This Body: A Novel of Reincarnation

by Laurel Doud

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

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Drugs, Urban Fantasy, Adult Fiction, Death, Book Club

307 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Laurel Doud lives in the California Sierra foothills with her husband, 4 dogs and seven sporadically visiting children. She is at work on her second novel.
2022: "Drive" CNR
https://tclj.toasted-cheese.com/2022/...
2022: Man of the House (short story)
https://airlightmagazine.org/airlight...
2021: "The Bathroom" (short story)
https://intothevoidmagazine.com/artic...
2017: Jane Eyre Was Underage has been published by Blue Mountain Commons:
http://bmccommons.org/jane-eyre-was-u...
2020: https://www.fromwhisperstoroars.com/q...

Reviews

[Daylight · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books where I love it so much it's seriously extremely difficult to try to explain why. Because I can't. I don't have the vocabulary to describe how much I loved it, or how brilliant I believe it to be.

And I adore the way she weaves Shakespeare into it so seamlessly.

so I won't try. But if forced at gunpoint, this would be in my top 2. definitely.

i so wish she'd write another.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, so I read this ages ago, and havent even glanced at it since, but I remember what I was thinking as I finished the book. "what. the. crap. was. that?"
The concept was such a great one, but the actual book was all over the place and not even entertaining.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A second chance at life, but it is not what it seems. "This Body" is a magnificent and brilliant book. Ms. Doud wrote a novel that I think we would all be interested in reading.

Katharine is a mother, wife and a friend I think we could all relate to.
Thisby Bennet is who our mothers will tell us we will end up like if we stray away from the family unit.

Katharine wakes in the body of Thisby. There are many ups and downs as the characters realize what could have been or should have been. This book made me look at my life a little differently. Talk to your family, take the time to enjoy their company, learn about each other deeper and not just on the surface. Remember to encourage each other to be passionate about what we love and to go for that in our life time, live our dreams. Don't just talk about them but act on them.

I can not wait to read another of Laurel Doud's books. This is a great book and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was heartbreaking. It scared the pants off me (how horrible!) and was awkward and uncomfortable, but I was totally transfixed (even as I reached the end at 5:30 am last night!) and totally bummed when it ended. I must admit, I wanted more... I'd love to hear the after, for sure. But I truly enjoyed this book and it definitely gave me lots of food for thought. Ladies, I highly recommend it.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was totally uncomfortable...and I loved it. Without spilling too much before the next book club meeting; I really like the Shakespeare quotes throughout, and think this whole reincarnation thing is a really interesting concept. I also really enjoyed some of the real life type quotes near the end, because don't we all deep down struggle with who we are and what we become at times?

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book quite by accident and I am so glad I did. The story was well written and had me gripped from beginning to end. Although sometimes it became a little uncomfortable I couldn't put it down.

There was to be a movie adaption of this by Fox Searchlight, does anyone know what became of that?

[Cassidy Shea · Rating 1 out of 5]

thank god I'm done with this book.

I would categorize this novel as 'bored housewife literature.' the main character, for instance, gets excited about doing 'naughty' things like breaking a glass or masturbating. if that strikes your fancy, then you may enjoy this.

personally, I thought it was atrocious writing. tons of trite, clichéd crap. the main character is a total mary sue & the author doesn't even try to hide it. every dumb thing the author has ever wondered about is in this book.

beyond that, I thought the premise was intriguing & it had a lot of potential, but doud took it in possibly the most uninteresting direction. essentially, the novel is about the main character becoming an alcoholic. it's really not about what she would do if she woke up in a young, rich person's body. it's about how she did wake up in a young, rich person's body & pretty much did nothing. everything falls into this character's lap. she 'accidentally' does things that are characteristic of the person who used to inhabit that body. her 'struggle' is totally boring. and then she gets drunk. the end.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm sorry - normally I only write reviews of books I've enjoyed and found useful, but this book was such a disappointment, I have to put my two stars worth in.
The concept is great - I really like the notion of being reincarnated and knowing as a new person what you know now. The idea of coming back in the body of a young junkie, and then helping her out (since you're body is definitely dead, anyway), is also interesting.

But after the introduction, this book didn't go where it could have. There are underdeveloped characters, side plots that don't go very far before fizzling off and a bit of incest that is, but isn't.

This is Laurel Doud's first novel, and this reads like a first novel with a mediocre editor. If you think you'll like it, borrow it from a friend or from the library.

But do look for her second novel - she's got what it takes, she just isn't quite there yet.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would really appreciate the ability to add a half star here. Full disclosure: I know the author's family very well. I read this almost out of obligation in 1998 and wasn't quite sure what to think about it. Here I am in 2011 reading it with a family of my own. What a difference! It was painful and scary to read, particularly the parts about the teenage kids and all the years of uncertainty I have ahead. I think some people may have problems with the general premise of the plot and others will definitely squirm through some scenes, but I for one really enjoyed this one. Fantastic book. I'm looking forward to the next one.

[Shannon Winward · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this book in one sitting - spent the whole day sitting on my couch in the sun, just reading. Godz, when was the last time you got a chance to do that? Nice.

Clearly, I liked the story. But also, this book was distinctive because it is the first book about a woman written by a woman that I've read in quite awhile. Isn't that strange?

(3/11/06)

[Colleen Canfield]

Love, love, loved, this book.

[Tamlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting book. I liked the Katharine/Tisby character and the difference between their outlooks based on the circumstances.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book. A terrific read. Great for book groups.

[Karen Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't lie to you, I was a bit confused at first, but everything was clarified perfectly and I utterly loved this book!!!!!

