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The Body Keeps Score. So Does This Memoir. The Body Keeps Score. So Does This Memoir.
(about 7 hours later)
LADYPARTSBy Deborah CopakenLADYPARTSBy Deborah Copaken
If you are squeamish, you might consider skipping the first section of Deborah Copaken’s “Ladyparts,” which describes the bleeding out of her vagina due to a cuff dehiscence. Don’t bother googling that, but let’s just say it was a near-death experience that involved kidney-size blood clots splattering on the floor, which, in a state of shock, she collected in a Tupperware container. (Copaken was a photographer before she was a writer; should the description not do it for you, she also includes a photo.)If you are squeamish, you might consider skipping the first section of Deborah Copaken’s “Ladyparts,” which describes the bleeding out of her vagina due to a cuff dehiscence. Don’t bother googling that, but let’s just say it was a near-death experience that involved kidney-size blood clots splattering on the floor, which, in a state of shock, she collected in a Tupperware container. (Copaken was a photographer before she was a writer; should the description not do it for you, she also includes a photo.)
Is it sexist of me to be grossed out by such an image? Maybe. We endure gory descriptions of men dying in war. But one senses that the shock effect of this first scene is part of the point — and that, perhaps, Copaken is waiting to call you out for being unable to stomach it.Is it sexist of me to be grossed out by such an image? Maybe. We endure gory descriptions of men dying in war. But one senses that the shock effect of this first scene is part of the point — and that, perhaps, Copaken is waiting to call you out for being unable to stomach it.
“Ladyparts” uses the female anatomy as a vehicle to detail the way the author’s body has failed her, and society has objectified it, throughout the course of her life. Which might feel as retro as the title in the post-gender world we are supposedly living in, but as Copaken describes it, it is an effort to turn that old patriarchal framework on its head. “By objectifying my own body into its various parts — minus the misogyny — I could provide a useful microscope through which to contemplate the vastness of a whole life,” she writes.“Ladyparts” uses the female anatomy as a vehicle to detail the way the author’s body has failed her, and society has objectified it, throughout the course of her life. Which might feel as retro as the title in the post-gender world we are supposedly living in, but as Copaken describes it, it is an effort to turn that old patriarchal framework on its head. “By objectifying my own body into its various parts — minus the misogyny — I could provide a useful microscope through which to contemplate the vastness of a whole life,” she writes.
It’s a clever organizing principle. But to corral all the aspects of a life into anatomical categories can feel jolting, as Copaken veers among catastrophic ailments, the “death spiral” of her marriage, freelance writing, an imploding media landscape, the inadequacies of health insurance, sexual harassment, Eastern wellness, her father’s death, Black Lives Matter protests and, eventually, Covid.It’s a clever organizing principle. But to corral all the aspects of a life into anatomical categories can feel jolting, as Copaken veers among catastrophic ailments, the “death spiral” of her marriage, freelance writing, an imploding media landscape, the inadequacies of health insurance, sexual harassment, Eastern wellness, her father’s death, Black Lives Matter protests and, eventually, Covid.
In a section titled “Uterus,” she describes having hers removed within days of losing a mentor and “surrogate mother,” the writer Nora Ephron, and at the “precise hour” her teenage daughter got her period for the first time. In “Breast,” she discovers a lump as she is driving her son to college, the day her now ex-husband has moved out of the family home and at a time when she did not have health insurance. “Heart” describes the palpitations that occur as she struggles to support her family financially. “Cervix” explores the removal of her lower uterus as she is dating again, while trying to decipher the new rules (and language) of Tinder.In a section titled “Uterus,” she describes having hers removed within days of losing a mentor and “surrogate mother,” the writer Nora Ephron, and at the “precise hour” her teenage daughter got her period for the first time. In “Breast,” she discovers a lump as she is driving her son to college, the day her now ex-husband has moved out of the family home and at a time when she did not have health insurance. “Heart” describes the palpitations that occur as she struggles to support her family financially. “Cervix” explores the removal of her lower uterus as she is dating again, while trying to decipher the new rules (and language) of Tinder.
There is a gratuitousness throughout, though: with anecdotes serving only to highlight the presence of semi-famous friends and an entire chapter devoted to airing past grudges against those who have diminished, in sometimes sexist ways, Copaken’s past work.There is a gratuitousness throughout, though: with anecdotes serving only to highlight the presence of semi-famous friends and an entire chapter devoted to airing past grudges against those who have diminished, in sometimes sexist ways, Copaken’s past work.
And names. So many names. Ephron, to whom three chapters and a dedication are devoted; Darren Star, her frequent dinner companion on whose show “Emily in Paris” she would become a writer (though they would have a falling-out over credit); Meg Wolitzer, a close friend; Malcolm Gladwell, who once wrote a profile of her father in The New Yorker; Lena Dunham and Natasha Leon, with whom she shares Ephron as mentor. And names. So many names. Ephron, to whom three chapters and a dedication are devoted; Darren Star, her frequent dinner companion on whose show “Emily in Paris” she would become a writer (though they would have a falling-out over credit); Meg Wolitzer, a close friend; Malcolm Gladwell, who once wrote a profile of her father in The New Yorker; Lena Dunham and Natasha Lyonne, with whom she shares Ephron as mentor.
No doubt Copaken has led an interesting life, and faced more than her share of health challenges. She has also struggled financially, and discusses with refreshing honesty — and with dollar amounts — the often opaque finances of freelance journalism.No doubt Copaken has led an interesting life, and faced more than her share of health challenges. She has also struggled financially, and discusses with refreshing honesty — and with dollar amounts — the often opaque finances of freelance journalism.
But after nearly 500 pages, a reader may be left wondering what this book is meant to be. Is it an exploration of the hardships of being a woman today, a take on the medical industry that doesn’t take women’s pain seriously, or is it an overindulgent effort to prove her worth?But after nearly 500 pages, a reader may be left wondering what this book is meant to be. Is it an exploration of the hardships of being a woman today, a take on the medical industry that doesn’t take women’s pain seriously, or is it an overindulgent effort to prove her worth?
It is all of these things, but the latter undermines the former.It is all of these things, but the latter undermines the former.