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The Body of Jonah Boyd
The brilliant and funny new novel from the author hailed as 'one of his generation's most gifted writers' by the New York Times
Hardcover
First published May 7, 2004
About the author
David Leavitt
70 books434 followersLeavitt is a graduate of Yale University and a professor at the University of Florida, where he is the co-director of the creative writing program. He is also the editor of Subtropics magazine, The University of Florida's literary review.
Leavitt, who is openly gay, has frequently explored gay issues in his work. He divides his time between Florida and Tuscany, Italy.
Leavitt, who is openly gay, has frequently explored gay issues in his work. He divides his time between Florida and Tuscany, Italy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
January 28, 2010
I've read several of Leavitt's novels. Some are funny, some are weighty, some are near misses. In this one I feel the author was probably just having a lot of fun, and indeed it's a fun, quick read. It's full of small delights -- sixties period detail, word play, eccentric characters, a twisty plot, a metafiction kicker at the end. The book has been sitting on my shelf for a while, and I'm glad I finally bumped it to the head of the list.
May 13, 2018
This book presents the reader with another occasion to enjoy Levitt's smooth and elegant prose. The loose general struture of it is divided in two overall parts that more or less retell the same events from different perspective and much extra details in the second half. As the such the book feels rather stuck in a loop.
Unfortunately all characters read rather like cliché and the main character and narrator, in particular, didn't feel that real and verysimilar to me but
(SLIGHT SPOILERS)
this might be due to the fact that this is a book within a book and the narrator is in fact a character imagined by another writer.
The book deals with the ownership of written texts, and I can't help thinking this may be the fruit of ruminations that followed Leavitt's issues with his previous book While England Sleeps.
(END OF SPOILERS)
It is imperfect but short and on the whole enjoyable. Although certainly not as disastrous as The Page Turner (a misnommer if ever there were one), this is perhaps best saved for the Leavitt die-hard fans (although, in a radical departure from previous efforts, there isn't a single gay character in this one).
Unfortunately all characters read rather like cliché and the main character and narrator, in particular, didn't feel that real and verysimilar to me but
(SLIGHT SPOILERS)
this might be due to the fact that this is a book within a book and the narrator is in fact a character imagined by another writer.
The book deals with the ownership of written texts, and I can't help thinking this may be the fruit of ruminations that followed Leavitt's issues with his previous book While England Sleeps.
(END OF SPOILERS)
It is imperfect but short and on the whole enjoyable. Although certainly not as disastrous as The Page Turner (a misnommer if ever there were one), this is perhaps best saved for the Leavitt die-hard fans (although, in a radical departure from previous efforts, there isn't a single gay character in this one).
June 6, 2025
It is possible to read The Body of Jonah Boyd in ignorance of a 10-year-old legal case involving its author, David Leavitt. But as it hinges on plagiarism, it would be an oversight not to mention the author's own experiences in that area (see my review of 'When England Sleeps' for a full explanation of the 'plagiarism' charge at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...).
In this novel a writer, Jonah Boyd, visits the Wright family, who live on a Californian campus. It is Thanksgiving. The Vietnam war is on. The writer's new wife, Anne, is an old friend of the Wrights, but she is evidently not thriving in this, her second marriage. That night the novelist reads from his all but finished opus, the book which it is hoped will propel him into the big league. "To make love in a balloon…" goes its opening sentence.
Among his audience is Ben, the youngest son of the family and a teenage versifier who has some sort of obsessive-compulsive disorder. He is suffered to read a poetic encomium to his draft-dodging older brother. The novelist applauds; everyone else doubtfully follows suit. The next day, the precious leather notebooks containing the only copy of the novel go missing. A few years later Boyd hits the bottle, drives off the road and dies.
The reader, if not the other characters, immediately, though not quite correctly, suspects the boy. Many years later, none of those who attended the reading notices when, after his previous literary efforts have come to nought, Ben is finally published. "To make love in a balloon…" goes the first line of his debut novel. As is hinted by Leavitt's title, Ben's novel is simply an anagram of someone else's, but it helps to propel him, rather than its original author, into the big league.
