What do you think?
Rate this book
The Body Builders: A Novel
For readers of Megan Nolan and Sheila Heti, a mesmerizing Borgesian literary debut about the frayed borders between our bodies and minds.
Ada lives a solitary life. She spends her days in her London apartment building's swimming pool, occasionally visiting with her cousin Francesca and meeting her friends, each of them chatting, drinking, posing invitations Ada ignores. Ada's parents are recently divorced after her father became a he spends his days at the gym, which is crowded and bright, warm with human proximity, infrequently calling to express minor concerns around his daughter's well-being.
When she meets a man named Atticus by the pool, Ada immediately feels an intimate connection between they share a life, in a way she can't explain. Little by little, Ada's estrangement from her familiar surroundings and from reality widens, as though seeing her reflection through a mirror, pieces of it falling away. After her mother entreats Ada to join her on a remote Greek holiday, Ada is jolted out of the physical world and into a new, artificial environment, one that a mysterious and potentially otherworldly force has created and designed for her. As this brilliant first novel pivots with masterful effect into the surreal and speculative, we move through Ada's experiences of life like spokes on a wheel, profoundly surprised by the enduring mystery of our existence, and of our relationships with ourselves and others. When a person's life, in the odd space between mind and body, is inherently one of isolation, are our connections with those around us merely projections of ourselves? And if not, where do they come from?
Albertine Clarke transforms the speculative into an entirely singular experience of deep interiority. The precision, subtlety, and confidence of her writing is nothing short of astonishing. THE BODY BUILDERS is new classic of the speculative fiction genre, landing like a blow, widening a crack that allows us to perceive the world wholly differently than we ever imagined.
Ada lives a solitary life. She spends her days in her London apartment building's swimming pool, occasionally visiting with her cousin Francesca and meeting her friends, each of them chatting, drinking, posing invitations Ada ignores. Ada's parents are recently divorced after her father became a he spends his days at the gym, which is crowded and bright, warm with human proximity, infrequently calling to express minor concerns around his daughter's well-being.
When she meets a man named Atticus by the pool, Ada immediately feels an intimate connection between they share a life, in a way she can't explain. Little by little, Ada's estrangement from her familiar surroundings and from reality widens, as though seeing her reflection through a mirror, pieces of it falling away. After her mother entreats Ada to join her on a remote Greek holiday, Ada is jolted out of the physical world and into a new, artificial environment, one that a mysterious and potentially otherworldly force has created and designed for her. As this brilliant first novel pivots with masterful effect into the surreal and speculative, we move through Ada's experiences of life like spokes on a wheel, profoundly surprised by the enduring mystery of our existence, and of our relationships with ourselves and others. When a person's life, in the odd space between mind and body, is inherently one of isolation, are our connections with those around us merely projections of ourselves? And if not, where do they come from?
Albertine Clarke transforms the speculative into an entirely singular experience of deep interiority. The precision, subtlety, and confidence of her writing is nothing short of astonishing. THE BODY BUILDERS is new classic of the speculative fiction genre, landing like a blow, widening a crack that allows us to perceive the world wholly differently than we ever imagined.
228 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 3, 2026
19 people are currently reading
4369 people want to read
About the author
Albertine Clarke
1 book17 followersAlbertine Clarke received an MFA in fiction from the University of Florida and studied English Literature at the University of Edinburgh where she won the Lewis Edwards Memorial prize for creative writing. Raised in London, she now lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
March 18, 2026
Sally rooney x black mirror = weird girl fever dream with themes of loneliness and desire to belong/be loved
Read
March 13, 2026i genuinely don't know what to make of this, but ty to the publisher for the gifted copy!
Want to Read
March 9, 2026I'm simple: I see a blurb by Katie Kitamura, I read the book. Thank you to Bloomsbury for the gifted copy <3
Substack | Bookstagram | BookTok | BookTube | Bookshop.org Store | Libro.fm Bonus Offer
Substack | Bookstagram | BookTok | BookTube | Bookshop.org Store | Libro.fm Bonus Offer
December 9, 2025
2.5
not! good!
not! good!
