Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Written on the Body

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Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson

8 reviews

bisexualbookshelf's review

emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body is an intimate exploration of love, loss, and the physicality that binds them. The novel opens with the striking line, “Why is the measure of love loss?”—a question that resonates throughout the text as the unnamed, ungendered narrator grapples with the consuming affair they have with Louise, a married woman.

Winterson’s prose is a blend of lyrical beauty and confessional reflections, drawing the reader into the narrator’s intense emotional landscape. The natural imagery, with its flora and fauna mirroring the narrator’s internal state, is a testament to Winterson’s ability to evoke vulnerability through nature. “You are a pool of clear water where the light plays,” Louise tells the narrator, encapsulating the tender yet tumultuous relationship that drives the novel.

However, Written on the Body is not just a love story; it’s also a critique of compulsory heterosexuality. The narrator’s observations on marriage—“No one can legislate love; it cannot be given orders or cajoled into service. Love belongs to itself, deaf to pleading and unmoved by violence,”—challenge the societal norms that confine love to rigid structures. This, coupled with the narrator’s yearning for a love that is quietly fulfilling instead of deeply devastating, adds a subtle yet poignant layer of queerness to the text.

Yet, the novel falters with its fatphobic descriptions of a character named Gail. Winterson’s portrayal, comparing Gail to a strip of bacon, feels jarring and outdated, detracting from the overall narrative. This discomfort, coupled with a problematic reference to autism, casts a shadow over an otherwise beautifully written book.

Despite these flaws, Written on the Body remains a powerful meditation on the intersections of love, body, and mortality. Winterson’s prose is undeniably gorgeous, and while the plot may meander, the emotional resonance is undeniable. I would have rated this book 4 stars, but the fatphobia and ableist language lower it to a 3.75. Winterson’s writing is still worth reading, but these aspects cannot be overlooked.

📖 Recommended For: Readers who love lyrical prose, those drawn to introspective explorations of love and loss, anyone interested in narratives that challenge traditional notions of gender and identity.

🔑 Key Themes: Love and Loss, Compulsory Heterosexuality, Body and Mortality, Queerness and Identity.

Content Warnings

zotty's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

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

Content Warnings

madread8's review

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Beautiful, touching prose. Sprinkled with humorous lines.

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ameliaszosz's review

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emotional funny sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

elaboratelyemily's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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? Yes

4.5

This is my favorite Winterson book to date. I love that the narrator's gender is never given, so it really becomes whatever you decide it is. Masterfully written, it discusses adultery and is a powerful view on romantic relationships.

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balfies's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I was assigned this book twice at uni and didn't read it either time. Kicking myself now.

A story of how passion and love consumes the flesh and becomes the flesh, this treaty on fluid and gender is lyrical and deep and sinewy. Gorgeous writing, gripping use of language, timeless psychosexual landscape.

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mayagoo's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

bunnyreads2's review against another edition

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dark funny inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The first time I read this book, I found it mindblowingly beautiful and haunting.

Rereading it today for the third time shows me two things :
- some passages are still as mindblowingly beautiful
- the rest can be pretty strange and uncanny, almost too weird for my taste now??? Maybe the end parts helped me cope with some of my own trauma then, idk.
But still much impressed with the genderless narrator fit and the raw sensualism.

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