In Alan Warner's Morvern Callar (1995) a shop girl steals her dead boyfriend's novel. Warner is interested in the plagiarist's subsequent journey. Leavitt is interested in the plagiarist's rationale, but also in the moral opacity of literary lifting. The question he asks is simple: what are the circumstances in which word theft becomes explicable, even excusable?
Elsewhere in the novel, Leavitt proposes the idea that everyone's at it. His narrator is a mousy, rather unremarkable woman called Denny. No one glances at her twice, or at least not other women. She is condescendingly adopted by the Wrights – by Nancy, a sexless matriarch who subsumes all her passion into home-making and singing, badly, duets on the piano, and by Ernest, a loftily vacant professor of psychology. Denny (her diminishing nickname) is not only Ernest's secretary and Sunday-morning lover, she is also – or so she says – the co-author of his books, typed up by her from jumbled notes which required improvement and shaping.
Leavitt makes much of this all-American cladding – the dysfunctional middle-class family held in place by tensions and antipathies, by its own flimsy rituals – so that we know the characters intimately by the time the Boyds join them for Thanksgiving.
The novelist perhaps loses control of the vessel as he's guiding it into port: implausibilities arise, and he could be accused of going one twist too far. It goes without saying that Denny is unreliable, as all respectable narrators seem to be these days. How much or how little you believe in her best intentions is a matter of choice, just as it is when the plagiarist pleads innocence. But this is an absorbing tale. If it is also an exculpation, then it is a stylish one.
Interestingly, the novel has no gay characters, which may have been a response to the constant sneering at the time of the plagiarism charge, of the constant snide comments by English 'influencers' as they would no be termed, about the 'explicit' gat sex in Leavitt's work.
In this novel a writer, Jonah Boyd, visits the Wright family, who live on a Californian campus. It is Thanksgiving. The Vietnam war is on. The writer's new wife, Anne, is an old friend of the Wrights, but she is evidently not thriving in this, her second marriage. That night the novelist reads from his all but finished opus, the book which it is hoped will propel him into the big league. "To make love in a balloon…" goes its opening sentence.
Among his audience is Ben, the youngest son of the family and a teenage versifier who has some sort of obsessive-compulsive disorder. He is suffered to read a poetic encomium to his draft-dodging older brother. The novelist applauds; everyone else doubtfully follows suit. The next day, the precious leather notebooks containing the only copy of the novel go missing. A few years later Boyd hits the bottle, drives off the road and dies.
The reader, if not the other characters, immediately, though not quite correctly, suspects the boy. Many years later, none of those who attended the reading notices when, after his previous literary efforts have come to nought, Ben is finally published. "To make love in a balloon…" goes the first line of his debut novel. As is hinted by Leavitt's title, Ben's novel is simply an anagram of someone else's, but it helps to propel him, rather than its original author, into the big league.
In Alan Warner's Morvern Callar (1995) a shop girl steals her dead boyfriend's novel. Warner is interested in the plagiarist's subsequent journey. Leavitt is interested in the plagiarist's rationale, but also in the moral opacity of literary lifting. The question he asks is simple: what are the circumstances in which word theft becomes explicable, even excusable?
Elsewhere in the novel, Leavitt proposes the idea that everyone's at it. His narrator is a mousy, rather unremarkable woman called Denny. No one glances at her twice, or at least not other women. She is condescendingly adopted by the Wrights – by Nancy, a sexless matriarch who subsumes all her passion into home-making and singing, badly, duets on the piano, and by Ernest, a loftily vacant professor of psychology. Denny (her diminishing nickname) is not only Ernest's secretary and Sunday-morning lover, she is also – or so she says – the co-author of his books, typed up by her from jumbled notes which required improvement and shaping.
Leavitt makes much of this all-American cladding – the dysfunctional middle-class family held in place by tensions and antipathies, by its own flimsy rituals – so that we know the characters intimately by the time the Boyds join them for Thanksgiving.
