your views on political correctness and features clean, inventive prose that explores the reader's own understanding of their gag reflex. (Highlights include a surprise romance that is equal parts horrifying and touching.) Body is cram-packed with gritty, uncompromising insights into what an endless—and ultimately pointless—endeavor it is to strive for self-actualization. A guaranteed barrel of laughs between grabs for the nearest and dearest bottle of Prozac, Harry Crews's novel is a wonderful little horror story about men and women who think looking like a physical freak somehow constitutes as winning in life. Obviously, no one ever wins.
Slim and fast-paced, this book doesn't give a shit about your views on political correctness and features clean, inventive prose that explores the reader's own understanding of their gag reflex. (Highlights include a surprise romance that is equal parts horrifying and touching.) Body is cram-packed with gritty, uncompromising insights into what an endless—and ultimately pointless—endeavor it is to strive for self-actualization. A guaranteed barrel of laughs between grabs for the nearest and dearest bottle of Prozac, Harry Crews's novel is a wonderful little horror story about men and women who think looking like a physical freak somehow constitutes as winning in life. Obviously, no one ever wins.
December 21, 2025
Harry Crews is one of those authors that you'll either like for his grasp of the human psyche or find his way of writing full of pestilence and filth. I think he's a mixture of the two and that's why I find myself gravitating towards his writing over the years -- it's southern gothic at its finest, but with a lot of realism along with things you have to think about. His writing is sordid, sometimes with themes of racism and misogyny, yet he tends to hit you when you least expect it and make you think for a day or two afterwards.
When I first read A Feast of Snakes well over a decade ago, the writing was new and had life. The violence was jarring and made me feel something. I need books to make me feel and I've mentioned that in other reviews over the years here on this site.
"Body" is one of those similar to "A Feast of Snakes". You're reading along, making your journey, trying to find your way. The way could be linear, without change for quite some time. Then towards the end when you don't exactly know the direction you're going, things change and you're left closing the book and staring into space. I had to re-read the last 2-3 pages and experience it again. This book is at first a satire on the bodybuilding industry of the late 70's-mid 80's on the surface, but there's so much more underneath.
I know what to expect from Crews, but when your body feels something, even if you expect it, you know the book is worth reading.
The only Harry Crews book I'll ever recommend to someone who has never read him before would be his autobiography A Childhood: The Biography of a Place. For you to be recommended Crews, you must first read where he came from and what he went through to become the author he was. Further reading can be found here: Blood, Bone, and Marrow: A Biography of Harry Crews.
When I first read A Feast of Snakes well over a decade ago, the writing was new and had life. The violence was jarring and made me feel something. I need books to make me feel and I've mentioned that in other reviews over the years here on this site.
"Body" is one of those similar to "A Feast of Snakes". You're reading along, making your journey, trying to find your way. The way could be linear, without change for quite some time. Then towards the end when you don't exactly know the direction you're going, things change and you're left closing the book and staring into space. I had to re-read the last 2-3 pages and experience it again. This book is at first a satire on the bodybuilding industry of the late 70's-mid 80's on the surface, but there's so much more underneath.
I know what to expect from Crews, but when your body feels something, even if you expect it, you know the book is worth reading.
The only Harry Crews book I'll ever recommend to someone who has never read him before would be his autobiography A Childhood: The Biography of a Place. For you to be recommended Crews, you must first read where he came from and what he went through to become the author he was. Further reading can be found here: Blood, Bone, and Marrow: A Biography of Harry Crews.
October 27, 2017
I turned 40 between this and the last book I had read. Huh. Weird. Anyway, grotesqueries of flesh mingle with hillbillies to the best possible results. One of my favorite endings ever, which is a bold statement to make. Devastating.
June 29, 2026
4.5
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
~ but we're all allowed to change our minds. Upon reading the premise of 'Body', I thought, 'Well, 'TGS' was certainly unique-enough, and who knows?, 20 years+ later in his career, maybe Crews has grown in an interesting way.'
He certainly had. 'Body' may be slightly flawed. It may be a bit repetitive, have a few small lulls, and its cataclysmic conclusion may say more about the author's personal worldview than it does about his characters (though that could be debatable).
~ but it sure grabs you by the throat, early on, and holds on for dear life. This is propulsive storytelling. Overall, it's black comedy at its finest, but with a deadly underbelly. It's almost like Crews is laughing and crying at the same time.
