
Animal Bodies: On Death, Desire, and Other Difficulties
Suzanne Roberts
How do we reckon with our losses? In Animal Bodies Suzanne Roberts explores the link between death and desire and what it means to accept our own animal natures, the parts we most often hide, deny, or consider only with shame—our taboo desires and our grief. In landscapes as diverse as the Salamanca’s cobbled streets, the Mekong River’s floating markets, Fire Island’s windswept beaches, Nashville’s honky-tonks, and the Sierra Nevada’s snowy slopes, Roberts interrogates her memory and tries to make sense of her own private losses (deaths of people and relationships), as well as more public losses, including a mass shooting in her hometown, environmental devastation in the Amazon rainforest, and wildfire evacuations.
With lyricism, insight, honesty, and dark humor, these essays illuminate the sometimes terrible beauty of what it means to be human, deepening the conversation on death and grief, sexuality, and the shame that comes from surviving the world in a female body with all of its complexities.
Please note: This collection features writing on sensitive topics for some listeners, including but not limited to abortion, sexual assault, and death resulting from various causes.
Duration - 7h.
Author - Suzanne Roberts.
Narrator - Julia Whelan.
Published Date - Tuesday, 28 January 2025.
Copyright - © 2022 Suzanne Roberts ©.
Location:
United States
Description:
How do we reckon with our losses? In Animal Bodies Suzanne Roberts explores the link between death and desire and what it means to accept our own animal natures, the parts we most often hide, deny, or consider only with shame—our taboo desires and our grief. In landscapes as diverse as the Salamanca’s cobbled streets, the Mekong River’s floating markets, Fire Island’s windswept beaches, Nashville’s honky-tonks, and the Sierra Nevada’s snowy slopes, Roberts interrogates her memory and tries to make sense of her own private losses (deaths of people and relationships), as well as more public losses, including a mass shooting in her hometown, environmental devastation in the Amazon rainforest, and wildfire evacuations. With lyricism, insight, honesty, and dark humor, these essays illuminate the sometimes terrible beauty of what it means to be human, deepening the conversation on death and grief, sexuality, and the shame that comes from surviving the world in a female body with all of its complexities. Please note: This collection features writing on sensitive topics for some listeners, including but not limited to abortion, sexual assault, and death resulting from various causes. Duration - 7h. Author - Suzanne Roberts. Narrator - Julia Whelan. Published Date - Tuesday, 28 January 2025. Copyright - © 2022 Suzanne Roberts ©.
Language:
English
Opening Credits
Duration:00:00:58
Death
Duration:00:00:52
The Essay Determines How It Will Begin
Duration:00:05:05
The Grief Scale
Duration:00:19:39
Eight Hours
Duration:00:03:53
The Same Story
Duration:00:22:09
Becoming Bird
Duration:00:16:14
A Kiss for the Dying
Duration:00:05:39
Bone & Skin
Duration:00:04:08
Wearing Her Eye Shadow
Duration:00:00:45
A Love Letter to My Hometown after the Shooting
Duration:00:06:22
The Red Canoe
Duration:00:04:57
Traveling with Ghosts
Duration:00:18:20
Friending the Dead
Duration:00:13:46
Keep Your Numbers Down
Duration:00:01:46
In Love with the World
Duration:00:18:48
Sportfucking
Duration:00:15:10
This Far from Desire
Duration:00:13:46
Traveling Alone
Duration:00:10:16
Winter Travel
Duration:00:05:06
The Hungry Bride
Duration:00:14:57
Breaking the Codes
Duration:00:17:11
My Mother's Daughter
Duration:00:01:01
Funerals, Safety Pins, and Flaming Saddles
Duration:00:08:55
The Good-Time Girl
Duration:00:12:18
What She Must Do
Duration:00:00:50
Animal Bodies
Duration:00:16:58
The Queen of the Amazon
Duration:00:22:55
A True Story About Jealousy
Duration:00:01:06
The Last Goodbye
Duration:00:21:21
Rites of Passage
Duration:00:10:16
Traveling with the Dead
Duration:00:09:47
The Disappearing Act
Duration:00:04:21
Honky-Tonk Woman
Duration:00:10:47
Auntie Suzanne
Duration:00:13:03
The Danger Scale
Duration:00:31:45
Words Etched into Skin
Duration:00:11:02
Mother Keeps Daddy on the Shelf
Duration:00:11:09
Ways to Speak the Unspeakable
Duration:00:02:37
Dreaming in the Time of Wildfire
Duration:00:09:08
Ending Credits
Duration:00:00:58