The novelist perhaps loses control of the vessel as he's guiding it into port: implausibilities arise, and he could be accused of going one twist too far. It goes without saying that Denny is unreliable, as all respectable narrators seem to be these days. How much or how little you believe in her best intentions is a matter of choice, just as it is when the plagiarist pleads innocence. But this is an absorbing tale. If it is also an exculpation, then it is a stylish one.
Interestingly, the novel has no gay characters, which may have been a response to the constant sneering at the time of the plagiarism charge, of the constant snide comments by English 'influencers' as they would no be termed, about the 'explicit' gat sex in Leavitt's work.
July 9, 2017
Ik had dit boek eens gratis gekregen op het boekenfestijn. Ik vond het wel goed geschreven. Het duurt wel een tijdje (eerst leren we verschillende personages grondig en gedurende lange tijd kennen) eer de gebeurtenis waar het feitelijk om draait, aan bod komt. En dan, na enkele spannende bladzijden waarin men het probeert op te lossen, maar er niet in slaagt, wordt het weer naar de achtergrond verwezen. Eerst vele jaren later besluit een betrokkene het geheim prijs te geven aan iemand. Speciaal.
April 23, 2011
Excellent novel that drew me in from the start; a bit of a gimmicky finish but I loved the humor interwoven throughout in this quasi-mystery story of a dysfunctional family and their son made good, told through the eyes of mom's frumpy friend. It has stylistic overtones of Zoe Heller's "Notes From a Scandal" -- you know you can't quite trust the narrator's motives and views of the family.
September 24, 2011
Very nicely done. A tight, well-crafted plot that circles round at the end to bring us back to the beginning. And a nice touch on the "unreliable narrator" genre. The book is narrated by Denny -- the outsider secretary who becomes the confidant of the wife, the lover of the husband, and the fly on the wall at the dissolution of a marriage and family. Or was she the spider instead?
November 27, 2009
Readable and somewhat entertaining, but lightweight. The narrator's voice (a secretary having an affair with her boss) was unconvincing and the characters not very engaging. If I hadn't already read a much better book by the same author, I probably would not have been disappointed by this one.
September 16, 2012
Absolutely LOVED this book. Very well paced, interesting characters, gripping - a blue print of how I would like to write.
November 11, 2012
Simply wonderful.
October 22, 2016
first book I finished for the read-a-thon
July 23, 2019
Na vier jaar een nieuwe roman van David Leavitt!
Het lichaam van Jonah Boyd is het verhaal rond een professor psychologie en zijn gezin in het plaatsje Wellspring in 1969. De jonge secretaresse Denny heeft een verhouding met haar baas, dr. Ernest Wright, terwijl ze ook bevriend is met diens vrouw. De oudste zoon van de familie Wright is de Canadeze grens overgestoken om zijn dienstplicht te ontlopen, terwijl de enige dochter een geheime affaire is begonnen. De jongste zoon van het gezin, Ben, is vijftien en zo gevoelig en onuitstaanbaar als een puber kan zijn. Dat najaar viert Denny Thanksgiving bij de Wrights, waar ze de bejubelde auteur Jonah Boyd ontmoet. Het wordt een dag die het leven van alle aawezigen ingrijpend zal veranderen.
Met zijn verhalendebuut Familiedans vestigde David Leavitt zijn naam als vooraanstaand schrijver. Met deze nieuwe roman, waarin net als in zijn debuut het gezins- en familieleven een hoofdrol speelt, doet hij die naam opnieuw alle eer aan.
-------------------------------------------------------------
De secretaresse/minnares van een psycholoog en tegelijk de vriendin van zijn vrouw beschrijft de Thanksgiving van 1969 in dit gezin. Een beroemd schrijver en zijn vrouw komen ook en dit bezoek veroorzaakt, vooral door het verdwijnen van de notitieboeken van de schrijver, enorme veranderingen in het leven van de aanwezigen op dit feest. In de terugblik na 30 jaar door de secretaresse en de jongste zoon op deze periode wordt veel duidelijk. De Amerikaanse auteur, bekend van o.a. "The lost language of cranes", weet in deze verwarrende familiegeschiedenis de lezer te boeien door de verrassende wendingen in het verhaal, maar ook door de diepgaande karaktertekeningen van de diverse hoofdpersonen. Pocket; kleine druk, krappe marge.