It seems that, as a writer, Crews was something of an anthropologist. Wikipedia tells us: Crews felt strongly that authors should write about experiences that they have actually had. In his personal life, he often moved from obsession to obsession, and became knowledgeable on many subjects.
Prior to writing 'Body', Crews had trained a girlfriend who ultimately won a bodybuilding championship. So the world of the novel is a world he knew first-hand. Putting it to paper seems to show that Crews had a photographic memory. The sights, smells and internal emotional machinery (esp. as captured in the extended final chapter) are worthy of the most deeply researched and detailed documentary.
The result is a master class in obsession.
Quite often it's also funny as hell. Somewhat early on, a sequence involving a hotel assistant manager and his boss is like something ripped from a Preston Sturges classic:
Their ultimate bonding may be the funniest sex scene I've ever read:
~ and I haven't even mentioned the cameo appearances by the gays:
fyi: in November 2026, 'Body' will be reissued by Penguin Classics in a new edition.
"My mind is not here to be judged. My body is. Right now body is everything. Got that, Nail? Body."After reading Crews' debut novel, 'The Gospel Singer', I wasn't sure I wanted to go back to his world:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
~ but we're all allowed to change our minds. Upon reading the premise of 'Body', I thought, 'Well, 'TGS' was certainly unique-enough, and who knows?, 20 years+ later in his career, maybe Crews has grown in an interesting way.'
He certainly had. 'Body' may be slightly flawed. It may be a bit repetitive, have a few small lulls, and its cataclysmic conclusion may say more about the author's personal worldview than it does about his characters (though that could be debatable).
~ but it sure grabs you by the throat, early on, and holds on for dear life. This is propulsive storytelling. Overall, it's black comedy at its finest, but with a deadly underbelly. It's almost like Crews is laughing and crying at the same time.
It seems that, as a writer, Crews was something of an anthropologist. Wikipedia tells us: Crews felt strongly that authors should write about experiences that they have actually had. In his personal life, he often moved from obsession to obsession, and became knowledgeable on many subjects.
Prior to writing 'Body', Crews had trained a girlfriend who ultimately won a bodybuilding championship. So the world of the novel is a world he knew first-hand. Putting it to paper seems to show that Crews had a photographic memory. The sights, smells and internal emotional machinery (esp. as captured in the extended final chapter) are worthy of the most deeply researched and detailed documentary.
The result is a master class in obsession.
Quite often it's also funny as hell. Somewhat early on, a sequence involving a hotel assistant manager and his boss is like something ripped from a Preston Sturges classic:
"... you must surely remember that the assistant manager's job is not to bring the manager news of trouble but to take care of it himself."I wouldn't exactly say the novel is sex-drenched - but there's some functional passion on display, as well as a sort of omnipresence of biological tension that manifests in surprising ways - not the least of which involves the deliciously amorous subplot involving a male bodybuilder who finds himself gobsmacked with infatuation once a plus-size woman of his dreams gives him 'the kiss of life' during uncalled-for CPR.
"Yessir."
"Then how does it come to pass that you find yourself in front of my desk telling me that there has been trouble in the hotel?"
"I thought you'd best know about it, sir. It's serious."
"Serious?"
"Yessir."
"Does it not occur to you that dealing with serious trouble is just the experience of the sort that will someday qualify you for the desk at which I now sit?"
Their ultimate bonding may be the funniest sex scene I've ever read:
"We fit like two spoons, you sweet girl."But the main, razor-sharp focus here is on trainer Russell 'Muscle' Morgan and his protégée Shereel Dupont (née Dorothy Turnipseed), who themselves risk constantly being upstaged by the girl's 'colorful' Turnipseed clan, just at the time when the Ms. Cosmos competition has her on her last nerve.
~ and I haven't even mentioned the cameo appearances by the gays:
"You've lost your fierce, Gerald."or the backup-singer-like antics of the four black ladies - Starvella, Shavella, Jabella and Vanella - who accompany Marvella, Shereel's opponent:
All four girls in exact and identical movement reached up with their right hands, slipped their dark glasses down onto the flared wings of their nostrils, and glared at Shereel.Shereel and Morgan have all they can do to keep their eyes (and her body) on the prize. Getting to the finish line makes for adrenaline-fueled anarchy.
fyi: in November 2026, 'Body' will be reissued by Penguin Classics in a new edition.