March 8, 2026
Albertine Clarke’s debut is one of those great, mind-altering novels: I read the first half on a flight home, and when the plane landed it seemed like I’d been bottled into a world that obeyed the rules of Ada’s life more than my own. The book sort of infests your mind like that, which is an experience I treasure!
Go Body Builders 🤖🦾🦿
Go Body Builders 🤖🦾🦿
February 23, 2026
2.5 stars. Not really Sheila Heti x Megan Nolan, as advertised, rather Sally Rooney x Severance. And unfortunately it fell flat
March 10, 2026
What a strange little narrative. It reminded me of Maya Binyam's Hangman (recency comparison on my part) but sci-fi (this book is not sci-fi). Often, when I read contemporary texts like these, texts where our speaker is aloof, unmoored, searching for meaning (whether they know it or not), I get a sense of laziness from the writing, a desire to make things as you go and not worry so much about plot (I said what I said!).
This is not that book. You don't come here for plot, but this book does have a restrained tightness in its description and detail that has it reading, on many pages, like a prose poem. I think the section breaks were masterful and the ending was as imbalancing to the reader as it was cathartic for the speaker (Ada).
"I like it," he said. "It was funny. I wish I could write something funny."
"I think most funny writing isn't intentional," she said. He smiled without looking at her.
"Not like funny people," he said.
This is not that book. You don't come here for plot, but this book does have a restrained tightness in its description and detail that has it reading, on many pages, like a prose poem. I think the section breaks were masterful and the ending was as imbalancing to the reader as it was cathartic for the speaker (Ada).
"I like it," he said. "It was funny. I wish I could write something funny."
"I think most funny writing isn't intentional," she said. He smiled without looking at her.
"Not like funny people," he said.
Want to Read
September 30, 2025i think i'll be sent into some philosophical spiral after reading this
April 23, 2026
Its hard to put my feelings about this book into words. It is surreal and deeply personal. I think it explains the feeling of depersonalization and mental illness in such a realistic way. My favorite line from the book is "I was just a pair of eyes." It it all of the worst parts of mental illness shoved into a person, the struggle with parents, struggle with friends, feeling unsure. Ada is a deeply selfish character in a way that feels relatable and personal and I understand her in ways I would rather not. Overall though it was a lovely book, I love discomforting books. It makes you think, and requires an open mind. It is open to personal interpretation and is a very open-ended book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 1, 2026
very very strange. this is such a lonely book. i don’t know why it worked for me but it definitely did.
April 16, 2026
A gorgeously terrifying read. I enjoyed the absurd and questioned everything. Ada feels like an old friend and I ate this book up.
March 14, 2026
4.25 Stars
March 19, 2026
this book is mysterious and genuinely haunting and also profoundly moving… contemporary fiction rare combo… 5 star
April 13, 2026
weird and wonderful!
February 11, 2026
THE BODY BUILDERS
Albertine Clarke
Thank you for the gifted copies (ARC and ALC) to @bloomsburybooksus and @librofm. You can tell I read this book on audio by how I put my earbuds next to the book. 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎
Anyway. Just zoned out. What? Who? Where am I again? What is this. What’s happening. Who are these people? am I even real, and does it even matter, honestly why I am I thinking about this at all?
If you’ve felt like that, or feel that way literally right now, you might be into The Body Builders.
Clarke has a unique style, a simple brushstroke with her prose that really does a wonderful job building a structured story up behind a hazy, confusing exterior. What I mean is, you get to feel as confused sometimes as the narrator, which is just very difficult to pull off in a novel, but here it’s done with grace.
Ada, the confused narrator, is typically alone but falls in love with Atticus. Love at first sight: an out of body experience for many, no? Well. Here’s the novel that takes both of those well-known phrases and tells you just why that may be the case—or why it is for Ada at least.
What’s fun about this book is that you can take it all at face value and have a good time, or you can look at this book from the side a little and see a different sort of thing happening to a modern woman, to a brain stuck in a body stuck in a world with this bizarre, unasked-for, terrifically untrustworthy consciousness.