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David Leavitt (Pittsburgh, USA, 1961) groeide op in Palo Alto, Californië. Zijn vader was professor aan Stanford University. Na de middelbare school verruilde Leavitt de westkust van Amerika voor het oosten en meldde zich op achttienjarige leeftijd als student letteren bij de Yale University in New Haven. Hij volgde onder meer colleges in creative writing. Tijdens zijn studie begon hij korte verhalen te schrijven.
Leavitt was negentien toen zijn eerste korte verhaal in The New Yorker verscheen. Daarna verschenen verhalen van zijn hand in Harper’s. Op zijn drieëntwintigste brak Leavitt wereldwijd door met zijn debuut Family Dancing.
In opdracht van het blad Esquire viel hem in 1985 de eer te beurt om in een essay te beschrijven hoe zijn generatie tegen de wereld aankijkt, een vraag die door Esquire eens in de tien jaar aan een jonge, veelbelovende schrijver wordt voorgelegd. In het verleden kweten gerenommeerde schrijvers als F. Scott Fitzgerald en William Styrion zich van deze taak. Het essay, Next Generation, werd in Nederland gepubliceerd in Vrij Nederland.
Leavitts succesvolle romandebuut Verloren taal der kranen werd bewerkt tot een televisiefilm.
In enkele van Leavitts verhalen komen dezelfde personages terug: Celia en Nathan. Deze twee dienden als basis voor de voorstelling Celia (1993) van de Rotterdamse theatergroep Bonheur. In 1997 kocht David Leavitt met zijn vriend Mark Mitchell een verwaarloosde boerderij in Maremma, in het zuiden van Toscane. De belevenissen rond de aankoop en het opknappen van het huis staan beschreven in de verhalenbundel In de Maremma.
Momenteel is David Leavitt docent creative writing aan de Universiteit van Florida.
Het lichaam van Jonah Boyd is het verhaal rond een professor psychologie en zijn gezin in het plaatsje Wellspring in 1969. De jonge secretaresse Denny heeft een verhouding met haar baas, dr. Ernest Wright, terwijl ze ook bevriend is met diens vrouw. De oudste zoon van de familie Wright is de Canadeze grens overgestoken om zijn dienstplicht te ontlopen, terwijl de enige dochter een geheime affaire is begonnen. De jongste zoon van het gezin, Ben, is vijftien en zo gevoelig en onuitstaanbaar als een puber kan zijn. Dat najaar viert Denny Thanksgiving bij de Wrights, waar ze de bejubelde auteur Jonah Boyd ontmoet. Het wordt een dag die het leven van alle aawezigen ingrijpend zal veranderen.
Met zijn verhalendebuut Familiedans vestigde David Leavitt zijn naam als vooraanstaand schrijver. Met deze nieuwe roman, waarin net als in zijn debuut het gezins- en familieleven een hoofdrol speelt, doet hij die naam opnieuw alle eer aan.
-------------------------------------------------------------
De secretaresse/minnares van een psycholoog en tegelijk de vriendin van zijn vrouw beschrijft de Thanksgiving van 1969 in dit gezin. Een beroemd schrijver en zijn vrouw komen ook en dit bezoek veroorzaakt, vooral door het verdwijnen van de notitieboeken van de schrijver, enorme veranderingen in het leven van de aanwezigen op dit feest. In de terugblik na 30 jaar door de secretaresse en de jongste zoon op deze periode wordt veel duidelijk. De Amerikaanse auteur, bekend van o.a. "The lost language of cranes", weet in deze verwarrende familiegeschiedenis de lezer te boeien door de verrassende wendingen in het verhaal, maar ook door de diepgaande karaktertekeningen van de diverse hoofdpersonen. Pocket; kleine druk, krappe marge.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
David Leavitt (Pittsburgh, USA, 1961) groeide op in Palo Alto, Californië. Zijn vader was professor aan Stanford University. Na de middelbare school verruilde Leavitt de westkust van Amerika voor het oosten en meldde zich op achttienjarige leeftijd als student letteren bij de Yale University in New Haven. Hij volgde onder meer colleges in creative writing. Tijdens zijn studie begon hij korte verhalen te schrijven.
