You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine
‘An existential thriller written in prose that points the way to the future’ Zadie Smith
‘Fight Club for girls’Vogue
LONGLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE
A lives with B.
B seems to be becoming more and more like A.
If A’s boyfriend, C, likes A because A is A, but now B is the same as A, where does that leave A?
And what has happened to the family across the street, who left one afternoon out of nowhere, covered in sheets with holes cut out for the eyes?
‘Comical, malignant and addictive’ Adam Thirlwell
‘As good a debut as I’ve ever read’ Zadie Smith
‘This book will unsettle you; this book will make you feel intensely alive’Buzzfeed
”'Alexandra Kleeman understands the difficulty of having a flesh and blood body in a world of images and signs, she knows how it feels to be a hungry girl when appetite is a scandal, and how every relation with another person can feel like a stain on yourself. She has constructed a perfect fable for our present situation, an existential thriller written in prose that points the way to the future. You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine is as good a debut as I've ever read” - Zadie Smith
”'The next voice of a generation” - Elle
”'Kleeman tackles zeitgeist female themes of wellness, orthorexia and individualism with a sharp and original voice. Most potent is her uncanny fascination with the body, which leaves you feeling totally off-kilter with your own” - Sunday Times
”'Destined to be one of the most talked about books this year” - Reader’s Digest
”'One of the most original debuts I've read in years - complex, brave, vibrant, and brought to life with huge skill and intelligence” - BookBag
”'Everyone knows we inhabit a woozy landscape of flatness, repetition and irregular bodies, and here at last is its hyper-contemporary description. Alexandra Kleeman possesses a new tone - comical, malignant and addictive” - Adam Thirlwell
‘Magnificently weird and wise. Alexandra Kleeman breaks down and breaks apart all the ways in which we know ourselves, and our bodies, and our lovers, and our lovers’ bodies. I didn’t want to miss a word, or an inch’ Lauren Elkin, author of Flâneuse -
”'Excellent. The female body: What to do with it? You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine is a story about realizing you’re hungry and trying to find out what for” - Slate