Beautiful Bodies

by Laura Shaine Cunningham

Book Overview

Six longtime female friends meet at a NoHo loft on the stormiest night of the year and, with the help of vast quantities of wine, unload what's in their hearts and minds. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743434013
• ISBN13: 9780743434010
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.27 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.8" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Read this book!

All men should be required to read this book to understand what and how the women in their lives are thinking. Everyone should read it for the pleasure of it: for the great storytelling, and the kind of writing that makes you say, I could do that, until you realize how subtly textured and perfectly structured this book is and are grateful that you don't have to do it, that Cunningham's done it for you and done it beautifully.She is, as is evident in all of her writing, a brilliant observer of human nature, and of women in particular. Each of the characters in Beautiful Bodies is fully fleshed, has strong opinions about the nature of that flesh, has desires, disappointments, triumphs, terrors, and articulates all these in a voice and idiom that's hers alone. They're great talkers, these women, with voices that are honest and familiar. I KNOW these women! Don't be fooled by the light tone of the first pages. Cunningham has given us a very funny book, at times airy as a soufflé, yet these women are all grappling with the grittiest stuff life has to throw. And the overall effect - the taste in your mouth when the feast is over (Cunningham writes wonderfully about food; I wish she'd do a cookbook, it would be like standing in the kitchen with your best friend who happens to be a world class cook!) - is one of gratitude: Cunningham's women extend toward one another, after an often hilarious struggle, deep understanding and abiding compassion. It's a very rich book. I can't wait for her next one.

A beautiful book

If you read only one this summer, make it Beautiful Bodies. This is about the mind, soul and the body and about a beleagured city. These women are the real thing -- friends to the end, no matter what. They may fight, disagree but they have become more than friends. Sexier than Sex and the City, for really smart women who do not wish to be condescended to...Truly fine writing by a memoirist, writing her first novel. Funny, sad and true, true, true.

Six single women, six stars!

There should be a higher rating to express my utter rapture with this fantastic book. I never thought there would be an accurate novel to depict the real life stories of working women in their 30's, 40's This is so much more intelligent than Sex and the City, they are not on the same planet. These women make their way in the world, navigate through city life and have believable affairs with men. I loved the Postcoital divide...into which a man disappears after sex. Too funny, so true. I fell in love with the Native American man who sweeps the hostess off her feet, their love scene is truly beautiful. This is sex that is not embarassing to read, yet true and utterly evocative. My friends are all reading it and say the same thing. This is a gift!

Sheer brilliance...many facets to this diamond of a novel.

Men as well as women will love this scintillating, hilarious, yet moving story of six women friends who gather on one frigid night. This is incredibly candid, even sensual but never coarse. This is truly as unusual as the reviews indicate: a literate novel of women of the city and their deepest needs and feelings. My sister bought it and I borrowed it...We are quoting already...A soon to be classic of modern angst and love among the denizens of the dark heart of the asphalt jungle. New York ( and Every City) glitters, glowers and glows...I love these women, whose souls are as beautiful as their 'bodies"...A sensitive introspective yet funny book.

Pure pleasure

A perfect summer book, one to savor and share. Six thirtysomething New York women gather for a baby shower (the mother is happily single) as the "storm of the century" gathers outside. Laura Shaine Cunningham's characters feel like old friends, but still have the freshness to make you laugh out loud. Beautiful Bodies is funny, funny, funny, but the six women's longings and disappointments as they hurtle towards forty give it a much deeper resonance. This is one you'll be recommending to friends for a long time to come.