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In the Body of the World: A Memoir of Cancer and Connection

Eve Ensler

Memoir

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In this extraordinary and evocative memoir, playwright, author, and activist V, formerly Eve Ensler, traces many paths of reconnection:  with her body, after she is diagnosed with cancer; with the people of the world, in the face of injustice and abuse; and with the earth, a victim of mass exploitation.


Working in the Congo, V meets survivors of horrific rape and violence and sees firsthand how these women are creating hope and possibility out of horror. Just as she is about to help open a revolutionary leadership center called City of Joy, she is diagnosed with uterine cancer, resulting in months of difficult treatment. Through her experience, V is forced to become, first and foremost, a body—pricked, punctured, cut, scanned. As she recovers from her illness, V is able to let go of everything that doesn't matter and find strength in what does.


In the Body of the World is a haunting, revelatory work that calls on us to reestablish our connection to our bodies, to the world, and to those around us.

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