Book Review: Bodies to Die For by Lori Brand

Given some of the insanity running rampant in today’s culture wars across all fronts, it’s so refreshing to find a novel like Bodies to Die For, that appeals to reason and actual health instead of succumbing to either Diet Culture or to the reactionary movements that have understandably sprung up against it. Author Lori Brand believes in strength instead of shrinking: the point of exercise, she believes, is to help you feel stronger and more capable of tackling everyday physical challenges, not to fit into a smaller dress size or to please someone else’s aesthetic sensibilities. She channels this sensible perspective into the telling of a raucous murder mystery that feels incredibly accomplished for being a debut novel.

The events depicted in these pages revolve around the Olympia Bodybuilding Competition and the chaos that erupts on a Show Day filled with murder and violence. Two months earlier at a fitness expo, model and entrepreneur Bianca was strangled to death with one of her own waist trainers. Her friend and fellow fitness model Gemma was devastated. While Bianca had been her biggest competitor – and there’s no denying that waist trainers are vile – Bianca was also one of the few people in the industry who was genuinely kind to her.

When other prominent women involved in the fitness industry start turning up dead, Gemma can’t help but wonder whether someone is actively targeting people like herself. Gemma has already begun to feel ambivalent about her line of work, and especially about the image of perfection that she constantly has to portray while lying about what she really feels and does (and, unsurprisingly, eats) in her everyday life. Nowhere is this more apparent than in her personal life, as her husband continually disappoints her, most recently with his lack of interest in her wellbeing. A not small part of her wishes he would express concern over her safety, given the recent string of killings:

But that would take responsibility and consideration. Characteristics that Steve, I failed to realize when we were dating, has in limited supply. Instead, I chose to focus on how handsome he was, with his broad shoulders and strong jaw. How fun he was to hang out with. How great we looked as a couple. When I started posting pictures of us doing couple things, like going for walks at sunset, lolling about on blankets at picnics, and laughing while picking apples at the local orchard–this last one took a lot of cajoling and a blow job–both my likes and followers noticeably went up. The post where I announced we were engaged generated, according to Instagram analytics, the most engagement with my account that year.

 

I was so busy living a life in pictures, that I failed to notice all the things I left out of them.

Meanwhile, computer programmer Ashley is sick to death of being told that she needs to lose weight, primarily by her neurotic mother, but also by abusive strangers. A chance meeting with Lydia, a woman who wants to take the fight right back to Diet Culture, soon has her embroiled in the cause of fat activism. At first, it’s just about being body positive and debunking myths on the Internet, primarily via social media. But Ashley soon finds her tone getting as nasty as that of the people she’s arguing with, even before Lydia entices her into performing concrete – and soon enough borderline criminal – acts against those who instill low self-esteem in others in order to profit off of it themselves. 

Ashley is all about protests and raising awareness, but as Lydia seduces her into more and more behavior that’s for the benefit of the cause instead of for actual people, she can’t help but reevaluate her actions:

Alone in the bathroom, I look at myself in the mirror. How did I get here? I think back to what inspired me to ditch Diet Culture. I simply wanted to accept myself the way that I am. To be happy, despite what others may think or say. How did that morph into a hatred for those who are living their lives differently than I am? All this hatred is making me tired. Is this really the way I want to live my life?

The two women’s trajectories converge as they head to the Olympia Bodybuilding Competition for very different reasons. Surrounded by saboteurs, fake friends and creepers, will Gemma and Ashley be able to find common ground and make it out alive? Or will a killer keep extracting a deadly toll, claiming both their lives in the process?

Filled with murder and mayhem, this wildly entertaining novel obscures its healthy core – being both a cautionary tale and an extended metaphor for female solidarity – with its deliciously hilarious observations of modern society. But it’s not just a wicked satire of the image-obsessed, or even a guide to embracing good health divorced from weight or appearance. This is a book that truly cares about its characters, that extends grace to the awkward and insecure and desperately unhappy, even as it doesn’t paint over their flaws. It’s okay to be human, this book tells us, and best to be kind, both to others and just as importantly to ourselves. The way you look should never be a reason to deliberately harm anyone, yourself included. Ms. Brand’s wisdom and empathy shine warmly through the pages of this remarkable debut.