Deborah Landau’s The Uses of the Body is propelled by two unanticipated events—a death and a birth. The irrepressible drives and vulnerabilities of the female body, and its various “uses,” fill these lyrically haunting poems with tenderness and desire. The poems slant and swerve as Landau explores the complexities of marriage, motherhood, and sexuality, conjuring a cherished domestic life beset by ennui and illness, singing often unspoken truths.
ISBN: 9781556594816
Format: Paperback
Reviews
“[T]houghtful, social, watchful… Get this book.” —NPR
“Landau’s killer wit evokes Dorothy Parker crossed with Sylvia Plath—leaping spark after spark, growing to deadly dark fire. The Uses of the Body is her best book, its acerbic tone (“The uses of the body, illusion”) interspersed with lines of grave and startling beauty.” —Los Angeles Times
“A thrilling meditation on the passages of a woman’s life.” —O, The Oprah Magazine
“Like Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, but for girls (and women): Deborah Landau’s vividly relatable third collection… reminds us that coming of age lasts well beyond adolescence.” —Vogue