Memoirs are definitely becoming my favorite genre, there’s something deeply compelling about someone telling their own story and Animal Bodies is no exception. The major theme on this book is grief and the author is very insightful on her process of dealing with different types of loss. Losing a parent, a friendship, an estranged friend or a pet are different experiences but they also feed on each other and I particularly liked how Suzanne Roberts connects them. This is the first work I read of her, but I will definitely check out what else she has done.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with the arc on this wonderful book!

This book was a very welcome surprise, and entirely not what I thought it would be about. It definitely covers the topics in the title, but in a very different way to how I expected.

For starters, the topics above appear as if they would lend themselves to a slow, reflective book. If anything, parts of this book go at a break-neck speed. That is not to fault the writing at all, but rather is one of its strengths- Suzanne Roberts can write, and often hits her stride with a story that just unspools in layers of conversation, meaning and imagery almost breathlessly.

Similarly, this book feels deeply personal and vulnerable, really pushing to the absolute borders of what most share, and then traversing beyond it. We cover her parents' mortality, the death of animals, painful memories of former relationships, and lighter moments of her current life, with the anxieties that lurk beneath.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The lyrical prose in this book is like the book equivalent being hypnotized. Once I started reading this book I couldn't stop!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

It’s hard to comment on grief and how others deal with it, so writing a review for a memoir all about death and grief seems a bit impossible, but I’ll try to explain my thoughts and rating a bit below.

Overall, this memoir was such a great read! The author has a great way of mixing dark humor with her highly emotional recollections of various things from her life, from loss and grief to love and friendship. I found myself oscillating between quite a few emotions myself while reading: laughing out loud at some parts, tearing up at others, to even relating to some of her revelations as well.

My favorite sections were when the author really honed in on her connection with nature and the environment. I personally have a lot of “eco-anxiety” and spend a lot of time reflecting on how my decisions impact animals and the world around us (from plastic use to climate change), so reading about similar thoughts and feelings really hit me hard.

The main flaw I had with this was completely personal preference in regards to structure, as I I have a hard time staying focused when it comes to collections of short stories/essays. I knew going into this memoir that it was a short story collection, so again, totally on me, but I felt myself putting down my e-reader at the end of certain stories that felt like a perfect “closing story” for me and then not picking it back up again for a few days.

With that said, it was still a great exploration in connecting to nature and those around you, dealing with death, and the emotions that go along with these heavy topics.

This essay collection is one of the best I've read, and I've read a lot of them (over 30 last year... I may have a problem.) I absolutely loved how Roberts excavated her grief and made something so beautiful of it. The essays about the craft of writing were perhaps my favourite, especially the ones which deliberately deconstructed the process of turning the personal (e.g. her husband's medical procedures) into something for the public to read, and how memoir is both a selfish and selfless act; how it's often presented as an entirely internal, introspective genre, but in fact it brings in the experiences of all those people close to the writer, and is inevitably the story of others, too. It made me want to write. Perhaps ironically, I wish I could write more here about it, but it's the kind of book that I think has to percolate in your brain a bit before you can really parse it. I know I'll be thinking about it for a very long time. Now to seek out everything else that Suzanne Roberts has ever written.

Animal Bodies is a series of short nonfiction essays that follow the author, Suzanne Roberts, experiences through grief, love, and life. She explores the link between death and desire while revisiting her own life experiences. Through beautiful and lyrical prose she walks readers through some of the most devastating and beautiful moments of her life.
This collection is undoubtedly unlike anything I’ve read before. Roberts' distinct voice gives each essay its own spotlight, pulling readers into her stories. She imparts important life lessons and advice with each essay, creating an important and unique connection between the reader and the author.
I really enjoyed Roberts’ writing and definitely want to read more from her. It’s hard to rate essay collections like this because some stories I found phenomenal while others were just okay. Roberts’ certainly possesses wisdom within her that readers are lucky enough to receive through this collection. There are some parts which I found a little tedious and think could have been edited down a bit more. But for the most part I really appreciated Roberts’ unique use of language and prose.
My main criticism of this book is the tone. A lot of parts of this collection came off as pretentious to me. I’m sure that was never the intention however, at certain points it really turned me off from the book. Between stories of traveling around the world and the way relationships were written about, certain parts had a pretentious tone that created a distance between myself and the text.
Overall I think this book was really well written and Suzanne Roberts has a lot of really important things to share. I would highly recommend this for people who enjoy personal anecdotes and life lessons in medium to slow paced books.

a really interesting, thoughtful and at times heartbreaking look at grief and life and all the messy and lovely bits in between. roberts talks about her ex husband, her relationship with her parents, and her friendships, with such care and heart that i felt so much when i was reading this book. i recommend for an essay collection that feels a bit different!!

Welp, this one didn't work for me. Obviously, many other reviewers disagree, so the usual caveats apply. Thank you to NetGally for the ARC.

This selection starts off promising as meditations on grief. I'm not sure how one critiques such personal material, but I found the revelations to be emotionally stringent and honest.

Things quickly went downhill from there. The next several essays addressed Roberts' personal life, crumbling marriage, and sexual habits. Honestly, I applaud the move. If we want to get messy, let's get fucking messy. Spill the tea, along with any other fluids in question.

Astonishingly, Roberts is able to make such material boring. Her prose is lackluster and reminiscent of mid-2000s bloggers. The company she runs with (fellow academics) are about a tenth as interesting a they think they are. And, most impressively, Roberts details all of this without a single interesting insight into sex, intimacy, or marriage. Other than being a cathartic writing exercise, I'm really not sure what the point could conceivably be.

Next up, we get some travel selections. For every essay in this section, the narrator wrestles with the same tension: being a privileged white woman whose happiness and wealth of experience is dependent on the local guides exploiting the natural land and animals. The only thing worse than rich white people writing about vacation is rich white people bemoaning how a small amount of awareness if interfering with their vacation.

I’m judging the L.A. Times 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got this book read even though it’s nonfiction and not one of the 296 other books I’m charged to read.

Stunner. “The essay is a promise. You say you;ll take them to the dessert, watch the boxes burn, the smoke rising into a starwinking sky. You wouldn’t dare, Mother says. And no water either. We’ll be just fine in your closet.”

Thank you to Netgalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“you are the crease, where the world beneath the world shows through.”

Animal Bodies was a a moving and deeply lyrical meditation on what it mean to be human; on one of the few universal human experiences- death. Animal Bodies is a thought provoking body of work and I am so glad that I was able to read this book early. I highly recommend this book especially for people who have anxiety about death and are trying to come to terms with it. It is not an easy read but it a necessary one.

Thank you NetGalley and University of Nebraska Press for providing me with an e-arc of Animal Bodies: On Death, Desire and Other Difficulties. I don’t even know where to begin with this book it made my heart break and then mended it all whilst the occasional satirical comment made me laugh. This collection follows stories and incidents abkut topics such as divorce, cheating, fat shaming, slut shaming, sexual assault and grief. Roberts tackles each difficult topic in a raw and new way through the lens of her life. Everything written about in this collection was striking and beautiful. I would highly recommend this to everyone, it is an essential read.

It has been a long time since I cried over a book.

I'm not sure how to give a summary here. It does what it says on the tin, if we're talking structurally - essays of loss, of loss of self, of loss of others, of greed and selfishness and pain. It is a travelogue of place and emotion. It is also very, very brave.

It is easy to read, in a rubberneckers way, and hard to read, in an emotional way. She talks of the parts of life that I have always been too cowardly to write about, and describes other parts that I am yet to encounter and still able to feel. I feel guilty for saying that, really - those parts aren't my pain, and this isn't fiction but it's testament to her writing, for certain. I think the word 'unapologetic' is overused in terms of creative works, and anyway, she isn't unapologetic - she is honest, but very, very guilty. I'm trying to avoid talking about Suzanne, as I know that goes against the ethos of a review, but as it is a memoir it's no easy talk. I'll leave it on a less emotional note - the descriptions of travel are incredible, her lyrical prose astounding. It is a very powerful piece, and it's not out of politeness that I thank Suzanne Roberts, NetGalley and University of Nebraska press for the chance to read and review this advance copy. No, seriously - thank you. This was excellent, in so many ways.

Unfortunately I DNF’d this essay collection as it didn’t hold my interest and the writing was just not for me.

Lovely collection of essays and poetic bits of honest insight and reflection of the author's life. Would be nice reading for a creative writing or memoir class/workshop.

Set to publish March 1, 2022, I HIGHLY recommend this read!! This collection of essays explores death, desire, and other difficulties we face throughout our lives. I found myself drawn to this book from the very first essay. The author’s style is beautiful and makes you feel that you are experiencing these life events with her. There are many relatable emotions throughout and I found myself constantly looking forward to being able to pick up and read again. The personal aspects of this book is what really hit it home for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and University of Nebraska Press for the advanced copy. Thank you to Suzanne Roberts for sharing this work with us!

Incredibly moving yet so sad, this read showcases the effects of grief and sorrow that we feel in our daily lives. The prose is powerful at conveying such grief that you as the reader can feel the pain. From discussing topics such as death, environmental anxiety to even writing about her beloved dog Riva in her last years you will cry, or actually, you will sob. This read is diverse in its subject natter but incredibly sad nonetheless.

Thank you so much to Suzanne Roberts, University of Nebraska Press, and NetGalley for an advanced reader's copy of this book. Expected publication date: March 1, 2022

I really, really enjoyed reading this book in a really non-enjoyable way. What I mean is that this book covers a lot of difficult topics, ranging from sexual assault, grief, divorce, politics, the environment, and more. It's hard to say I "enjoyed" reading about the many trials and difficulties faced by the author. Yet, I somehow did. Roberts manages to talk about these issues in a way that doesn't feel exploitative but personal, raw, and honest. By the end, I felt like I had spent the night talking to that really cool Aunt you always admired, hearing all her experiences and life-defining moments by a cozy fire with a massive glass of wine.

I highly recommend (if you have the capacity to read such content).

Sorry - but this really wasn't for me. Very odd construction and approach which left me feeling confused and disappointed. Only managed a few chapters before conceding this just left me cold.

e-arc provided by netgalley in exchange for an honest review

it's not often that i skip my usual pre-review quote, but the prose in this book is so beautiful i'm afraid i'd have to copy and paste the entire text.

'animal bodies' is a collection of essays about everything you could possibly think of, from travel to grief to lost friendships, but at the same time a very narrow part of human emotion. despite that, the focus on the darker sides of life was unexpectedly light. i never felt too bogged down in the events described because a turn of phrase here and a nice metaphor there gave these stories an almost surreal quality in my mind and allowed me to view them with the same hindsight as the author instead of shattering my heart. despite the seemingly eclectic subject matter, this collection of essays was cohesive- as much as life can be, surely.

i didn't expect to relate to some of these essays so hard, but even the ones dealing with matters i've had no experience with left a mark on me. expert wordplay does that to a text, i've gathered. there could've been a ten page essay detailing the author's day to day routine and i still would've highlighted every passage to death.

Animal Bodies is a memoir written through a collection of personal essays. It is a very personal way of presenting your life and contains some gruesome details as well. although if you are thinking that it is nothing more than just a memoir then I guess you are wrong here. It contains issues ranging from racism to negligence towards covid and vaccination by some people. It swings between two generations and more than three decades to show us how the life of the author has evolved for better and for worse. This kind of confessional book demands courage to be able to recall and reproduce what you have endured throughout your life. it really was an honor to read about the author so closely.

The writing style is poetic and philosophical. I felt punched with harsh truths while reading this book. the author has explained in detail her life while she struggled to get hold of what's right and what's not. It discussed childhood trauma, sexual abuse, political disagreement and its impact on relationships, racism in practice, and man more such intricate topics. The author doesn’t give her proclamation but presents her point of agreement and disagreement strongly. Even without actually attacking the doer, she attacks the very practice that had been happening all around her since her teenage and childhood days. She talks about ignorance, victim-blaming, self-depreciation and so much more. It felt like she has poured all the anguish and sadness and wisdom gained over time in this life into this piece of work.

I can't say that I enjoyed reading this, it was painful to read about all the atrocities and wrings the author had to endure. It was uncomfortable to know that she is not the only one and that this story is so similar to so many other people. It really was a bare mirror to society. It is a reality that people try to cover up and decorate with veils. Veiled realities.

Overall, I will recommend this book to anyone who can handle the above-mentioned sensitive topics. Please keep in mind your triggers while picking this book. If you can handle this, then do pick it up and look into the veiled mirror.