If I may: start this one expecting to use a bit of discernment. Don’t walk here lightly. This is very creative, a bit complex, but in the end a pretty fresh book. No doubt when I hear of Clarke’s next novel headed our way, I will be gladly checking it out.
Albertine Clarke
Thank you for the gifted copies (ARC and ALC) to @bloomsburybooksus and @librofm. You can tell I read this book on audio by how I put my earbuds next to the book. 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎
Anyway. Just zoned out. What? Who? Where am I again? What is this. What’s happening. Who are these people? am I even real, and does it even matter, honestly why I am I thinking about this at all?
If you’ve felt like that, or feel that way literally right now, you might be into The Body Builders.
Clarke has a unique style, a simple brushstroke with her prose that really does a wonderful job building a structured story up behind a hazy, confusing exterior. What I mean is, you get to feel as confused sometimes as the narrator, which is just very difficult to pull off in a novel, but here it’s done with grace.
Ada, the confused narrator, is typically alone but falls in love with Atticus. Love at first sight: an out of body experience for many, no? Well. Here’s the novel that takes both of those well-known phrases and tells you just why that may be the case—or why it is for Ada at least.
What’s fun about this book is that you can take it all at face value and have a good time, or you can look at this book from the side a little and see a different sort of thing happening to a modern woman, to a brain stuck in a body stuck in a world with this bizarre, unasked-for, terrifically untrustworthy consciousness.
If I may: start this one expecting to use a bit of discernment. Don’t walk here lightly. This is very creative, a bit complex, but in the end a pretty fresh book. No doubt when I hear of Clarke’s next novel headed our way, I will be gladly checking it out.
March 29, 2026
I kept trying to make sense of it and think I got halfway there. Lost interest towards the end - think it might have gone down the same path too long.
April 27, 2026
The Body Builders by Albertine Clarke is a daring and intellectually immersive debut that blurs the boundaries between literary fiction and speculative inquiry. Often compared to a fusion of Philip K. Dick and The Bell Jar, the novel operates in a space where psychological realism dissolves into surreal, philosophical exploration.
At the center is Ada, a deeply introspective and isolated protagonist whose life unfolds in quiet repetition anchored by her apartment, a swimming pool, and distant, fragmented relationships. From the beginning, there is a sense of detachment, as though Ada exists slightly out of sync with the world around her.
This disconnection intensifies when she meets Atticus, a figure whose presence disrupts the boundaries of individuality. Their connection feels less like a relationship and more like a merging suggesting a shared consciousness or fractured identity. From here, the narrative begins its gradual shift into something more destabilizing.
Clarke’s storytelling excels in its control of perception. Reality is not shattered abruptly; instead, it erodes:
• Familiar spaces become uncertain
• Relationships feel projected rather than lived
• The body itself becomes a questionable anchor
The turning point Ada’s transition into an artificial, possibly constructed environment pushes the novel fully into speculative territory. Yet even here, the focus remains internal rather than external. The “world” matters less than Ada’s experience of it.
Key themes explored:
• Mind vs. Body The instability of physical and psychological boundaries
• Isolation & Connection Are relationships real or self generated?
• Identity Fragmentation The self as something fluid and unreliable
• Perception of Reality What is constructed, and what is real?
Clarke’s prose is precise, restrained, and deeply atmospheric. Rather than explaining its mysteries, the novel invites readers to inhabit them. This makes The Body Builders less of a conventional narrative and more of an experience one that lingers and unsettles.
The influence of Philip K. Dick can be seen in its questioning of reality, while the emotional interiority echoes Sylvia Plath. Yet the voice remains distinctly Clarke’s controlled, modern, and quietly disorienting.
Readers who will connect most strongly include:
• Fans of literary fiction with speculative or surreal elements
• Readers drawn to introspective, psychological narratives
• Audiences who appreciate ambiguity and interpretive storytelling
• Those interested in philosophical explorations of identity
At the center is Ada, a deeply introspective and isolated protagonist whose life unfolds in quiet repetition anchored by her apartment, a swimming pool, and distant, fragmented relationships. From the beginning, there is a sense of detachment, as though Ada exists slightly out of sync with the world around her.
