Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #325683 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-04
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Synopsis
What if you were middle-aged and were offered the chance to trade in your sagging flesh for a much younger and more pleasing model? This is the situation in which the main character of The Body finds himself. Taking the plunge, he embarks on an odyssey of hedonism, but soon finds himself regretting what he has left behind as the responsibilities he thought he had sloughed off now begin to come home to him. Sinister forces are pursuing him, wanting possession of his 'body', and he finds himself in a no-man's-land, uncertain which way to turn. Praise for Hanif Kureishi's previous collection, Midnight All Day:

About the Author
Hanif Kureishi was born and brought up in Kent. He read philosophy at King's College, London. He is the author of numerous novels, short story collections, screenplays and plays. In 1984 he wrote My Beautiful Laundrette, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. His second film, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, was followed by London Kills Me, which he also directed. The Buddha of Suburbia won the Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel in 1990 and was made into a four-part drama series by the BBC. His second novel, The Black Album, was published in 1995 and his first collection of short stories, Love in a Blue Time, was published in 1997. My Son the Fanatic, a story from that collection, was adapted for film and released in 1998. Intimacy, his third novel, was published in 1998, and was adapted for film in 2001. A second collection of short stories, Midnight All Day, was published in 2000, followed in 2001 by his fourth novel Gabriel's Gift.

Customer Reviews

Thought-provoking novella, plus so-so short stories
This volume comprises the title story – a novella – and seven short stories. "The Body" is an intriguing exploration of issues surrounding ageing and identity: what if you could have a younger body for a while, or forever? By contrast, the short stories, exploring the lives of a variety of uniformly miserable characters, feel short either of ideas or entertainment. They have the feel of having been added on to make the book up to a respectable size.

Summary: if you like literary fiction, the main story is worth a look. But the rest is disappointing.

Thoughtful pieces
Hanif Kureishi's collection of stories make for an enriching afternoon- full of literary allusions, insightful social commentary and philosophical thought, Kureshi manages to say a lot as always, without being heavy or ponderous. These works leave you with much to mull over.

An impressive collection of short stories
Mr Kureishi's collection of stories opens with "The Body" in which theprotagonist, Adam, is an ageing professor of literature and writer. Hiswife Margot claims that men tend to get "particularly band-tempered,pompous and demanding" when they reach a certain age. Furthermore, one ofhis students nearly offends Adam when he states that he now looks anythinglike his picture on the back of his books. All this happens as Adam meetsone of his admirers, Ralph, at a party. Ralph explains to Adam that someold - and rich - people are now having their living brains removed andtransplanted into the bodies of young dead people. He assures him that theoperation has already been performed successfully hundreds of times, aswas the case on himself. Finally convinced by the numerous women eyeingRalph at the party, Adam decides to undergo the operation and selects froma broad variety of dead corpses at the clinic the body of an athletic andvery handsome young Italian footballer, settling for a "shot term bodyrental" of six months. The outcome of the operation is successful and sobegins for Adam - now Leo - a very surprising new life indeed.
MrKureishi's short stories are witty, incisive and funny. He is a keenobserver of the human condition and he treats subjects like love,parenthood and the problem of happiness very skilfully.