Leavitt was negentien toen zijn eerste korte verhaal in The New Yorker verscheen. Daarna verschenen verhalen van zijn hand in Harper’s. Op zijn drieëntwintigste brak Leavitt wereldwijd door met zijn debuut Family Dancing.
In opdracht van het blad Esquire viel hem in 1985 de eer te beurt om in een essay te beschrijven hoe zijn generatie tegen de wereld aankijkt, een vraag die door Esquire eens in de tien jaar aan een jonge, veelbelovende schrijver wordt voorgelegd. In het verleden kweten gerenommeerde schrijvers als F. Scott Fitzgerald en William Styrion zich van deze taak. Het essay, Next Generation, werd in Nederland gepubliceerd in Vrij Nederland.
Leavitts succesvolle romandebuut Verloren taal der kranen werd bewerkt tot een televisiefilm.
In enkele van Leavitts verhalen komen dezelfde personages terug: Celia en Nathan. Deze twee dienden als basis voor de voorstelling Celia (1993) van de Rotterdamse theatergroep Bonheur. In 1997 kocht David Leavitt met zijn vriend Mark Mitchell een verwaarloosde boerderij in Maremma, in het zuiden van Toscane. De belevenissen rond de aankoop en het opknappen van het huis staan beschreven in de verhalenbundel In de Maremma.
Momenteel is David Leavitt docent creative writing aan de Universiteit van Florida.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 2, 2025
This was so fun -- juicy interpersonal drama, a couple twists, dry humor, soapy. Denny was the perfect narrator for this kind of story (invisible enough to see everything without influencing the story until she needed to). I felt unsure about the ending, though. It was surprising in a way that I don't totally buy?
I didn't enjoy the first Leavitt book I read, so I'm really glad I gave him another try!
I didn't enjoy the first Leavitt book I read, so I'm really glad I gave him another try!
September 27, 2023
Luego de leer “The Lost Language of Cranes”, he querido leer más de David Leavitt y me he topado con esta novela que me ha atrapado y emocionado. Con tintes de thriller y dejos de ironía que la hacen muy divertida, es también, por momentos, una reflexión sobre la creación literaria, sobre las personas, situaciones o lugares en los que uno encuentra inspiración y sobre el robo de ideas; no deja de resultarme divertido que Leavitt se haya aventurado a escribir una novela en donde el plagio juega un papel central, diez años después de que él mismo fuera acusado de plagio por su novela “Mientras Inglaterra duerme”.
Sin duda, seguiré leyendo a Leavitt, cuya prosa me envuelve y me hace desear no parar hasta terminar sus historias.
Sin duda, seguiré leyendo a Leavitt, cuya prosa me envuelve y me hace desear no parar hasta terminar sus historias.
September 3, 2018
"Deprived of Nancy’s cautionary influence, Anne started going braless in public."
David Leavitt doesn't disappoint in this nicely woven story of Denny, a secretary to a psychiatry professor at a university in California in the 1960s. The story features Denny's interactions over the course of 30 years with the professor's wife, Nancy, and son, Ben, which occur at a house on University-owned Florizona Avenue. The relationships between Denny, Nancy, and Ben evolve over time and the narrative voice of Denny throughout the book is really remarkable. Domestic life of late 1960s California plays a big role in this vivid tale, which I read over the course of a day and found charming.
David Leavitt doesn't disappoint in this nicely woven story of Denny, a secretary to a psychiatry professor at a university in California in the 1960s. The story features Denny's interactions over the course of 30 years with the professor's wife, Nancy, and son, Ben, which occur at a house on University-owned Florizona Avenue. The relationships between Denny, Nancy, and Ben evolve over time and the narrative voice of Denny throughout the book is really remarkable. Domestic life of late 1960s California plays a big role in this vivid tale, which I read over the course of a day and found charming.
