You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine : A Novel

An intelligent & madly entertaining debut novel reminiscent of The Crying of Lot 49, White Noise, & City of Glass, that is at once a missing-person mystery, an exorcism of modern culture, & a wholly singular vision of contemporary womanhood from a terrifying & often funny voice of a new generation. A woman known only as A lives in an unnamed American city with her roommate, B, & boyfriend, C, who wants her to join him on a reality dating show called That's My Partner! A eats mostly popsicles & oranges, watches endless amounts of television, often just for the commercials — particularly the recurring cartoon escapades of Kandy Kat, the mascot for an entirely chemical dessert — & models herself on a standard of beauty that exists only in such advertising. She fixates on the fifteen minutes of fame a local celebrity named Michael has earned after buying up a Wally's Supermarket's entire, & increasingly ample, supply of veal. Meanwhile, B is attempting to make herself a twin of A, who in turn hungers for something to give meaning to her life, something aside from C's pornography addiction. Maybe something like what's gotten into her neighbors across the street, the family who's begun "ghosting" themselves beneath white sheets & whose garage door features a strange scrawl of graffiti: he who sits next to me, may we eat as one. “A powerful allegory of our civilization’s many maladies, artfully & elegantly articulated, by one of the young wise women of our generation.” — The New York Times Book Review "Kleeman illuminates a formless world with her remarkable talent for describing the qualities of light or taste or boredom with grace, humour, suspense, & even terror. Her prose brims with intelligence & precision." — Maxwell Neely-Cohen, The Los Angeles Review of Books A woman known only as A lives in an unnamed American city with her roommate, B, and boyfriend, C, who wants her to join him on a reality dating show called That's My Partner! A eats mostly popsicles and oranges, watches endless amounts of television, often just for the commercials particularly the recurring cartoon escapades of Kandy Kat, the mascot for an entirely chemical dessertand models herself on a standard of beauty that exists only in such advertising. She fixates on the fifteen minutes of fame a local celebrity named Michael has earned after buying up a Wally's Supermarket's entire, and increasingly ample, supply of veal. Meanwhile, B is attempting to make herself a twin of A, who in turn hungers for something to give meaning to her life, something aside from C's pornography addiction. Maybe something like what's gotten into her neighbors across the street, the family who's begun "ghosting" themselves beneath white sheets and whose garage door features a strange scrawl of graffiti: he who sits next to me, may we eat as one. An intelligent and madly entertaining novel reminiscent of The Crying of Lot 49 , White Noise , and City of Glass , Alexandra Kleeman's unforgettable debut is a missing-person mystery told from the point of view of the missing person; an American horror story that concerns sex and friendship, consumption and appetite, faith and transformation, real food and reality television; and, above all, a wholly singular vision of modern womanhood by a frightening, "stunning" ( Conjunctions ), and often very funny voice of a new generation. “A powerful allegory of our civilization’s many maladies, artfully and elegantly articulated, by one of the young wise women of our generation.” —New York Times Book Review An intelligent and madly entertaining debut novel reminiscent of The Crying of Lot 49, White Noise, and City of Glass that is at once a missing-person mystery, an exorcism of modern culture, and a wholly singular vision of contemporary womanhood from a terrifying and often funny voice of a new generation. A woman known only by the letter A lives in an unnamed American city with her roommate, B, and boyfriend, C, who wants her to join him on a reality show called That’s My Partner! A eats (or doesn’t) the right things, watches endless amounts of television, often just for the commercials—particularly the recurring cartoon escapades of Kandy Kat, the mascot for an entirely chemical dessert—and models herself on a standard of beauty that only exists in such advertising. She fixates on the fifteen minutes of fame a news-celebrity named Michael has earned after buying up his local Wally Supermarket’s entire, and increasingly ample, supply of veal. Meanwhile B is attempting to make herself a twin of A, who hungers for something to give meaning to her life, something aside from C’s pornography addiction, and becomes indoctrinated by a new religion spread throughout a web of corporate franchises, which moves her closer to the decoys that populate her television world, but no closer to her true nature. A Missing-person Mystery Told From The Point Of View Of The Missing Person; An American Horror Story That Concerns Sex And Friendship, Consumption And Appetite, Faith And Transformation, Real Food And Reality Television; And ... A Wholly Singular View Of Modern Womanhood--dust Jacket Flap. Alexandra Kleeman. An anonymous woman who embraces television-inspired beauty trends becomes indoctrinated into a corporate-sponsored new religion that increasingly separates her from her true nature