About the Book:
A woman leaves the hospital after an operation and starts swimming in a pool in Melbourne's inner suburbs. There she meets Frida, who is uncannily like her in her experience of illness. Soon after, she meets another woman in a local park, Sylvia, who sees her pain and encourages her to rest.
The two new friends seem to be polar opposites: Frida adores the pool and the natural world, Sylvia clings to the protection of interior worlds. What begins as two seemingly simple friendships is challenged by what each woman asks of her, of themselves, and their bodies.
From the acclaimed author of The Memory Artist and The Shut Ins comes a new novel about the relationship between body and self, and how we must dive beneath the surface to really know ourselves.
Longlisted for The Stella Prize
Published by Ultimo Press
Released September 2023
My Thoughts:
I decided to listen to Body Friend right after it was longlisted for The Stella Prize. I had already read a few of the other longlisted titles and this one had appealed to me for some time anyway. It's not a long book and made for a quick listen, all the more on account of how absorbing the story ended up being for me. The narration for the audio book was also spot on in the tone and mood of the novel, if that makes sense. I suppose what I mean here is that the narrator sounded like what I felt the main character would sound like, so listening to her was akin to listening to the main character. Not all audio books get that right.
Body Friend is a gentle yet impactful examination of living with chronic illness and chronic pain when you are young. The three women within this story are all in their twenties and suffer a debilitating illness that leaves them with pain and limited mobility. They are having joint replacements in their twenties, rehabilitating with elderly people. So, when they meet each other, there is a connection forged on familiarity and shared pain. I could relate to this. I have suffered chronic pain since my late thirties, going on ten years now, and it's hard to keep up with your more active friends. It's hard sometimes to even keep up with your non-active ones. It impacts your social life, your work life, your home life - I could relate so much to the introspective examinations of the main character within this story. I could also understand the appeal of forming friendships with other women who were going through something similar.
This novel does several things well. The analysis of living with pain, and the impact this has, but not just this. It also looks very closely at the nature of female friendship and how at times, we meet people and become close because of a common stage or, as in this case, a common suffering. But like a shooting star, these friendships can also burn out quickly. While each woman offered our main character a perspective - Frida pushed for activity, while Sylvia pushed for rest - there was no balance. One was black, one was white, and neither allowed for shades of grey. I liked how the author explored how this was not entirely healthy, not for those women, not for our main character, and not for their friendships.
I really enjoyed this novel and feel that it's a worthy contender for the upcoming Stella Shortlist. Here's hoping.
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