Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Body of a Girl

Body of a Girl is the debut novel by Leah Stewart. I admit I gave up on this one in some frustration fairly quickly. I picked it up because it takes place in Memphis, and I put it down -in part- because it was supposed to be taking place in Memphis. I wish the author had placed the book in a city with which I was unfamiliar or which she knew better. She mentions a few place names: Tom Lee Park, Midtown, Beale Street, the Peabody Hotel, the Pyramid... but even so, I had trouble placing the action here in Memphis. It's almost as if she'd never been here but had been given a rough geography, a few place names, and some vague generalizations about the city. It reminds me a bit of watching Memphis Beat, but picking out mistakes in that show was fun.

I was frustrated by her focus on the heat. The book takes place in June (or at least begins in June); and the word "heat" appears with undue frequency (every other page, to begin with with), and that doesn't include mentions of sweat, humidity, steam, efforts to deal with the heat, discomfort because of the heat.... It's not presented as an anomaly or a freak heat wave but as almost a character in its own right. I've never known it to be hot enough in June to warrant this kind of dedicated focus in a story that wasn't about the heat. Maybe the reporter is just delicate, sensitive to the heat?

She doesn't name the newspaper, but we only have one daily. I've never known a time where the reporter tasked with covering murders would've been a 25-year-old female "novice crime reporter" with no connections inside the police department. It just didn't ring true. Of course, the book was written 16 years ago, but still...

Some of her descriptions of un-named places didn't sound like places that I generally see here. I found her take on Graceland slightly off somehow. Oh, I don't know... It just didn't feel like Memphis to me.

from the back of the book:
In the Memphis summer, the heat clings heavily like a second skin. Olivia Dayle's job as a novice crime reporter is at once surreal -stepping into and out of strangers' lives with her notebook- and all too real. Partly out of gutsy ambition to get a front-page story and partly to reassure herself that this could not have been a random act, Olivia becomes determined to find out who the murderer of Allison Avery was. As she grows more and more obsessed with Allison, Olivia begins to shuck off her own cautious self and become everything she believes Allison was: charismatic, vivacious, and unafraid. She, too, begins to flirt with living as close to the edge as possible, with nearly tragic consequences. Taut and suspenseful, Body of a Girl is a powerful story of a young woman venturing into the unknown and questioning all her choices.
Now, on to more pleasant considerations.....

It's been over 3 weeks since I got this horrible respiratory virus, and I'm still coughing but am definitely on the mend. It's fun to be back for T Tuesday. The picture I'm sharing today has nothing to do with the book I talked about above but was painted by Russian artist Konstantin Ivanovich Gorbatov who died on this date in 1945:


Coffee by the Window was painted in the year of his death.

Please join the folks enjoying the weekly T Party over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog.


13 comments:

  1. Love the painting with tea, and thanks for the book review! Happy T Day, hugs, Valerie

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  2. A fabulous painting! Happy T-Day! oxo Susi

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  3. The painting is beautiful and so inviting and warm. Three weeks is a long time to be feeling ill. I do hope you will be 100% very soon. Happy T day!

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  4. The heat, the steam, the humidity. I think she has Memphis mixed up with New Orleans, which can be steamy even during Mardi Gras. I visited Memphis in June and remember it being quite pleasant. Wish I'd known you then, so you could have been my tour guide.

    LOVE that painting. It's a real beauty.

    I think it was in 2010 or 11 that I got so sick I was laid up most of one February. I hope you are better soon, as I know that can be quite distressing, especially for someone as active as you.

    Thanks for sharing the book review and the painting with us for T this Tuesday. Please feel better soon.

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  5. So sorry you are feeling unwell! Take care of yourself. That nasty bug seems to be every where this season. :( Love the painting and sorry the book was a disappointment. Happy "T" Day!

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  6. sounds like this book gives new meaning to the term 'artistic license'. I do hate to give up on a book...I keep thinking it will get better. but life is too short to waste time on reading something you don't enjoy! thanks for the tip... I hope you are on the mend and growing stronger. happy T day!

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  7. Coffee by the Window .. how perfect for T Tuesday! I hope your health continues to improve Divers....No fun being sick for so long. And i hope you find a better book my dear! :) Happy Tday! Hugs! deb

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  8. Really lovely painting!
    Hope you feel much much better and find a good book too.
    Happy T day oxo

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  9. Its a lovely painting with the table set for tea.
    Hope you feel better soon.
    Happy Tuesday.
    Yvonne

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  10. Oh I love that painting! Thank you for sharing that (and the book review).
    I'm glad you are on the mend.
    Thank you for visiting,
    Happy T-Day,
    Lisca

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  11. The painting is lovely - it looks as though inside with a cup of tea is right for the weather outside! Hope you feel well again soon! Chrisx

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  12. Nothing worse than when someone creates a piece set in a place and its not the place. Lots of actors try the Boston or New Eng;and accent and totally botch it. In that cause, why even try. Sounds like the author should have tried to keep it vague so the setting wouldn't be so important. Great painting though. It works perfect for T day. Hope yours was a good one and that you are completely recouped soon. Hugs-Erika

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  13. Nothing worse than when someone creates a piece set in a place and its not the place. Lots of actors try the Boston or New Eng;and accent and totally botch it. In that cause, why even try. Sounds like the author should have tried to keep it vague so the setting wouldn't be so important. Great painting though. It works perfect for T day. Hope yours was a good one and that you are completely recouped soon. Hugs-Erika

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