This disconnection intensifies when she meets Atticus, a figure whose presence disrupts the boundaries of individuality. Their connection feels less like a relationship and more like a merging suggesting a shared consciousness or fractured identity. From here, the narrative begins its gradual shift into something more destabilizing.
Clarke’s storytelling excels in its control of perception. Reality is not shattered abruptly; instead, it erodes:
• Familiar spaces become uncertain
• Relationships feel projected rather than lived
• The body itself becomes a questionable anchor
The turning point Ada’s transition into an artificial, possibly constructed environment pushes the novel fully into speculative territory. Yet even here, the focus remains internal rather than external. The “world” matters less than Ada’s experience of it.
Key themes explored:
• Mind vs. Body The instability of physical and psychological boundaries
• Isolation & Connection Are relationships real or self generated?
• Identity Fragmentation The self as something fluid and unreliable
• Perception of Reality What is constructed, and what is real?
Clarke’s prose is precise, restrained, and deeply atmospheric. Rather than explaining its mysteries, the novel invites readers to inhabit them. This makes The Body Builders less of a conventional narrative and more of an experience one that lingers and unsettles.
The influence of Philip K. Dick can be seen in its questioning of reality, while the emotional interiority echoes Sylvia Plath. Yet the voice remains distinctly Clarke’s controlled, modern, and quietly disorienting.
Readers who will connect most strongly include:
• Fans of literary fiction with speculative or surreal elements
• Readers drawn to introspective, psychological narratives
• Audiences who appreciate ambiguity and interpretive storytelling
• Those interested in philosophical explorations of identity
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
What if the most alien landscape you could ever explore was inside your own mind?
My journey reading this book: Oh this reminds me of Marie-Helene Bertino. Wait, are we going the Kurt Vonnegut route? OK, I’m getting Pip Adam vibes. That is to say, this is a very me-book: tender while being almost suffocatingly interior with a touch of weird.
The Body Builders follows Ada, a solitary but extremely perceptive woman reeling from her parents' divorce, who is unexpectedly jolted from her physical reality into a mysterious, artificial environment known as The Facility. Within this sterile, surreal space, she must navigate the surreal borders between her mind and body to confront her profound isolation and the painful legacy of parental rejection.
Clarke weaves a speculative universe from the quiet, devastating ache of profound loneliness. I’ve seen some reviews mentioning Atticus, whom she meets at the start of the novel, but I don’t care about that man because at its core, this is a novel about a deeply complicated mother-daughter relationship and the agonizing fallout of maternal rejection.
More than anything, Ada is driven by a desperate longing to be truly seen, acknowledged, and loved by her parents. When that fundamental connection is missing, the resulting alienation is palpable. Clarke physicalizes this emotional dissociation using speculative elements. Instead of framing lucid dreaming as a whimsical, boundless playground, Clarke constructs Ada's self-directed dream space as a sterile, almost alien lab (honestly, it felt like the most lonely hotel that is just one long liminal space).
What I love about spec fic is that you can just accept that Ada was in The Facility for a while, or you can see it as an unsettling metaphor for Ada’s extreme dissociation. It’s funny how it’s always aliens when our brains can’t deal with what we’re emotionally or physically experiencing.
By literalizing the architecture of a fractured psyche, The Body Builders captures the chilling sensation of being a stranger in your own body and your own family. I found this to be a deeply resonant exploration of how we try to build ourselves back up when the foundation of parental love is absent.
My journey reading this book: Oh this reminds me of Marie-Helene Bertino. Wait, are we going the Kurt Vonnegut route? OK, I’m getting Pip Adam vibes. That is to say, this is a very me-book: tender while being almost suffocatingly interior with a touch of weird.
The Body Builders follows Ada, a solitary but extremely perceptive woman reeling from her parents' divorce, who is unexpectedly jolted from her physical reality into a mysterious, artificial environment known as The Facility. Within this sterile, surreal space, she must navigate the surreal borders between her mind and body to confront her profound isolation and the painful legacy of parental rejection.
