Reviews with content warning for Abortion - Bodies of Light: Winner of the 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award

If you liked A Little Life or are interested in these kind of books, this is a book for you. Don't get me wrong, this is a story dealing with trauma, but the main protagonist is dealing with it in a very different way. It is a story about foster care, abuse, trauma, but also about resilience, about survival, about trying to own a life. The main protagnist is such an interesting character and portrayed really well.

It is a tough book, but so worth reading and it deserves much more attention. I already can hear people shouting 'trauma porn' and I am happy for these people to have a life, in which only once in a while bad things are happening or nothing really that bad at all. And I'm hoping, that they are able to live protected in that bubble for good. Because out there are people, who have to suffer through a lot.

My only criticism about this book is a familiar one: it is a bit too long and the ending is a bit rushed and somehow neat. Authors seem to be able to create interesting stories and to be weaving in a lot of ideas and details, but often don't really know how to wrap everything up with the same intensity and plausibility.

Nonetheless this is a hot candidate for one of my books of the year.

Content Warnings

carlytenille's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

hazeyjane_2's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective relaxing sad

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I didn't expect to be so moved when reading this. There is an intimacy to this that I love: the same voyeuristic sense I get when reading a diary. Down takes us inside Maggie's life and builds her, failed relationship by failed relationship, escape by escape, breakage by breakage to a final, contented resolution.

The middle third dragged on a bit, but the end third picked up.

Don't be misled by the blurb - this is not a crime fiction novel; it isn't the story of a mother with Munchausen's by proxy. The prose is superb, like a spoon of honey, sweet enough but not overwrought.

Content Warnings