[Tamara Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this a fascinating book with the intriguing premise of two women who die on the same night and the older woman wakes up a year later in the body of a women seventeen years younger than her.

Katharine Ashley is a thirty-nine year old wife and mother of two who dies of sudden cardiac arrest. Thisby Bennet is a twenty-two year old rich, skinny young woman whose drug habit leads to an early death.

When Katharine dies, her soul somehow finds it’s way into Thisby’s body and the remainder of the novel focuses on Katharine discovering that life has gone on without her as well as learning to navigate her world as a recovering drug addict.

This book was interesting in that while Katharine worked hard in her life to make sure that her family was taken care often, she did this at the expense of her our health and well being. As Katharine embraces her new life as Thisby, she soon realizes that appearances can be deceiving and that although Thisby seems close knit, her parents are actually quite aloof.

Overall, this was a satisfying read and an provided answer interesting twist on the life after death story.

[C2015 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Catherine. Dies and wake up in Thisby, an angry 22 year old, drug addict and alcoholic. She tries to Don Thisby‘s life and even tries to help her new family with her “old” wisdom. It doesn’t work. She cracks and finds new life. Her old life is gone, her husband remarried in less than a year and her kids growing up. The best writing, addressing how a mom thinks/feels. Good book. Lots of quotes, especially Shakespearean. I feel kind of sad like I should’ve saved it more, like I devoured it. Because it was good!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book about 20 years ago and decided to read it again as I remember liking it. Such an unusual subject matter and well written even though a lot of the Shakespeare references were over my head.

[Julie P · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s an interesting premise, and the book started out well. Halfway through, it was on a downhill slide and never recovered. I hated the ending, which is too bad. It was almost as if the author changed mind halfway through and took the story in a different direction.

[Abbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

???? I feel like this could have been so much more, but it was just confusing and lacked anything to drive the plot forward. Such a cool and interesting concept, but I just don’t think it lived up to my expectations. Also incest?????

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wonderfully weird book about the chance to live a completely different life...while also struggling with loss, parenting, and addiction. Shakespeare, art-making, and sexual desire thread throughout.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was clever and kept me guessing until the end as to how it would all work out. But not the right story for the right time in my life, as I was kind of just "meh" the whole way through.

[Ari Raliegh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well scripted. Times when I couldn’t put it down. I enjoyed her battle with chemistry and spirit. Sound read

[LeAnn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't really have a lot to say about this book but in the hopes that the author sees this, I want to thank her for the Wyld Stallions/Ted Logan reference. 🙂

[Lori Fetterer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sucked in from the very first page. One of my all time favorite books.

[Tess McNulty · Rating 3 out of 5]

good book, unnecessary incest…

[Tammy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise pulled me in, what a fun idea.
Unfortunately, it bored me to death, and I gave up a little under halfway through.

[Denise Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique, creative and interesting. Loved it.

[Holli · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just couldn’t relate very well to the plot. Katharine was such a real character with real concerns and problems, but having her end up in a 22 year old’s body just sort of ended it for me before it began. There was really no hope for her to deal with her life because she was removed from her life and would never go back to it. I guess there were truths to be learned on a deeper level, but I just didn’t feel invested enough to figure them out. A novel about a middle-aged woman inhabiting the body of a 22 year old should be funny and this wasn’t funny. The Shakespeare stuff was okay, but I never really figured out the family dynamics. And they didn’t seem to learn anything from Katharine/Thisby. I just don’t really see the point. When I read, I either want to learn something or be entertained and this novel did neither for me.

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

[Lagobond · Rating 2 out of 5]

Guys, guys! I have a better title for this book!

Overly Descriptive, Quotidian Musings of an Unfulfilled Middle-Aged Suburban Housewife, and Oh! The Author Wants You to Know She Loves Shakespeare!

I haven't read such boring, bitter drivel since I was forced to read Effi Briest in high school. What a shame, such an interesting premise. The book reads like a diary by the author, with how clearly the characters and situations are modeled after her own family life. When they say "write what you know" I don't think this is what they meant. Also, not a single one of the romantic relationships is the least bit credible! And what's up with every "attractive" character in the book being tall and thin? Color me bored stupid.

2 stars not because there's anything particularly redeeming in this book, but only because I have in fact come across less skilled writing. Also, the story is a hint more exciting than Effi Briest. But honestly, the only (and I really mean only) reason I finished this mess at all is because I needed something to read in the hot tub, at the lonely and quiet beginning of COVID-19 lockdown. And with a book this awful, I didn't care if it accidentally got wet, because I'm certainly not going to re-read it, and who else would I give it to once I was done with it? (Yes it did get dunked a couple times.)

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fiction A-Z Book 'D': This Body by Laurel Doud

This is another one of those books where I'm wishing for half-star ratings, because I think I'd give this one a 4 1/2.

It's the story of a middle-aged woman (Katherine) who dies and whose mind, one year later, comes to inhabit the body of a junkie in her early twenties (Thisby) who has apparently OD'd on the floor of her bathroom. I'll say that it's a wonderful dramatic counterpoint to the sci-fi heavy Replay that I read earlier this year (without the hippie spiritualism sermonizing that killed the middle of Replay for me).

There's also a lot of reference here. Most of it is Shakespearean, which makes sense in the framework of the story, as the Bennets (Thisby's parents) are college actors who named all of their children after Shakespearean characters. There are also quite a few film references. These however, come off as a little too clever for their own good (J.J. Mulwray, Wyld Stallyns, Griff Mill and June) and really became a sticking point for me.

But overall, This Body is an excellent book, and a gem of a first novel.