Clarke weaves a speculative universe from the quiet, devastating ache of profound loneliness. I’ve seen some reviews mentioning Atticus, whom she meets at the start of the novel, but I don’t care about that man because at its core, this is a novel about a deeply complicated mother-daughter relationship and the agonizing fallout of maternal rejection.
More than anything, Ada is driven by a desperate longing to be truly seen, acknowledged, and loved by her parents. When that fundamental connection is missing, the resulting alienation is palpable. Clarke physicalizes this emotional dissociation using speculative elements. Instead of framing lucid dreaming as a whimsical, boundless playground, Clarke constructs Ada's self-directed dream space as a sterile, almost alien lab (honestly, it felt like the most lonely hotel that is just one long liminal space).
What I love about spec fic is that you can just accept that Ada was in The Facility for a while, or you can see it as an unsettling metaphor for Ada’s extreme dissociation. It’s funny how it’s always aliens when our brains can’t deal with what we’re emotionally or physically experiencing.
By literalizing the architecture of a fractured psyche, The Body Builders captures the chilling sensation of being a stranger in your own body and your own family. I found this to be a deeply resonant exploration of how we try to build ourselves back up when the foundation of parental love is absent.
April 14, 2026
Have you ever looked at your parents and thought, “there's no way I came from them. Just no way in hell”? Sure you have. Surely everyone has. So…. What if it was true?
This is the problem facing Ada. Only she doesn't quite know it at the start. She only knows that something is off, about her, or everyone else in London, or maybe the entire world. Something is not adding up.
There is a bit of a slow burn quality to the book, which doesn't take shape until about page 75 -- it flirts with several plots and themes, potential directions are meandered towards and retreated from -- then fills out rapidly as, oddly enough, Ada sinks into the deepest pit of depression.
One of these flirtations is with an older man, Atticus, who she meets at the pool in her building and shares a strange, rather unnatural connection with: she can see his thoughts. More than that, she can see through his eyes at times. Because of this, she knows that Atticus is thinking of her. Constantly.
As Ada sinks deeper, another unnatural thing occurs. She finds herself in a blank room with a man in a lab coat who says she's been monitored her whole life, and they would like to replace her body with a synthetic one to fix some issues that have cropped up lately. They think it will help.
“Issues”? And “they”? “They” who??
The Body Builders is the softest of soft sci-fi, the kind with almost no relation to actual hypothesised-and-verified science, which I mean in the best possible way. That is, personally speaking, the best sci-fi -- the stuff dreams are made of, if I can quote The Maltese Falcon. It's in this unreality sandbox where the book shines, letting Ada explore this odd little blank, synthetic world, seeing how her own mind works in the process. It's a lonely world though: it's not hers, and she needs to get back.
Conversely, the Ada of real life isn't much fun. Her parents aren't much fun. Depression isn't much fun. Is there anything to get back to? Well, even if it isn't the best, what's yours is still yours and you'll always want it back.
This is the problem facing Ada. Only she doesn't quite know it at the start. She only knows that something is off, about her, or everyone else in London, or maybe the entire world. Something is not adding up.
There is a bit of a slow burn quality to the book, which doesn't take shape until about page 75 -- it flirts with several plots and themes, potential directions are meandered towards and retreated from -- then fills out rapidly as, oddly enough, Ada sinks into the deepest pit of depression.
One of these flirtations is with an older man, Atticus, who she meets at the pool in her building and shares a strange, rather unnatural connection with: she can see his thoughts. More than that, she can see through his eyes at times. Because of this, she knows that Atticus is thinking of her. Constantly.
As Ada sinks deeper, another unnatural thing occurs. She finds herself in a blank room with a man in a lab coat who says she's been monitored her whole life, and they would like to replace her body with a synthetic one to fix some issues that have cropped up lately. They think it will help.
“Issues”? And “they”? “They” who??
