A really sensitive, intelligent and insightful novel about chronic illness. The author delves cleverly into the multifaceted aspects of living with pain, using delicate and wonderfully ornate language. The imagery is compelling.
A story of healing, friendship and discovering that makes you think.
Thank you to NetGalley and the published for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

A deeply considered chronicle of the impacts of chronic pain and illness, using the friends as foils to the narrator's progress or otherwise. Feels like it should be required reading for the rest of us, in terms of helping to understand such an all-encompassing experience.

A fascinating novel about what it‘s like living with chronic pain. The un-named narrator meets two women who seem just like her. One, Frida, encourages the MC to exercise outside to work through the pain, whilst not really acknowledging the illness. The other, Sylvia, doesn‘t like exercise and wants to stay indoors and wallow in the pain.

A lot to think about with this book. I would think this may be a tough read if you suffer from a chronic illness / auto-immune condition.

Body Friend is a moving and honest insight into living with chronic pain and illness.
‘A body not in service to itself ‘
A woman meets two other women when she is recovering from surgery.
Both strangely similar to her, Frida encourages her to rehabilitate through swimming and movement whereas Sylvia nurtures and pampers her desire to rest and stay still.
These women represent her conflicting desires and battle within herself, her inner journey and acceptance that both states are ok.
Body Friend is beautifully written and composed. I felt a real connection and understanding with the sense of guilt she felt for not being able to make her body do what she felt it should be doing.

I was once acquainted with someone who was always complaining about her body aches. At that time I could not imagine why someone in her 20s would be in such a poor physical condition. It was only much later when I learnt that she has fibromyalgia, which causes the pains and fatigue.

In Body Friend (Sep 2023) by Australian author Katherine Brabon, the unnamed female narrator is a chronic illness sufferer who lives in Melbourne with her very understanding and helpful boyfriend. She is recovering from a surgery. The story is mostly a monologue from her POV. There is not much going on except her thoughts and some parts tend to get repetitive, almost like the illness itself, which keeps coming and going throughout the person's life.

During her recovery process, she makes two new friends in two different settings, the 'pool friend' Frida at hydrotherapy sessions and the 'park friend' Sylvia at a local park. These two also suffer from chronic illnesses. They are portrayed in a clever manner too, as they each represents being active or being restful to get over the pain. It's a constant tug of war for our narrator as her interaction fluctuates between these two friends whose paths have never crossed.

It's a slow-moving story, gentle and lyrical, keeping me engaged right to the end. But more importantly it gave me a better insight of how it feels to be suffering from chronic illnesses or autoimmune diseases. It's a tough life and those who have to go through these pains regularly are a tough lot. 💪

I got this book as a review copy from Sydney-based Ultimo Press on NetGalley.

I really enjoyed this challenging, smart and moving treatise on illness, vulnerability, strength, identity and friendship. Anyone who has - or has had - a complex relationship with health, will feel seen and articulated. The prose is sharp as a dagger too.

Rating: 4.5/5

Conveying chronic illness to any degree is a challenge but Body Friend does it so beautifully. The subtlety of themes in this book made this story so well rounded. This is my first book by Brabon and I am more than pleasantly surprised. The book was decorated with beautiful language to describe such a hard way of living. An invisible way of living to most. As we meet Sylvia and Frida we get the implications that they are who the narrator casts off as versions of herself, this doubling against the narrative background places such an emphasis on the internal struggle of those who are chronically ill. I think that is predominately my reception of the book, that of a character who is so desperately lonely in such a singular experience.

Apart from the narrative, the book's structure and outside references were particularly significant to the characters and stories. One of the characters is a glaring ode to Sylvia Plath from her mannerism to her poetic tone. Employing someone like Sylvia Plath as a personification of loneliness and womanhood for someone like me, was just beautiful because it worked. The character was not pretentious or over-romanticised. It was as plainly as Sylvia Plath would have written herself, but I must admit it made me very happy. Brabon got it right down to the literature reference to the artwork. Looking up the pieces and seeing something I pictured in my mind whilst reading just emphasised how much of a well-rounded story this book was.

I think most importantly what this book did well for me was that it gave me comfort. From the imagery to the language and references. This book really felt like home, I felt like I could understand the narrator because perhaps I maybe am her. I think we could all find a little piece of ourselves in this book no matter what your pain might look like. It is ultimately a comment on the self and how at our weakest do we perceive ourselves. Are we Sylvia or are we Frida?

I could hardly stand to read this at some points, it is so intimate and vulnerable. The narrator feels close and remote at the same time, the experience of pain coming through foggily. Her 'body friends' are substantial but ghostly, and there's something Beckettian about their circular and repetitive exchanges and activities. Happily, it resists the easy or obvious answers.

It's sometimes a little overwritten, which feels honest for a book that tries to put pain into words.

I'll be absorbing this one for a while.

My thanks to Ultimo Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

I requested this book as I suffer from Fibromyalgia and so thought it may be interesting. There were parts that really resonated with me however I generally found the book to be quite depressing. I also wondered if Frida and Sylvia where all just elements of the narrator’s character.

I have managed to make it halfway through but I just cannot keep going. The writing is perfectly good, but the story isn’t interesting me in the slightest. It’s really rather introspective, uneventful, slow and meandering and just failing to keep my attention. It’s just not a book I want to pick up.

I enjoyed reading Katherine Brabon's novel Body Friend which evocatively depicts the experience of living with and recovering from chronic illness and pain and also explores themes of friendships, swimming, our relationships with our bodies. I think fans of Ali Smith or Deborah Levy would appreciate this.