Written on the Body

Incredible story- Wonderful and telling and gripping. SO many emotions flowing through the novel with such relate able characters.This review is my full and honest opinion after testing and examining all aspects of this product in my own home, for my own use. My goal in reviewing products is to help others, like you, in their search for the best products on Amazon. If I give the product a five star review, that means that I am extremely happy with the product. Five stars means that the product has gone beyond and above my expectations and I would have paid/will pay in the future the full price plus shipping for this product. I will definitely continue to purchase five star products for myself as well as recommend them to my friends and family. Four stars: If I give the product four stars, this means that I really like the product and I have found a good use for it. The product function as intended and serves it's purpose well. It is likely that I would purchase this product again in the future. Three stars: If I rate a product at three stars, that means that I am satisfied with the product, but I do not believe it is the best in its product area, therefore I would definitely search for other products within that area the next time I purchase. Two Stars: If I give the product two stars, that means that i am not impressed. I would not purchase the product again. There maybe elements of the product that are not exactly defective, but are not desirable. One Star: If I give the product one star, I am unsatisfied with the product/does not work/it is defective. I would definitely not purchase this product again.

In Written on the Body Jeanette Winterson takes on some fundamental questions: What is love? What is marriage? What do fidelity and responsibility really mean? It is often in examining the extremes that we can find answers. The narrator lives in the extreme - profound restless, intense eagerness, unequivocal passion, turbulent relationships. What can a soul want more than passion - the intense consuming passion that elevates love and life to the umpteenth degree? Passion is the fire of life. Whereas many of us might long for that level of passion and intensity, Winterson not only describes it, but also takes up the question of its sustainability. How can it be sustainable? Can it? Then there are other questions: What does it really mean to truly love another? Should one let the loved one go if it saves their life? If so, can one decide for another? If so, what is life without love? In her brilliant narration, astute observations, sensual descriptions and philosophical musings, Written on the Body celebrates the sensual body and feeds the philosophical mind. Whether it provides answers or not, that is a more complicated question. After all, as Susan Sontag said, "The only interesting answers are those that destroy the questions."

Early on the Winterson timeline. A master of language and the written word; rending story, gracefully told and with a good sense of humour. I recommend to anyone who still searches for the literature section. It is well known, one of the tricky feats of this story is that Winterson never reveals the sex of the narrator, which is a hard thing to do without the prose ever feeling strained and without me, the reader, ever caring. I've read it both ways. Perhaps she has demonstrated that (even romantic) love transcends sex. A heady thought.It you like heady thoughts and well-written stories, this is, in my opinion, one of her best.I bought two copies. One, years ago, when it was first published. It's well read, dog eared, filled with notes and page markers. One I keep pristine so I can always read it anew. I get something different from it each time. Each time it shakes me, deeply. Sometimes I get a good laugh, sometimes I open a deep bleeding gash.

"Written on the body is a secret code only visible in certain lights; the accumulations of a lifetime gather there. In places the palimpsest is so heavily worked that the letters feel like braille. I like to keep my body rolled up away from prying eyes. Never unfold too much, tell the whole story. I didn't know that Louise would have reading hands. She has translated me into her own book." -Jeanette WintersonA Russian translator speaks about the preoccupation that this person has with women -- a series of women, until Louise comes into this person's life, transforming it forever. Their Love Story is beautifully detailed and lovingly chronicled in heartstopping prose. This writer can create unforgettable paragraphs. Her book is refreshingly put together, and she has used abundant creativity in constructing loving passages, one after another, written on the body -- or rather about the body, and the protagonist's insatiable longing for Louise.Poignant, pensive, and beautiful -- this book is a joy. The Love Story is magical and wondrous and makes one's heart flutter to read about it. I shall treasure my memories of it. Highly recommended!

Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson is not really a novel, as much as a meditation on romantic love, sex, and what it means to be an embodied being. There are some neat tricks in the novel. We never find out if the narrator is male or female. So eros becomes free floating, detached from gender. This brings with it limitations. Male and female desire have elements in common, but also, generally, dissimilarities.When the novel actually develops a plot, Winterson’s power wanes. She is not as adept at telling a story as outlining the landscape of human desire. So the end comes with a plop. After some gorgeous prose, we are treated to a happy conclusion that brings little joy.

I love the way that the author describes some things, because they're rarely described that way. Many of the sentences could be considered to be run on sentences, and would be very hard to read aloud without pausing where you're not supposed to. But if you're a fan of lucid writing, sex, and the lifestyle of a chronic lover, this might be the book for you.

Purchases this book for my English Class. It's a good read. It pushes the boundaries of gender identity.

"Dear friend, let me lie beside you watching the clouds until the earth covers us and we are gone."Written on the body is about a genderless narrator being in love with a married woman. The writing is experimental, brave and almost poetry like prose - to dedicate an ode to the lover's cells, tissues, systems and cavities of body.The narrator sucks you into a black hole of questions, bigger questions about happiness, a wonderland of love, life and loss. "People usually know exactly why they are happy. They very rarely know why they are miserable.” About contentment, misery and a particular numbness when there's no excitement.  "Contentment is a feeling you say? Are you sure it's not an absense of feeling? I like itt to that particular numbness one gets after a visit to the dentist. Not in pain nor out of it, slightly drugged."About the shell of a marriage, it's exhibitory public display and a see-saw of fidelity and adultery. "Odd that marriage, a public display and free to all, gives way to that most secret of liaisons, an adulterous affair." I struggled with the hopeless, self-pitying love-sickness of the narrator and over laboured language.  Not recommended for people who dislike poetry, stream of consciousness writing and limerence. If you end up reading it- Surrender to the narrator, for it's an unexpected style of storytelling but it stays true to it's plot.

We are sucked into the world of the narrator - but we never really learn who the narrator is. Man? Woman? We are unable to tell, and when Winterson thinks we may be getting that little bit too comfortable, something is thrown in to unsettle our thoughts and consider whether gender is truly important.The book is extremely well written, 'personal' (if we can call the 'work' of a fictional narrator such a word) and really does the job that Jeanette Winterson intended - I was lucky enough to attend a lecture given by her on the novel, amongst other things, and it gave great insight into just why she wrote the way she wrote. Experimental was the main word I took away from it.The strangest plot twist comes right at the end, but I shan't give that away - read for yourself (the English edition, if possible, as in translation it does lose some of its mystery) - highly recommended!

Arrives safely looking forward to reading!

While it's very experimental, its an amazing read. It raises so many questions for the reader; its definitely powerful. One that stays with you for life, one that you can read and reread without it ever becoming boring. I recommend.

I have never read anything as beautiful as this book. Not only the story, but the writing of it. This will be my desert island book. I shall read it over and over. And know myself better each time.