The Body Builders is the softest of soft sci-fi, the kind with almost no relation to actual hypothesised-and-verified science, which I mean in the best possible way. That is, personally speaking, the best sci-fi -- the stuff dreams are made of, if I can quote The Maltese Falcon. It's in this unreality sandbox where the book shines, letting Ada explore this odd little blank, synthetic world, seeing how her own mind works in the process. It's a lonely world though: it's not hers, and she needs to get back.
Conversely, the Ada of real life isn't much fun. Her parents aren't much fun. Depression isn't much fun. Is there anything to get back to? Well, even if it isn't the best, what's yours is still yours and you'll always want it back.
April 16, 2026
The Body Builders by Albertine Clarke is a psychologically charged, surreal debut that blends literary fiction with speculative elements to explore the unstable boundaries between body, identity, and perception.
At its center is Ada, a detached and observant protagonist whose life unfolds in quiet isolation, shaped by emotional distance from her surroundings and fractured relationships with family, particularly her father’s transformation into a bodybuilding obsession. Clarke uses this family dynamic as an early signal of the novel’s larger preoccupation: the body as both object and estrangement, something simultaneously intimate and unknowable.
The narrative gradually shifts from grounded realism into increasingly surreal and speculative terrain as Ada’s sense of reality begins to fracture. Encounters, relationships, and environments take on a dreamlike instability, suggesting that external reality may be inseparable from internal projection. The novel resists clear boundaries between what is experienced and what is constructed, instead positioning perception itself as the central site of tension.
Clarke’s prose is precise and controlled, allowing subtle distortions in Ada’s world to accumulate rather than announce themselves. This creates a slow, disquieting unraveling effect, where meaning is constantly deferred and reinterpreted. The influence of psychological and philosophical science fiction is evident, but the execution remains firmly literary in tone and structure.
As the story expands into more explicitly speculative territory, it deepens its inquiry into embodiment, isolation, and the limits of human connection. The result is a narrative that is less concerned with plot resolution and more invested in destabilizing certainty about selfhood and reality.
The Body Builders stands as an ambitious and conceptually rich debut, particularly suited to readers of literary speculative fiction who appreciate introspective, unsettling narratives that blur the line between psychological realism and surreal transformation.
At its center is Ada, a detached and observant protagonist whose life unfolds in quiet isolation, shaped by emotional distance from her surroundings and fractured relationships with family, particularly her father’s transformation into a bodybuilding obsession. Clarke uses this family dynamic as an early signal of the novel’s larger preoccupation: the body as both object and estrangement, something simultaneously intimate and unknowable.
The narrative gradually shifts from grounded realism into increasingly surreal and speculative terrain as Ada’s sense of reality begins to fracture. Encounters, relationships, and environments take on a dreamlike instability, suggesting that external reality may be inseparable from internal projection. The novel resists clear boundaries between what is experienced and what is constructed, instead positioning perception itself as the central site of tension.
Clarke’s prose is precise and controlled, allowing subtle distortions in Ada’s world to accumulate rather than announce themselves. This creates a slow, disquieting unraveling effect, where meaning is constantly deferred and reinterpreted. The influence of psychological and philosophical science fiction is evident, but the execution remains firmly literary in tone and structure.
As the story expands into more explicitly speculative territory, it deepens its inquiry into embodiment, isolation, and the limits of human connection. The result is a narrative that is less concerned with plot resolution and more invested in destabilizing certainty about selfhood and reality.
The Body Builders stands as an ambitious and conceptually rich debut, particularly suited to readers of literary speculative fiction who appreciate introspective, unsettling narratives that blur the line between psychological realism and surreal transformation.
Review of advance copy
Albertine Clarke’s hypnotic debut novel centers on Ada, a troubled young woman from a fractured family. Her father’s interest in working out at the gym supersedes any parental responsibility or romantic attachment to her mother and they ultimately divorce. Ada is left living a solitary life in her London apartment with only a cousin for occasional social outings. One day she meets a man named Atticus by the pool at her apartment with whom she feels an instantaneous bond. This connection leads Ada into a surreal world of discovery she was not quite prepared for. A world that she had glimpses of as a child but begins to manifest more extensively as she becomes an adult
In this deeply introspective novel Clarke takes us through Ada’s process of self awareness and self understanding with dreamlike intensity. Constantly having access to Ada’s internal thoughts is strangely not oppressive but rather intriguing as we follow the journey toward self knowledge of her body.