December 31, 2022
Último libro del año. Y un buen cierre de lectura.
Novela que relata una cena de acción de Gracias, donde los personajes no volverán a ser los mismo, y sobre qué un suceso aparentemente simple -la perdida de un manuscrito de un escritor- termina por desencajar la vida de los protagonistas de la misma cena.
Contada por la secretaría del patriarca de una familia clasemedia estadounidense -y amante del mismo-, vemos pasar la vida de los Wright por décadas.
Con un final que juega con un juego de espejos -donde nada es lo que parece, ¿o si?- en el que vemos una narración de hechos y circunstancias que definen el destino.
Una historia de pérdidas, plagios, desesperanza.
Novela que relata una cena de acción de Gracias, donde los personajes no volverán a ser los mismo, y sobre qué un suceso aparentemente simple -la perdida de un manuscrito de un escritor- termina por desencajar la vida de los protagonistas de la misma cena.
Contada por la secretaría del patriarca de una familia clasemedia estadounidense -y amante del mismo-, vemos pasar la vida de los Wright por décadas.
Con un final que juega con un juego de espejos -donde nada es lo que parece, ¿o si?- en el que vemos una narración de hechos y circunstancias que definen el destino.
Una historia de pérdidas, plagios, desesperanza.
July 6, 2024
I used to love David Leavitt's book right from Family Dancing when I worked in a bookstore. Hadn't read one in a while so I picked this one up on the sale shelf recently, one I don't think I'd seen or known of before. It sat in the TBR pile for a bit until I found one of his others translated into Italian which I thought I might try so I dug this one out for a little refresher on his writing style. Must admit I was surprised by how slight it was (and not just in the 215 p length). Saw the main twist coming a mile away. Oh well. Glad it was so short I guess.
March 18, 2022
In this literary mystery, a secretary reveals secrets from her decades-long association with an academic, his family, and a writer who disrupts all of their lives. While not as suspenseful or compelling as The Plot (which I was reminded of while reading this), the novel is pleasantly enjoyable. (8)
June 27, 2023
Definitely evoked the era of the late 60s in terms of women’s roles, boys coming of age and academia. The voice of the narrator changed at a pivotal point which really perked me up after the middle third of the book had tapered off in to boring territory. Lots of foreshadowing of the truth that would be re remakes kept me reading, and the last few chapters made me glad I stuck with it.
February 1, 2025
Well written book, nice to read. Better at the beginning than at the end. I liked the part in which the characters were introduced and the central plot was set up. But the book developed too much into a kind of detective story, where at a certain point it is clear who did it and too many pages are spent explaining how it all happened.
February 23, 2021
I finished this a couple weeks ago and really don't remember much of it. To be honest, I didn't find it at all funny....it was more tedious than anything. I also found it hard to like or care about any of the characters.
June 4, 2023
The Body of Jonah Boyd Entertainingly and cleverly well written novel about families, academia, and writing along with a lot of plagiarism.
November 17, 2018
Me ha resultado lectura muy entretenida. La trama te mantiene en tensión hasta el final.
Want to Read
July 19, 2020elibrary
January 24, 2022
Humor negro e intriga familiar de las mejores. Excelente novela mes culpa del autor en los casos de plagio
July 31, 2022
2 1/2 - 3
July 25, 2023
4.5 stars - Another dazzling drama with great twists and a deceptively clever structure. Leavitt never disappoints; such a great writer.
July 16, 2024
Veel gebabbel over een personage dat vluchtig is in het leven van ALLE andere personages. Leest lekker, plot twist aan het einde met een knipoog naar Jane Eyre.
February 26, 2025
Sounded like a good book but ended up not being my cup of tea. Bounces around from different years so hard to keep up with who did what in what year.
September 18, 2017
Wonderful characters, another masterpiece by Mr. Leavitt. I've yet to read anything of his that wasn't outstanding.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews