Body Toxic

by Susanne Paola Antonetta

For readers of A Civil Action and Refuge, a harrowing story of a body and a place--the New Jersey boglands, one of the most contaminated regions of the country. This is an American story. Two immigrant families drawn together from wildly different parts of the world, Italy on one side and Barbados on the other, pursued their vision of the American dream by building a summer escape in the boglands of New Jersey, where the rural and industrial collide. They picked gooseberries on hot afternoons and spent lazy days rowing dinghies down creeks. But the gooseberry patch was near a nuclear power plant that released record levels of radiation, and the creeks were invisibly ruined by illegally dumped toxic waste. One by one, family members found their bodies mirroring the compromised landscape of the Barrens: infertile and damaged by inexplicable growths. Soon the area parents were being asked to donate their children's baby teeth to be tested for radiation. Body Toxic is an environmental memoir--merging the personal and familial with the political and environmental. Intensely intimate and starkly contemporary, it is a story of bravery and resignation, of great hope and great loss. This beautifully composed book presents American families in the midst of the wreckage of the American dream.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, History, Environment

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

An American poet and author who is most widely known for her book Body Toxic: An Environmental Memoir. In 2001, Body Toxic was named by the New York Times as a "Notable Book". An excerpt of "Body Toxic" was published as a stand-alone essay which was recognized as a "Notable Essay" in the 1998 Best American Essays 1998 anthology. She has published several prize-winning collections of poems, including Bardo, a Brittingham Prize in Poetry winner, and the poetry books Petitioner, Glass, and most recently The Lives of The Saints. She currently resides in Washington with her husband and adopted son. She is widely published both in newspapers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, as well as in literary journals including Orion, Brevity, JuxtaProse Literary Magazine, Seneca Review, and Image. She is the current Editor-in-Chief of Bellingham Review.

Reviews

[Tianna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry, just... my god, no. I had to read this for my Women and the Environment class and just... it's just a collection of random anecdotes and facts thrown together. If you're looking to write a memoir, please don't base your structure off this one. There's no transitions and it just ends up getting tiresome. Definitely wins my 2013 Book That Gave Me The Most Headaches award. Gah.

[Stéfon Marquette · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you liked The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, you will likely enjoy this story of an immigrant family's struggle with the environmental impact of nuclear energy and toxic industry in 1960s New Jersey.

[Alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a while to get through this book, but there are nuggets of American history and the role nuclear energy has played that kept me coming back for more. The author is skilled and poetic, but sometimes I wanted her to get to the point she was trying to make.

[Caroljean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written. Part science, part memoir, part family and community history. A look at life in polluted New Jersey for a woman who grew up there in the sixties & seventies.

[Anna Engel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The prose was sometimes quite eloquent, but the author just rambled on and on, so I lost interest.

[Hannah Feng · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was just okay and pretty dry throughout and then became suddenly very poignant and clear in the final chapter and epilogue, so in the end I think of this fondly

[Susan]

Better living through Chemistry?
As a mom, there are so many things to be concerned about already, and this book points out even more things to watch out for. It can be quite anxiety producing. So far they have discussed BPA, fire retardants and Phthalate ladden products and their history in our marketplace. They are insidious and often unregulated. It is absolutely frightening the toxic load that we carry, 'womb to tomb.' Prior to reading this book and getting on the the skindeep website, I thought I was quite educated about safe baby products, etc. but now need to rethink even the 'natural' products I use on the baby and family. My husband deeply regrets buying me this book for Christmas, as I am spending a lot of time researching points of the book and working out compromises around the chemistry that will always be present in our everyday lives.

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

This woman was one of my favoite professors at WWU, and this story of her life is a New York Times notable book of the year. She tells her life story through the perspective of her body - the different ailments and struggles she has had (cancer, infertility, and more) due to environmental toxins. When she little she and her friends ran behind a truck that would frequent their street and play in the orange clouds of dust it left behind. Those clouds of dust, it would turn out, were full of pesticides.

[Michelle Cerone · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read. I read it years ago in college and it still sticks with me. It combines a memorizing memoir with a chilling statement on the long-lasting impact of chemicals that were once believed to be safe. Antonetta goes into extreme detail to show how personal these effects are and how they can impact every part of a person's life, even though people are often unaware of it. It is one of the best books I've ever read. New Jersey readers especially will never look at their world the same again.

[Tabatha · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times, the book digressed into the personal insanity of the author. However, by the end, I found the facts and data incorporated into the life glimmer were poignant and inspiring. Inspiring people to accept the harm that toxic chemicals and greedy corporations have inflicted on the people and the land.

[Christine Tachiki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel had an interesting perspective on the toxins in our environment. Antonetta delves into personal topics as well icluding a distant relationship with her parents, drug addiction, attempted suicide, and dropping out of high school. She leves the reader with some serious concerns about nuclear power and more importantly nuclear waste.

[Bridgett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic memoir that weaves many different strands of a life story told through the body. The writing is crisp and pointed. Antonetta leaves no stone unturned in her quest to understand life in terms of the bodies we live in.

[Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish there were an index. Even though a memoir, this book is filled with information which is important for people to know in order to avoid potential hazards and to try and counteract the ones already stepped in.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times hard to read because of its poetical nature, Antonetta's history of her body coupled with the environment moves, stuns, and angers the reader.

[Margo Solod · Rating 4 out of 5]

an important and beautifully written memoir that combines family and place, memory and ecology in a way reminiscent of the work of janisse ray

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Makes an interesting read for native New Jerseyans.

[Beth]

The author is one of my husband's proffs. Fancy!
This book sounds really interesting and I'm all about learning more about eco-feminism.

[Holly Fortune · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woah, bro.

[Hiram · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting fusion of environmentalism and memoir

[VEEP · Rating 5 out of 5]

legacy is in the body, and our water defines lives