Reviews for The Good Body

The average rating for The Good Body based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-08-25 00:00:00 James M. Keane Hockey player in the minors. Goes back to college in Fredericton, Canada. Sees his son Jason and his ex-wife Leah. He has MS.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-12-29 00:00:00 Heidi Piette Read in July, 2010 Oh my. This is such a wonderful story that I wonder where I was when the book first came out in 2000. As I said in my first entry here, I picked this book up at the library's discards sale. Now, examining the book, I see that there are no library markings and the copy I have was actually published in 2010 by House of Anansi Press. How did it get to the library sale? How lucky am I to be the one who found it there. Pure serendipity. The Good Body reminds me very much of Paul Quarrington's *King Leary* that I read a couple of years ago and loved. Both heartbreakingly funny. Bobby "Loose" Bonaduce is a reluctantly-retired professional (one game in the NHL) hockey player. He's been diagnosed with MS but has not allowed that diagnosis to sink into his thick skull. Bonaduce reminds me very much of Eddie Shack, entertaining and seemingly fearless both on and off the ice - lovable goofballs who will never make it to the Hockey Hall of Fame. With nothing planned for "after hockey", Bonaduce returns "home" to Fredericton, where his now remarried ex-wife and son still live. He decides he'll go back to college (in fact, cheating to get in) and get on with the college hockey team - the very team for which his son plays. He has never really played a role in his son's life, essentially abandoning him (and his wife) for hockey, yet he imagines that he will now forge a father-son relationship by virtue of being teammates with Jason. And, despite the fact that his wife has remarried (and interestingly to a great guy who will, in the end, turn out to be one of Bonaduce's best friends), he imagines he can get back the relationship he once had with her. Tragic and heartbreaking, playful and funny, this book is one of the best I've read this year. Highly recommended.