Title: Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy

Editor: Kelly Jensen

Genre: YA Nonfiction Anthology

Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers

Publication Date: August 18, 2020

Links: Goodreads | Amazon* | Book Depository*

Rating: 5 / 5 Stars

Source: Digital ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley & physical ARC

Body Talk is a wonderful collection of short stories from a wide range of real people talking about their real bodies. I’ve been dying to read one of Kelly Jensen’s anthologies because they all sound amazing. If you’ve never heard of them, We Are: Feminism for the Real World was released in 2017 & [Don’t] Call Me Crazy in 2018. I love that she’s found lots of people to tell their stories about important topics.

The story tellers in this anthology cover a wide range of human experiences, from body shapes to body hair, and the difficulties surrounding the body positive movement. Each story has a completely unique perspective on living life in a human body.

While reading through Body Talk I couldn’t help but feel seen in so many of the stories. We all have insecurities about our bodies and it’s therapeutic to read someone else having similar struggles. I also think it’s important for everyone to read about struggles that are not similar to our own. It helps with empathy and understanding that the human experience is both unique and universal.

I also really love the message of this book. Some of the stories are about learning to love and appreciate the body you live in. Maybe your body isn’t perfect, but it’s perfectly suited to you and a healthy relationship with your body leads to a more healthy you. And some of the stories point out how important it is to acknowledge that not all of us feel happy in the bodies we live in, and it’s ok to make changes that lead us to happiness or acceptance. It’s ok to have feelings, even the negative ones because it’s as important to explore those as it is the positive feelings.

Overall this book just has such a wide range of stories that make you think and reflect and I loved every bit of it. Thank you so much to Algonquin Young Readers for having me on this blog tour!

 “The most important thing I’ve learned from this entire experience is that all those things we sometimes don’t like about ourselves truly can be seen as beautiful or unique or strong or wonderful if we love ourselves enough when we look at them.”

-Rachel Lippincott, “Scoliosis, Spinal Fusion, and Stomach Punches” Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy

Synopsis: It’s time to bare it all about bodies!

We all experience the world in a body, but we don’t usually take the time to explore what it really means to have and live within one. Just as every person has a unique personality, every person has a unique body, and every body tells its own story.

In Body Talk, thirty-seven writers, models, actors, musicians, and artists share essays, lists, comics, and illustrations—about everything from size and shape to scoliosis, from eating disorders to cancer, from sexuality and gender identity to the use of makeup as armor. Together, they contribute a broad variety of perspectives on what it’s like to live in their particular bodies—and how their bodies have helped to inform who they are and how they move through the world.

Come on in, turn the pages, and join the celebration of our diverse, miraculous, beautiful bodies!

Kelly Jensen can be found around the internet. Instagram: @heykellyjensen

Twitter: @veronikellymars

Blog: STACKED

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