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Christine Montross
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Body of Work: Meditations on Mortality from the Human Anatomy Lab Paperback – Bargain Price, May 27, 2008

by Christine Montross (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 152 ratings
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A “gleaming, humane” (The New York Times Book Review) memoir of the relationship between a cadaver named Eve and a first-year medical student

Medical student Christine Montross felt nervous standing outside the anatomy lab on her first day of class. Entering a room with stainless-steel tables topped by corpses in body bags was initially unnerving. But once Montross met her cadaver, she found herself intrigued by the person the woman once was and fascinated by the strange, unsettling beauty of the human form. They called her Eve. The story of Montross and Eve is a tender and surprising examination of the mysteries of the human body, and a remarkable look at our relationship with both the living and the dead.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    320 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Penguin (Non-Classics)
  4. Publication date
    May 27, 2008
  5. Dimensions
    5.46 x 0.69 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0143113666
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0143113669
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

 Eloquent and persuasive. . . . The author dissects her own emotions as deftly as she does . . . the cadaver, her pen as revelatory as her scalpel.Â
 The New York Times Book Review

 An exceptionally thoughtful memoir . . . [a] beautiful book.Â
 The Washington Post

 Unflinching . . . insightful . . . sparklingly lucid.Â
 Entertainment Weekly

About the Author

CHRISTINE MONTROSS is a resident of psychiatry at Brown University. She received her MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin (Non-Classics); Reprint edition (May 27, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0143113666
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0143113669
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.46 x 0.69 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 152 ratings

About the author

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Christine Montross

Christine Montross

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A 2015 Guggenheim Fellow in Nonfiction, Dr. Christine Montross is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is a practicing inpatient psychiatrist and performs forensic psychiatric examinations. She completed medical school and residency training at Brown University, where she received the Isaac Ray Award in Psychiatry and the Martin B. Keller Outstanding Brown Psychiatry Resident Award.

She received her undergraduate degrees and a Master of Fine Arts in poetry from the University of Michigan, where she also taught writing classes as a lecturer following graduation. She was born and raised in Indianapolis.

Dr. Montross's first book, Body of Work, was named an Editors' Choice by The New York Times and one of The Washington Post's best nonfiction books of 2007. Her second book, Falling Into the Fire, was named a New Yorker Book to Watch Out For. Her latest book, Waiting for an Echo, was named a New York Times Book to Watch For, a Time Magazine Book to Read in July and an Amazon.com Best Book of the Month. She has also written for many national publications including The New York Times, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Washington Post Book World, Good Housekeeping and O, The Oprah Magazine.

Dr. Montross has been named a 2017-2018 Faculty Fellow at the Cogut Center for the Humanities, a 2010 MacColl Johnson Fellow in Poetry, and the winner of the 2009 Eugene and Marilyn Glick Emerging Indiana Authors Award. She has also had several poems published in literary journals, and her manuscript Embouchure was a finalist for the National Poetry Series.

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4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
152 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Samantha Orr
5.0 out of 5 stars A Door Into The Medical World
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2015
Verified Purchase
This novel is truly a must read. Montross paints a clear picture of the struggles that new medical students will face within their first weeks of medical school, and through their final months of residency. She also lets those who aren't medical students get a slight glimpse at the trials these students are put through, and it shows the dedication and determination needed to be a doctor. But this book does more that than , it opens a door that most people would lock and throw away the key. She lets the reader enter the world of human dissection, and shows just how human people are even after death. Montross lets the reader into how people can connect to the dead, and explains that medical students will become intertwined with the body placed in front of them. This book does more than explain the journey of one medical student, it demonstrates the need to explore just how far a person can connect with strangers around them and even those who have passed, and teach people that even in death, you can learn something new about yourself. This book hit home for me, because I am a pre-med student, and it amazes me the way Montross connected with Eve, her cadaver. It opened my eyes to the struggles I’ll face with dissecting, and after reading this book, I don’t know if dissecting is even the right word, because it feels more real than that. She explores in depth the questions that I’m sure every person who has stepped into a medical school lab has thought, or future medical students will think. It also gives the reader a sense of pride, knowing how far people have come in these past centuries on acquiring these bodies for dissection. It shows the evolution of dissection in anatomy labs, but it also demonstrates the resolve humans have towards learning. This book not only teaches life lessons, it gives an insight into a history, that otherwise remains a mystery to most. In my personal opinion any aspiring medical student or anyone who enjoys the mysteries of the medical world, should invest time to read this book. It demonstrates not only the technical aspect of dissection, but it opens eyes to the emotional stress that aspiring doctors feel, and the damage that is done within a student’s life when it comes time to learn from their cadavers. It shows how the student grows, and develops a sense of unseen compassion for those who donate their bodies to science. Montross lets people into a world, that seems like no other and lets those who are alien grasp just a slight understanding of the medical world, and the trials we put other humans through to earn the title of M.D.
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Pierre Verwey
5.0 out of 5 stars haunting
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2010
Verified Purchase
Body of Work: Meditations on Mortality from the Human Anatomy Lab

Body of Work by Christine Montross deals first hand with the emotions and feelings of a medical student during a semester in the anatomy lab, whilst dissecting a cadaver she has named 'Eve'.

On the surface there is the actual experience of having to dissect a human body in all its unappetizing gore. On a deeper level she describes her underlying emotions and her natural instinct is to resist doing what innately goes against every grain of human nature - the act of dissecting a person's body. Her journey starts off with the anxiety of making the first cut on Eve and she documents in detail her psychological journey towards disentangling the person, their body, and the finality of death, which forever severs body from person.

The book also traces the history of dissection in a fair amount of detail, and gives a good historical account of how cadavers have arrived on dissecting tables throughout the ages. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book is how the author makes inroads, towards understanding her personal versus professional understanding of death and dying and she illustrates her journey with personal experiences as an intern, and how these experiences with patients help her gain insight of what it means to be a professional having to deal with death on a regular basis.

The book is a fascinating account of the psychological journey of a medical intern, and it is written with sensitivity, great skill and insight. Though the subject of dissecting a cadaver is grim, the author allows one to get a feel of what it must be like, without in-your-face gory descriptions.

Its a beautiful account on a topic that people would really prefer not to think about, let alone read about in vivid detail. It is a book that I will be milling over for a long time to come, and it certainly has made me view the subject of my own mortality and my remains in a different light. I will read this book again in time to come. There is something moving about its honesty and beauty. When the feelings have washed away, what is left behind is something of the very essence of what it means to be human.
3 people found this helpful
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KC
4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good!
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2013
Verified Purchase
Overall, I do like this book. The parts that I enjoy the most are when the author talks about experience in Med school, what its like to take her first exam, the first time she has to cut on the body, the smell... etc. Sometimes she can get a little too sentimental and emotional, and heads off in a direction that gets a little boring for me- so I just skip those parts until the reading gets good again. I'm doing my post bac in Bio right now, and will be applying for Med School in 2014, and this book was on a recommended reading list for pre-med majors at my school, which is why I gave it a whirl. Definitely not a waste of time, since it's pretty fascinating to hear about how she copes with her first experiences in human gross anatomy.
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Top reviews from other countries

MAC
5.0 out of 5 stars Quick and in good condition
Reviewed in Canada on August 7, 2020
Verified Purchase
Enjoying this great book and great service...thank you !
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