October 1, 2015
**Rounded up to 4.5**
I was going to rate this a solid four and then realized how many times I actually laughed out loud reading this and figured it deserved a little more. Quotes like this for example:
(Earline is a large "healthy" woman from the backwoods of Georgia) "Earline knew her rights. She had herself graduated from the Waycross Junior College. When she left with her two year degree in Problems of Living , she made up her mind to never take any guff from ignorant people again."
ahaaha....so funny. The Turnipseed family (and friend) are unforgettable characters and their stay at a snobby Miami hotel during a bodybuilding competition is just hilarious. Harry Crews is a cross of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiasssen with some Joe Rogan thrown in for good measure.
If you are not familiar with Crews, check him out! A Feast of Snakes was also very good, albeit somewhat darker.
Actually come to think of it, this book ended in a pretty dark way. Still very funny though.
Four and a half chuckling, chortling, guffawing stars from me!
I was going to rate this a solid four and then realized how many times I actually laughed out loud reading this and figured it deserved a little more. Quotes like this for example:
(Earline is a large "healthy" woman from the backwoods of Georgia) "Earline knew her rights. She had herself graduated from the Waycross Junior College. When she left with her two year degree in Problems of Living , she made up her mind to never take any guff from ignorant people again."
ahaaha....so funny. The Turnipseed family (and friend) are unforgettable characters and their stay at a snobby Miami hotel during a bodybuilding competition is just hilarious. Harry Crews is a cross of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiasssen with some Joe Rogan thrown in for good measure.
If you are not familiar with Crews, check him out! A Feast of Snakes was also very good, albeit somewhat darker.
Actually come to think of it, this book ended in a pretty dark way. Still very funny though.
Four and a half chuckling, chortling, guffawing stars from me!
August 24, 2015
How about taking a family of swampy South Georgia lowlanders and plopping them down in a glam Miami Beach hotel smack dab in the middle of a gathering of buffed up and oiled down muscle worshipers gearing up for the world class Cosmos bodybuilding contest?
The two tribes meet. But wait, one of Them is one a ‘dem ! Shereel Dupont, leading contender for the women’s top prize, is the former Dorothy Turnipseed of the Waycross, Georgia clan and that countrified and seriously soft-bodied family is her kin, come down uninvited for the Big Event. Let the games begin….
Sure, many of the players are caricatures and there isn’t much of a plot, but this novel is a hilarious and entertaining balls-out romp with a few well-placed spikes, jabs, and bites. I’d read that Crews’ writing was “gritty”, but that particular descriptor has been so often used to label everything from bleak urban crime to sordid Southern Gothic to stark domestic dramas that is doesn’t really hold much descriptive water for me anymore. Body spouts killer dialogue and plays with overblown characters in uproarious face-offs, and yeah, there’s a kick to it all, and some depth too if you care to look for it. Crews’ specimens flare up fast and sound off like blaring car horns honking to move the line. If that’s gritty, so be it, but I think I’d describe it as a loud, rowdy and surprisingly affectionate freak show. At any rate, this novel delivers a full dose of reading pleasure and I got my fix.
Guess I’ll be reading more Harry Crews.
The two tribes meet. But wait, one of Them is one a ‘dem ! Shereel Dupont, leading contender for the women’s top prize, is the former Dorothy Turnipseed of the Waycross, Georgia clan and that countrified and seriously soft-bodied family is her kin, come down uninvited for the Big Event. Let the games begin….
Sure, many of the players are caricatures and there isn’t much of a plot, but this novel is a hilarious and entertaining balls-out romp with a few well-placed spikes, jabs, and bites. I’d read that Crews’ writing was “gritty”, but that particular descriptor has been so often used to label everything from bleak urban crime to sordid Southern Gothic to stark domestic dramas that is doesn’t really hold much descriptive water for me anymore. Body spouts killer dialogue and plays with overblown characters in uproarious face-offs, and yeah, there’s a kick to it all, and some depth too if you care to look for it. Crews’ specimens flare up fast and sound off like blaring car horns honking to move the line. If that’s gritty, so be it, but I think I’d describe it as a loud, rowdy and surprisingly affectionate freak show. At any rate, this novel delivers a full dose of reading pleasure and I got my fix.
