Ok, de achterflaptekst leest een beetje als een stationsromannetje, maar boeken verbranden is wel een beetje overdreven, Jeanette.

Een verhaal even mysterieus als de liefde zelf dat wordt samengevat in de mooiste zin uit het boek: liefde is de ellende waard.

Pure poetry. 4.5 stars.

I swear I read this book once already; everything was familiar.

Stunning, surprising prose, as always.

Simply put, this is the story of someone (man or woman, who knows? My guess is man, but it doesn't really matter) who is in love with a woman named Louise. They have to overcome a series of hurdles, such as their relationships with other people and a terminal disease.

It's a very quick read - I blazed through this in about 2-3 days of reading on the subway. A quick reader could probably finish in one day of dedicated reading. However, despite how easy it is to read, it's also a little overwhelming. The language is so pretty, so flowery, so ornate, that I found myself tiring of it rather quickly. I love beautiful language as much as the next person, but this was just too much, too over the top. I wanted medium, she gave me well done. Part of the reason I read it so fast is because I just wanted it to be over with. Not because I didn't like it, just because it was way too flowery, too sweet.

I could've done with the first 110 or whatever pages as the entire novel and been completely satisfied. I ran out of interest about 3/4 the way through when she started describing each part of the woman's body with 2 page passages. I know that's supposed to be the heart of the novel, but after a couple sections, it was just so damn boring - I started skimming them. It got more interesting when the story picked up again, but I saw little point to that addition to the plot.

If you like flowery, delicate writing, you'll eat this up, but in terms of an overall solid body of work, The Passion is better.

Somewhere between Wuthering Heights and Last Tango in Paris lies Written on the Body. A lusty tale of love and longing, filled with musings, rumination, and a few intrusive thoughts.