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| Plot Summary of The Body Artist |
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"This beautifully written book opens with Lauren Hartke and her husband Rey enjoying a familiar breakfast together. Then Rey commits suicide leaving Lauren alone in the large rented New England house to cope with her loss. A mysterious and strange man appears on a bed one day dressed only in his underwear. Lauren takes him in and tries to communicate with this man who only speaks in strange sentences. He imitates her dead husband's voice and sometimes hers and she can find out nothing about who he is or where he came from. She feels that the man remembers the future as sentences he speaks are later uttered by her. He then vanishes and Lauren makes a body art performance out of her encounter with him. This mysterious book evokes the loneliness of loss and is mellow in its thought provoking prose. "
John Marcel, Resident Scholar
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"Lauren Hartke employs her own body as a canvas. She is the third wife of Rey Robles, a filmmaker who commits suicide shortly after the novel begins. As Lauren attempts to cope with the loss at a rented New England house near the ocean, she discovers a strange man living in one of the upstairs rooms. He doesn't speak in complete sentences, and often parrots things she or Rey had said in the preceding weeks. Lauren questions and tape records the stranger, trying to make sense of him as well as her shattered life. DeLillo writes with largely and deceptively simple prose, much of it presented from Lauren's point of view, that makes the common world seem utterly strange and new, even mesmerizing."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Body Artist |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- thoughtful
Time/era of story
- 1980's-1999
Life of a profession:
- artist
Internal struggle/realization?
Yes
Struggle over
- vague finding self/purpose in life (i.e. no plot to book)
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Coping with loss of loved one(s)
Yes
Loss of...
- husband/boyfriend/squeeze
Job/Profession/Status story
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- artist
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- unemployed
Eccentric/Smart/Dumb:
Yes
Eccentric:
- mentally ill
- emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- an above average amount
- a substantial amount
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Retarded
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
- healthy but a geeky weakling
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 6 (an above average amount)
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Small town?
Yes
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
- touching of anatomy
Unusual Style:
- a lot of stream of consciousness
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Don DeLillo Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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