Guess I’ll be reading more Harry Crews.
May 27, 2012
If it hadn't been for Harry Crews' recent death and his New York Times obituary, I'd never have had the pleasure of encountering his utterly off-kilter novels. I keep trying to come up with other authors to compare him to, just as a reference point (he clearly is reminiscent of somebody or an amalgam of several writers I've read - but I can't put my finger on whom).
This book is about the world of body building and contains much of the telltale oddity, hostility and ill will that characterized The Gypsy's Curse (the first Crews book I read), but takes everything up several notches. Firstly, the characters and scenes are even more vividly drawn and hopelessly grotesque in every way imaginable. The dialogue is spectacular, particularly the hilarious banter produced by the Turnipseed (sic) family, a clan of rednecks, that is completely over the top, yet rings quite accurately somehow.
A great read, and probably a better starting point for those first delving into the work of Harry Crews than The Gypsy's Curse. But, not by much - which is to say: only two books into this man's repertoire I can't imagine him producing a bad one. We shall see.
This book is about the world of body building and contains much of the telltale oddity, hostility and ill will that characterized The Gypsy's Curse (the first Crews book I read), but takes everything up several notches. Firstly, the characters and scenes are even more vividly drawn and hopelessly grotesque in every way imaginable. The dialogue is spectacular, particularly the hilarious banter produced by the Turnipseed (sic) family, a clan of rednecks, that is completely over the top, yet rings quite accurately somehow.
A great read, and probably a better starting point for those first delving into the work of Harry Crews than The Gypsy's Curse. But, not by much - which is to say: only two books into this man's repertoire I can't imagine him producing a bad one. We shall see.
May 29, 2020
My third Crews and my third one-star rating. These novels are not comedic. Rather they are gratuitously reaching for the offensive. They are not gritty. Rather they are moronic and stupid topped with gratuitous violence. They are not “real”. Rather they are false and the dialogue is ridiculous and canned. They are not even engaging stories. Rather they are ineffably boring. Somehow I’ve made it through three of them because they are short. That’s one thing going for them. And unfortunately I own pretty much his whole canon. But can’t say I’m looking forward to it.
May 23, 2026
Came for the absurd plot and some of the best one-liners in the biz, stayed for some true warmth and borderline feminist reflections, left despondent and in need of a shower.
October 23, 2015
Body proves a few elemental points about the art of fiction: it doesn't matter if you care a bit about what the story is 'about', if the story is well told. Also, a writer can use satire and grotesque caricature and not seem like a heartless nihilist if the writer also is true to the characters. I haven't read any other Harry Crews books, and I am aware that he has devoted readers, sort of like Bukowski. So what I say may be obvious to those readers. Anyway, Body is about bodybuilders. yeah, I find bodybuilders at best to ludicrous, like professional wrestlers. I just don't give a damn. Russel 'Muscle' Morgan is a bodybuilding trainer and his Eliza Doolittle is Dorothy Turnipseed whom he transforms into Shereel Dupont. Shereel and Russell are out to win the Ms. Cosmos contest. The book takes place over a day or two in the Florida hotel where the Cosmos contest is being held. The training for this is intense and bodybuilders are maniacal about what goes into, and comes out of, their bodies. The relationship between trainer and bodybuilder is brutal, elemental, loving and sadomasochistic, with the sado and maso polarities frequently reversed. Shereel is poised to be a winner, which requires total concentration. Unfortunately, the Turnipseeds, from rural Georgia, show up to cheer their daughter/sister on, and among them is Nail Head, her fiancee. Things do not go well. It is a comic novel, but it took a while for me to take my bearings, as the descriptions of rednecks, bodybuilders, Florida hotel managers etc are so horrifically stereotyped. These people are small minded, homophobic, racist morons. Nail Head is a paranoid Vietnam vet with a razor sharp knife, a psychopath who can at any second explode into violence. The women in the family are obese.
Crews from the start concentrates on the carnal. The book is body obsessed. Shereel's sister Earline falls for a bodybuilder and the way Crews handles this love match is brilliant, and shows how he manages to hit so many notes in such a short song. They are at the pool and the bodybuilder, Billy Bat, is doing a routine. Earline is convinced that he is having some sort of attack and tackles him to administer mouth to mouth. When he resists the entire Turnipseed clan descends on him, pinning him to the ground. Several chapters later Earline is taking a bath and reflecting on the incident. Billy Bat at some point sticks his tongue in her mouth and she is both astonished and aroused. In the bath she thinks about this while watching her body. Crews describes her flesh in loving detail. The nastiness of his prose is gone and there is sheer sensual beauty here, of an extremely fat woman masturbating in a heart shaped tub, feeling both ashamed and ecstatic. There are no false notes. She is soon joined by Billy Bat and they, in three chapters, fall in love and seduce each other. Crews plays it for everything, it is cornball, intensely erotic, weird. But the most important relationship of course is between Russel and Shereel, and how Shereel must navigate the monomaniacal attention any sport requires and her conflicted loyalties. There is a moment near the end of quiet and such loving kindness between them, that contrasts with the violent, domineering and almost Master Slave relationship of the early chapters that I gasped. Because by the end I cared deeply who would win and who lose the contest. Even Nail Head is taken seriously. I suppose any book with a contest as its main plot element is inherently suspenseful, but Crews hardly needs it. Somehow this carnival of lost souls become stand ins for the demented human family, for passion, the perfection of art, the need to love and be loved.
Crews from the start concentrates on the carnal. The book is body obsessed. Shereel's sister Earline falls for a bodybuilder and the way Crews handles this love match is brilliant, and shows how he manages to hit so many notes in such a short song. They are at the pool and the bodybuilder, Billy Bat, is doing a routine. Earline is convinced that he is having some sort of attack and tackles him to administer mouth to mouth. When he resists the entire Turnipseed clan descends on him, pinning him to the ground. Several chapters later Earline is taking a bath and reflecting on the incident. Billy Bat at some point sticks his tongue in her mouth and she is both astonished and aroused. In the bath she thinks about this while watching her body. Crews describes her flesh in loving detail. The nastiness of his prose is gone and there is sheer sensual beauty here, of an extremely fat woman masturbating in a heart shaped tub, feeling both ashamed and ecstatic. There are no false notes. She is soon joined by Billy Bat and they, in three chapters, fall in love and seduce each other. Crews plays it for everything, it is cornball, intensely erotic, weird. But the most important relationship of course is between Russel and Shereel, and how Shereel must navigate the monomaniacal attention any sport requires and her conflicted loyalties. There is a moment near the end of quiet and such loving kindness between them, that contrasts with the violent, domineering and almost Master Slave relationship of the early chapters that I gasped. Because by the end I cared deeply who would win and who lose the contest. Even Nail Head is taken seriously. I suppose any book with a contest as its main plot element is inherently suspenseful, but Crews hardly needs it. Somehow this carnival of lost souls become stand ins for the demented human family, for passion, the perfection of art, the need to love and be loved.
September 10, 2021
Body by Harry Crews (Poseidon Press 1990) (Fiction) (3567).
Harry Crews, man! What a trip! Author Harry Crews is at the top of his game in this little novel. I’m a fan of subcultures, and this story is set in a subcultural niche that I had never considered: women’s professional bodybuilding. At the center of the tale Crews has placed a clan of the oddest, the most twisted, and the most unreconstructed Southerners to emerge from the deep south since Faulkner laid down his pen.
The family Turnipseed from out of the swamp of Waycross, Georgia (Alphonse, Earnestine, Earline, Motor, Turner, and their own personal Doc Holliday, Harry “Nail Head” Barnes) have journeyed to Miami to see one of their own flesh and blood, one Dorothy “Shereel Dupont” Turnipseed, compete in the Ms. Cosmos contest.
The dialogue is absolutely authentic; these characters sound exactly like people in my home state of Tennessee.
I have read Harry Crews’ work before and have enjoyed it. After reading Body, I am simply impressed. Crews at his best compares favorably with Charles Bukowski when Bukowski is on. Or maybe Hunter Thompson or Larry Brown.
This is another book that made me think “I never saw that coming.”
My rating: 7.5/10, finished 9/9/21 (3567).
May 1, 2025
A carnival show of weirdness, and an unexpected romance - and Body doesn't even strike me as Crews' strangest novel.
Gott damn, that conclusion is thunderous.
You can change your name - but your roots, your past - they'll never forget you.
A lot of powerful stuff going on here, and some fantastic character drama. I really do enjoy a Crews novel when I can stomach the shenanigans.
Gott damn, that conclusion is thunderous.
You can change your name - but your roots, your past - they'll never forget you.
A lot of powerful stuff going on here, and some fantastic character drama. I really do enjoy a Crews novel when I can stomach the shenanigans.
Read
June 26, 2008Give this man a medal for being the weirdest writer in the South. Jebus. About the culture of pro bodybuilding, sort of. More a metaphor for the loony extremes of behaviour that appear in a time such as this.
August 1, 2025
I much prefer Crews’s earlier books, those written in the first part of his career, between 1968 and 1978. He then had a period of almost ten years with very little output, before another six were published between 1987 and 1998. I have only his last novel to read now, All We Need of Hell, though I am now looking forward to that less.
Here, we are reacquainted with Russel ‘Muscle’ Morgan from The Gypsy's Curse, published in 1974. He is preparing a female bodybuilder, Shereel Dupont, for a Miss Universe competition. Shereel’s real name is Dorothy Turnipseed, and her strange family arrives at the hotel where the competition is to be held, with dangerous and dramatic results.
This isn’t a patch on ‘The Gypsy’s Curse’ however. I couldn’t warm to the humour, and it seems overlong, with too many sex scenes that really don’t come across well. As a satire on how and why human beings develop an obsession with ours and other people’s bodies, it just about works and holds the attention, and would have worked much better at half the length.
Crews does return to some of his favourite topics, the mentality of winning at all costs, regardless of the consequences, and freaks, whether mental or physical. The strength of the book is in its subliminal satirical message, of how the ‘win at all costs’ mentality breeds a certain type of freak, that when analysed, is no different to the cliché bearded lady of the carnival, the dwarf, or the snake man. Shereel DuPont is a strong female protagonist who breaks free from the ties of her coach and her family.
Here, we are reacquainted with Russel ‘Muscle’ Morgan from The Gypsy's Curse, published in 1974. He is preparing a female bodybuilder, Shereel Dupont, for a Miss Universe competition. Shereel’s real name is Dorothy Turnipseed, and her strange family arrives at the hotel where the competition is to be held, with dangerous and dramatic results.
This isn’t a patch on ‘The Gypsy’s Curse’ however. I couldn’t warm to the humour, and it seems overlong, with too many sex scenes that really don’t come across well. As a satire on how and why human beings develop an obsession with ours and other people’s bodies, it just about works and holds the attention, and would have worked much better at half the length.
Crews does return to some of his favourite topics, the mentality of winning at all costs, regardless of the consequences, and freaks, whether mental or physical. The strength of the book is in its subliminal satirical message, of how the ‘win at all costs’ mentality breeds a certain type of freak, that when analysed, is no different to the cliché bearded lady of the carnival, the dwarf, or the snake man. Shereel DuPont is a strong female protagonist who breaks free from the ties of her coach and her family.
March 9, 2025
Zany and absurd. But also one of the most convincing stories about being human and scrambling for any semblance of control in a world that simply won’t be controlled. Raucous, irreverent, entertaining, and completely heartbreaking. Made me want to lift weights for a minute; right up until the last page and then I was like, Know what? I don’t need my delusional existence proven wrong all at once.
November 30, 2019
My favorite Harry Crews novel thus far. All the dark humor and southern Gothic themes that I loved in feast of snakes were present in this novel, but Body also contains a tenderness that I haven't seen before in Crew's other novels. The characters have such a richness of depth, each one has so much going on beneath the surface which somehow gets across to the reader no matter how little page time they actually get.
Earline especially was a side character that stole the show. I love her like I have never loved any other female character in Crew's books. Shereel was great too, but her ending destroyed a lot of what was beautiful about her character.
As with all Crews novels, I hated the ending. Feels like his characters only ever resolve their stories by dying, killing people, or running away (or a combo of those 3). So much more could have been done with the ending, but that is just something I have accepted when it comes to this author. Still worth the read.
Earline especially was a side character that stole the show. I love her like I have never loved any other female character in Crew's books. Shereel was great too, but her ending destroyed a lot of what was beautiful about her character.
As with all Crews novels, I hated the ending. Feels like his characters only ever resolve their stories by dying, killing people, or running away (or a combo of those 3). So much more could have been done with the ending, but that is just something I have accepted when it comes to this author. Still worth the read.
May 27, 2022
I've never read anything that was the equivalent of a novelization of a Jerry Springer Show. But here we are and I've done it and I've got mixed thoughts about it. First off, it's intensely bizarre and bizzarely intense. That seems like a copout description only written to look good but it's the truth. Everything is cranked way to the rafters, forget eleven. Second, it's extremely offensive. All kinds of racism and it doesn't matter if the characters using it are supposed to be likeable or not, it's a facet of the book that I had to remark on. Third, there is a lot of weird (to me) fetishes about extreme body types and is a key feature of the book.
But is it funny like the cover blurb promises? If you really focus on and picture exactly what is going on here, yeah it's funny in a David Lynch style way. As a matter of fact, to sum this review up, this is a cross between Jerry Springer and David Lynch. Nailed it. I'm a genius at book reviews.
But is it funny like the cover blurb promises? If you really focus on and picture exactly what is going on here, yeah it's funny in a David Lynch style way. As a matter of fact, to sum this review up, this is a cross between Jerry Springer and David Lynch. Nailed it. I'm a genius at book reviews.
May 12, 2013
AMAZING. Crews choice of subject matter is unique to say the least. This particular ditty surrounds the world of competitive body-building (the women's side). His novels rarely have a happy ending and usually have some sort of hay-seed character (in this case aptly named "Turnipseeds")... Body is no different.
October 4, 2024
I loved this book so much. Every time I thought it had plateaued in its weirdness and insanity and chaos, it ratcheted everything up a notch. The ending was absolutely perfect and exactly what I wanted out of a fucked up book like this.
March 18, 2009
i did not want to put this one down.
February 28, 2012
Ludicrous just as i remember it...
September 21, 2009
Very clever. If you have even a fleeting interest in the world of bodybuilding or weight training then definitely try this one.
September 23, 2024
Highly readable and with a great premise, but god this could’ve been a 100 pages less than it was and nothing would be lost
January 26, 2020
Crews is an underground literary gem. Think a more sincere, Southern Fried version of Chuck Palahniuk.
His characters crackle, his dialogue is livid, and no matter how absurd or perverse the world he's writing is - a beating heart lays underneath.
His characters crackle, his dialogue is livid, and no matter how absurd or perverse the world he's writing is - a beating heart lays underneath.
January 2, 2026
Need 2026 remake but it’s Aussie’s in London at a Hyrox tournament at the Excel
December 31, 2025
Hilarious — begging for an adaptation.
June 15, 2020
Harry Crews nos lleva de visita al extraño mundo del fisiculturismo de la mano de Shereel Dupont, fisicoculturista de elite, y de su entrenador Russell “Musculo” Morgan durante el desarrollo, en la “sofisticada” ciudad de Miami, del certamen “Cosmos” en el que todo parece ir miel sobre hojuelas para que Shereel se corone como “Miss Cosmos” hasta que, directo de Wycross, Georgia, llega en pleno la familia de Shereel: Los Turnipseed (“semilla de nabo”). Orgullosamente sureños, ignorantes, racistas, palurdos y tremenda (e involuntariamente) divertidos; acompañando a los Turnipseed va “Cabeza Clavo” prometido de Shereel, veterano de Vietnam con el alma y la mente dañadas cuyo comportamiento empieza a descarrilar el plan perfecto de Russell para llevar a Shereel al título de “Miss Cosmos” ademas de poner de cabeza al hotel sede del evento y a su incompetente gerente.
Además de la mirada a ese mundillo de individuos obsesionados con cada musculo de su cuerpo, bulímicos culposos y consumidores de esteroides, Crews, originario él mismo de Georgia, nos muestra sin maquillaje esa parte de la idiosincrasia sureña de Estados Unidos siempre rústica y tan lejos del “american dream”. Un libro divertido, impredecible y como reza la portada “100% White Trash”.
Además de la mirada a ese mundillo de individuos obsesionados con cada musculo de su cuerpo, bulímicos culposos y consumidores de esteroides, Crews, originario él mismo de Georgia, nos muestra sin maquillaje esa parte de la idiosincrasia sureña de Estados Unidos siempre rústica y tan lejos del “american dream”. Un libro divertido, impredecible y como reza la portada “100% White Trash”.
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