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6th out of 24 books
—
5 voters
Body, Remember: A Memoir
In this poetic, introspective memoir, Kenny Fries illustrates his intersecting identities as gay, Jewish, and disabled. While learning about the history of his body through medical records and his physical scars, Fries discovers just how deeply the memories and psychic scars run. As he reflects on his relationships with his family, his compassionate doctor, the brother who...more
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
July 15th 2003
by University of Wisconsin Press
(first published 1997)
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Sep 01, 2008
Mary
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone who likes a bramatic bio that lacks self-pity and oversentimentality.
Recommended to Mary by:
My sister, who sent it to me as a gift.
Kenny Fries is, according to the overleaf of this book, "an encyclopedia of otherness: gay, Jewish, disabled..." He is also quite an amazing young man, and his entirely objective and unsentimental, but thoroughly riveting, autobiography tells the story of a genuine triumph of the human spirit over multiple adversity. Kenny was born with the most rudimentary of legs - each of them "no thicker than a finger" at birth, twisted, missing knee and ankle joints, culminating in stunted feet sprouting a...more
Sigh, I wanted to like this, but the writing style was so hokey and disjointed. If you are reading this review and you have a book to recommend on disability, particularly a memoir or a novel about the disability experience, please let me know.
I think some interesting issues were explored here- particularly the intercontextuality of being disabled, jewish and gay. But I felt they were only explored at the surface. I wanted something much deeper, and I just couldn't get past the writing enough to...more
I think some interesting issues were explored here- particularly the intercontextuality of being disabled, jewish and gay. But I felt they were only explored at the surface. I wanted something much deeper, and I just couldn't get past the writing enough to...more
I actually met Kenny Fries when he was an instructor at Goddard College, i'm ashamed to say, my first reaction was fear, at his otherness, and fear of his talent and intellect. I had to order this on ILL>
I was so curious about his disability. From a wreckage of a childhood fraught w/ surgeries, dr visits, chaos, KF writes a knowing and honest account of being disabled, gay, and Jewish. I certainly understand much more than before, and his writing is quite lovely.
I was so curious about his disability. From a wreckage of a childhood fraught w/ surgeries, dr visits, chaos, KF writes a knowing and honest account of being disabled, gay, and Jewish. I certainly understand much more than before, and his writing is quite lovely.
Oh so good in a post-traumatic of my own life sort of way. I wrote out a favorite paragraph and pinned it up on my writing board.
Thought I should read this because of a few friends I met in college:)
A stark, unabashed memoir written in clear and precise prose.
Mar 30, 2013
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