The Body Politic

“For anyone who looks back on the past twenty years of American life and wonders how the hell did we get here, picking up Brian Platzer’s The Body Politic is a good place to start. How many times when reading this novel did I stop and say, ‘Like that, it all felt a lot like that.’” —Elliot Ackerman, author of Waiting for Eden
“An inherently character-driven tale, beautifully written, and a fine example of a long, strange trip.” —Library Journal
“Brian Platzer has done something marvelous — transmuted the queasy early years of the Trump presidency into a novel that’s a delight to read. The Body Politic is a book about many things — what it means to be unwell, what it means to heal, how deep and strange friendships can be, and how hidden things never stay hidden for long. I was grateful for its engaging, empathetic company during these fractious times.” —Rachel Monroe, author of Savage Appetites
“Brian Platzer’s The Body Politic is my favorite kind of book: a novel that swings for the fences. It’s smart and bold and a little bit brutal. The book it reminds me of the most is Claire Messud’s The Emperor’s Children—it has the same kind of expansive scope, and dark bite. Lots of people are writing books that attempt to capture the current political moment; fewer people are writing honestly about how it feels to live in it - and all the ways it’s changing us.” —Kristen Roupenian, author of You Know You Want This
“A cleverly constructed and emotionally compelling novel about the common disappointments and surprising consolations of middle age. The Body Politic captures the ambient dread of chronic illness with extraordinary precision and striking insight.” —Jenny Offill, author of Dept. of Speculation
“Platzer’s (Bed-Stuy is Burning, 2018) second novel is about four friends in their thirties in New York City. But The Body Politic is bold in other ways. Firmly set in the almost-present aftermath of the 2016 election, it’s propelled by real-world headlines.” —Booklist

Brian Platzer has an MFA from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, and a BA from Columbia University. His writing has appeared often in The New Yorker’s “Shouts and Murmurs” and McSweeney’s “Internet Tendency,” as well as in The New York Times, The New Republic, Salon, and elsewhere. He lives with his wife and two young sons in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, and teaches middle school English in Manhattan. He is the author of the novels Bed-Stuy Is Burning and The Body Politic.

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