Indeed, the reader comes to learn that Clarke’s title has more than one meaning.
In this deeply introspective novel Clarke takes us through Ada’s process of self awareness and self understanding with dreamlike intensity. Constantly having access to Ada’s internal thoughts is strangely not oppressive but rather intriguing as we follow the journey toward self knowledge of her body.
Indeed, the reader comes to learn that Clarke’s title has more than one meaning.
March 6, 2026
3.5⭐️
Clarke is having fun with double meanings and you really need to read this book twice to see it. That I liked.
You can look at this novel as an adult daughter failing to handle her parent’s divorce and so separates herself from it. Literally. You can view it as a Severance style sci-fi. You can even view it as a Borges’s style surrealism piece. But in all aspects I felt let down. It didn’t get weird enough.
Ada our isolated FMC can only imagine shibboleths and simulacrums of herself along the gender binary? Just like she can only imagine dream tigers and strange submissive polish men’s cell phone numbers on the backs of her imagined snickers bars?
To twist a bit from The House of Asterion:
‘Would you believe it, Ariadne?’ Said Theseus. ‘The girl from Norwich scarcely abstracted herself…’
All that is to say is when you invoke Borges (whose stories are a beautiful pleasure of mine) as a marketing point, I go in expecting weirder. Or at least more fun loving with the prose. All this made me wonder was why the British don’t go to therapy.
Clarke is having fun with double meanings and you really need to read this book twice to see it. That I liked.
You can look at this novel as an adult daughter failing to handle her parent’s divorce and so separates herself from it. Literally. You can view it as a Severance style sci-fi. You can even view it as a Borges’s style surrealism piece. But in all aspects I felt let down. It didn’t get weird enough.
Ada our isolated FMC can only imagine shibboleths and simulacrums of herself along the gender binary? Just like she can only imagine dream tigers and strange submissive polish men’s cell phone numbers on the backs of her imagined snickers bars?
To twist a bit from The House of Asterion:
‘Would you believe it, Ariadne?’ Said Theseus. ‘The girl from Norwich scarcely abstracted herself…’
All that is to say is when you invoke Borges (whose stories are a beautiful pleasure of mine) as a marketing point, I go in expecting weirder. Or at least more fun loving with the prose. All this made me wonder was why the British don’t go to therapy.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Shew. That was something. If you're interested in an out-of-body (literally) fever dream experience, look no further than The Body Builders by Albertine Clarke. I am so thankful to Bloomsbury US and Netgalley for advanced access before March 3, 2026.
Ada has never felt like she belonged. What's more, everyone in her life has never felt a connection deep enough worth mentioning... that is, until she meets Atticus in her apartment building's natatorium, and it's like she understands his entire existence, yet he's a complete stranger. This random meeting unveils a long history of uncanny experiences that usher Ada directly into a rabbit hole of mania and imposter syndrome, not too metaphorically.
Out-of-body experience is the theme here, yall.
Note: I was so captivated by the madness, and could get lost in Albertine Clarke's prose, for I too felt as though I was catapulted into Ada's mania, seeking refuge in insanity. bravo.
Ada has never felt like she belonged. What's more, everyone in her life has never felt a connection deep enough worth mentioning... that is, until she meets Atticus in her apartment building's natatorium, and it's like she understands his entire existence, yet he's a complete stranger. This random meeting unveils a long history of uncanny experiences that usher Ada directly into a rabbit hole of mania and imposter syndrome, not too metaphorically.
Out-of-body experience is the theme here, yall.
