The Good Body

The Good Body

Botox, bulimia, breast implants: Eve Ensler, author of the international sensation The Vagina Monologues, is back, this time to rock our view of what it means to have a â‚¬Å“good body.â‚¬Â â‚¬Å“In the 1950s,â‚¬Â Eve writes, girls were â‚¬Å“pretty, perky. They had a blond Clairol wave in their hair. They wore girdles and waist-pinchers. . . . In recent years good girls join the army. They climb the corporate ladder. They go to the gym. . . . They wear painful pointy shoes. They donâ‚¬t eat too much. They . . . donâ‚¬t eat at all. They stay perfect. They stay thin. I could never be good.â‚¬Â

The Good Body starts with Eveâ‚¬s tortured relationship with her own â‚¬Å“post-fortiesâ‚¬Â stomach and her skirmishes with everything from Ab Rollers to fad diets and fascistic trainers in an attempt get the â‚¬Å“flabby badnessâ‚¬Â out. As Eve hungrily seeks self-acceptance, she is joined by the voices of women from L.A. to Kabul, whose obsessions are also laid bare: A young Latina candidly critiques her humiliating â‚¬Å“spread,â‚¬Â a stubborn layer of fat that she calls â‚¬Å“a second pair of thighs.â‚¬Â The wife of a plastic surgeon recounts being systematically reconstructedâ‚¬â€œinch by inchâ‚¬â€œby her â‚¬Å“perfectionistâ‚¬Â husband. An aging magazine executive, still haunted by her motherâ‚¬s long-ago criticism, describes her desperate pursuit of youth as she relentlessly does sit-ups.

Along the way, Eve also introduces us to women who have found a hard-won peace with their bodies: an African mother who celebrates each individual body as signs of natureâ‚¬s diversity; an Indian woman who transcends â‚¬Å“treadmill maniaâ‚¬Â and delights in her plump cheeks and curves; and a veiled Afghani woman who is willing to risk imprisonment for a taste of ice cream. These are just a few of the inspiring stories woven through Eveâ‚¬s global journey from obsession to enlightenment. Ultimately, these monologues become a personal wake-up call from Eve to love the â‚¬Å“good bodiesâ‚¬Â we inhabit.

From the Hardcover edition.
Country USA
Brand Villard
Manufacturer Random House Publishing Group
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber part_0812974735
Color Multicolor
ReleaseDate 2005-11-08
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780812974737

Country	USA
Brand	Villard
Manufacturer	Random House Publishing Group
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	part_0812974735
Color	Multicolor
ReleaseDate	2005-11-08
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780812974737

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