a book about my favourite types of books:essay, feminist, memoir, and the writing life. it is a bit esoteric but the scope gets broader (and more relatable for me) during the personal parts. the writing was very good. i liked the first essay the best: “in defence of navel-gazing”.

I’d give it six stars if I could. Destined to become a go-to volume in my library—an indispensable manual and meditation for all writers, particularly those who write memoir and nonfiction. Manages to provide valuable new insights and revelations within a crowded genre.

A short but interesting look at the writer's life told from a skilled memoirist. Melissa Febos gives advice and tips on writing about personal topics, sharing her own mistakes and methods. I enjoyed this book for the most part but there was a lot about her former life as a sex worker and I was more into the bits about writing and balancing being too personal or sharing details that involve other people's lives. Good on audio read by the author.

Never again will I berate myself for navel gazing. In fact, there may not be a navel left to begin with, given my experience reading this---this book gutted me. I was enamored with its radical vulnerability, where the prose is written in such a way that it gives me permission to wield the same kind of strength that Febos hones through the descriptions inherent to her prose.

My review is up now at 4Columns: https://4columns.org/milks-megan/body...Here's an excerpt:In her new book, Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative, memoirist Melissa Febos handily recuperates the art of writing the self from some of the most common biases against it: that the memoir is a lesser form than the novel. That trauma narratives should somehow be over—we’ve had our fill. That the hard-won wisdom and revelatory insights of the genre (its “confessions”) have been plopped onto

Enormously wise, generous, lucid, direct, and beautifully written, but so much more than that, this is the book that I have been waiting for, that I never knew that I wanted. The book I wish I had had at the beginning of my career and the book that will empower me still, even as I absorb it in my fifties.I began to understand that I was internalizing the male dominated values and narratives of the writing world over a decade ago but I struggled to free myself from them, as much as I longed too.

Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos is a thoughtfully-written collections of essays about writing our own stories. It is very academic and feminist and makes you consider your own experiences and how dominant society and culture color our perspective unless we actively fight against it. Febos ruminates on the craft of writing and about truth with its subjectivity tied to a person’s perspective. Overall, I found this incredibly fascinating and gave me food for thou...

This is must-read material for anyone writing CNF or memoir. Thanks to Melissa, I realize that I must be braver in my own writing. To expose my innermost fears, shames and regrets not only so that I can be free of them but as a service to those who need to read about them.I have highlighted, earmarked and made notes in this book. Sorry to horrify you, but how could I not? I will be reading Body Work again and again. And then once more. I realize I am blubbering, but you really need to read this

A boldly feminist essay collection that explores how autobiographical writing can help one face regrets and trauma and extract meaning from the "pliable material" of memory. "In Praise of Navel Gazing" affirms the importance of women airing their stories of abuse and thereby challenging the power structures that aim to keep victims silent. Febos, a former dominatrix, explains in "Mind Fuck" how she asks her writing students to produce five-sentence sexual histories to force them past familiar tr...

In Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative, memoirist Melissa Febos writes about the craft of writing about your own experiences and traumas. It's a fantastic primer for personal essay and memoir by Febos, who is the author of Whip Smart and Abandon Me, and is an associate professor in the nonfiction writing program at the University of Iowa.The first thing Febos does is make sure we're all clear: the disdain for 'personal writing' and navel-gazing is only targeted at women and other

Meliss Febos hits it out of the park again.

Body Work is an excellent defense of personal narrative and the potential for healing through writing. Febos argues in favor of navel-gazing and confession, and gives advice on how to write better sex and about others. I’m not a writer but I took away a lot as a reader. It reminded me I need to read more memoir (and was fun to think about in relation to autofiction 🙃). Great on audio as well, narrated by Febos!

Really good, and some truly sublime ideas, but sometimes a little too academic in areas that weren’t well served by it. I haven’t read her other books but I liked seeing what made her turn to memoir in the first place. She’s much more eloquent about her reasons than most could be, I think, even if the reasons are often very similar.

Best book I've ever read on personal narrative

This is my first time reading anything by Melissa Febos, and now I’ve vowed to become a Febos completist! Body Work by Melissa Febos offers creative nonfiction essays about the vital importance of writing about trauma in a society that shames people into silence and the transformative internal work that goes along with reclaiming your story. We delve into how to write honestly about sex, how the process can make us more aware of the difference between internalized misogyny and our own truest des...

So affirming for not only writers of creative nonfic/personal narrative but anyone who has ever felt FEELINGS (particularly shame)! Or experienced trauma. It's as much about craft as it is about processing the events of your one precious life (not even saying that facetiously. I mean it!).

This book is necessary for writers. I loved so much about it that I couldn't keep myself from continually reading passages aloud to my friend on our recent road trip. The first and last essays were my favorites (I loved the link between "beggin-ass songs" and hymns, and I'm forever grateful for the introduction to this Rilke quote: "The work of the eyes is done. Go now and do the heart-work on the images imprisoned within you.") but the middle essays are still good, just geared more toward publi...

Melissa Febos' work is deeply, personally autobiographical. Her previous books have concentrated on her experiences and the lessons learned as a pro-domme and drug addict; her exploration of her love relationships; her growing up female. In this new book, she consolidates all and concentrates on her process as a writer.For writers, this is an invaluable tool for self-reflection, giving oneself permission to write your truth, and editing what eventually feels superfluous. There are writing exerci...

Not as profound as I was hoping for, but I will read more of her work.