Note: I was so captivated by the madness, and could get lost in Albertine Clarke's prose, for I too felt as though I was catapulted into Ada's mania, seeking refuge in insanity. bravo.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
mixed feelings on this one. i enjoyed the straightforward prose despite the confusion at the heart of the book’s plot.
i think the concept had so much potential, but the execution felt disjointed to me. the plot line with atticus, the stranger that our main character feels an inexplicable connection to, gets lost as the novel turns into a surreal fever dream of surveillance and imagination. there's also a lot of familial tension that seemed to fall to the wayside. i wish there was a stronger thread connecting the different pieces of the puzzle.
thank you to bloomsbury and netgalley for the digital copy, publishes march 3!
i think the concept had so much potential, but the execution felt disjointed to me. the plot line with atticus, the stranger that our main character feels an inexplicable connection to, gets lost as the novel turns into a surreal fever dream of surveillance and imagination. there's also a lot of familial tension that seemed to fall to the wayside. i wish there was a stronger thread connecting the different pieces of the puzzle.
thank you to bloomsbury and netgalley for the digital copy, publishes march 3!
March 7, 2026
Reading this book is an experience that is hard to shake off. A speculative fiction book with very straightforward, even somewhat sterile writing but nonetheless very captivating nature. It cast a spell on me, I kept turning pages. It is a surreal, fever-dreamlike reading experience, where the line between real and imagined is forever blurred.
I found it interesting how this book looks at the divorce and its impact on the adult daughter, and definitely appreciated the clever “body building” reference. The body-mind discourse was thought-provoking.
Read this if you are craving an out of body reading experience. Very niche read.
I found it interesting how this book looks at the divorce and its impact on the adult daughter, and definitely appreciated the clever “body building” reference. The body-mind discourse was thought-provoking.
Read this if you are craving an out of body reading experience. Very niche read.
October 3, 2025
This book was very addicting. Ada is a relatable character for me personally. The connection between her and Atticus was so well written out it had me hooked. The theme of isolation was fascinating in this book’s plot and it really got me thinking of how we perceive things in life. I don’t always feel like I learn life lessons from books but this one really opened my eyes. The characters were so well developed and the plot was easy for me to follow. This is another must read! I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Read
March 13, 2026Ada, who has lived a lonely life and is dealing with her parent’s divorce, finds her world starting to change after she meets a man named Atticus at the pool. She soon finds herself in an artificial environment called The Facility where she starts to question reality. This speculative fiction had me confused and questioning reality while also exploring Ada’s relationship with her parents and loneliness. Through fragments, Ada pieces herself together. Overall, a very surreal, trippy read.
Thanks Bloomsbury Books US and Libro.FM for the arc!
Thanks Bloomsbury Books US and Libro.FM for the arc!
April 21, 2026
totally bizarre, kind of like the embodiment of a fever dream. this was very well written with a pretty unique and interesting overarching concept. i was close to giving this a higher rating but it kind of fell a bit flat for me, there were multiple subplots that felt unresolved where there was probably a good opportunity to give the audience that ah-ha moment by letting us fully in on the secret rather than just giving glimpses. i think maybe this would be more enjoyable the second time round or if i had like an english teacher or similar to analyse this deeply with me
Read
April 16, 2026Well, that was certainly a book and I certainly listened to it.
I really like this narrator a lot, though I do think this one is probably better consumed in print than as audio. It's occasionally hard to follow because of the magical realism and I think seeing it on the page would have been more grounding, as this is an extremely un-grounding book--I felt a lot like I was in season 2 of Severance. But if that's your vibe, this is a good pick!
I really like this narrator a lot, though I do think this one is probably better consumed in print than as audio. It's occasionally hard to follow because of the magical realism and I think seeing it on the page would have been more grounding, as this is an extremely un-grounding book--I felt a lot like I was in season 2 of Severance. But if that's your vibe, this is a good pick!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Extremely surrealist and strange piece of speculative fiction that felt like being lost in a liminal space. Does that thing where you aren't exactly sure what is reality and what is just a metaphor. The prose is beautiful, but there are a lot of different threads here that didn't tie together (or possibly just too vague for my taste?)
*Thank you to Bloomsbury for the early copy.
*Thank you to Bloomsbury for the early copy.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews