DEBORAH COPAKEN
Writer / Photographer
Now out!
From the New York Times bestselling author of Shutterbabe comes a frank, witty, and dazzlingly written memoir of one woman trying to keep it together while her body falls apart.
I’m crawling around on the bathroom floor, picking up pieces of myself. These pieces are not a metaphor. They are actual pieces.
Twenty years after the publication of her iconic Shutterbabe, we remeet Deborah Copaken at her darkly comedic nadir: battered, broke, divorcing, dissected, and dying––literally––on sexism’s battlefield as she deliriously scoops up what she believes to be her internal organs, which have fallen out of her body, into a glass Tupperware container before heading off to the hospital for emergency surgery . . . in an UberPool.
Part cri de coeur cautionary tale, part dystopian tragicomedy, Ladyparts is Copaken’s irreverent inventory of both the female body and the body politic of womanhood in America. With her journalist’s eye, her novelist’s heart, and her performer’s sense of timing, she provides a frontline account of one woman brought to her knees by the one-two-twelve punch of divorce, solo motherhood, lack of healthcare, unaffordable childcare, shady landlords, her father’s death, college tuitions, sexual harassment, corporate indifference, ageism, sexism, and just plain old bad luck. Plus seven serious illnesses, one on top of the other, which provide the book’s narrative skeleton: vagina, uterus, breast, heart, cervix, brain, and lungs. She keeps bouncing back from each bum body part and finding the black humor in every setback, but in her slippery struggle to survive a steep plunge off the middle-class ladder, she is suddenly awoken to what it means to have no safety net.
Turning her Harlem home into a commune to pay rent and have childcare, she trades her life as a bestselling novelist to apply for full-time corporate gigs that come with health insurance but often not scruples. She gets fired from an online health magazine for being unhealthy; laid off from a PR firm soon after rushing home to deal with a child’s medical emergency; and sexually harassed out of her newspaper column, only to be grilled by the FBI when her harasser is offered a plum job in the White House.
Side-splittingly funny one minute, a freak horror show the next, and quintessentially American, Ladyparts is an era-defining memoir for our time.
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Early buzz for Ladyparts:
“Another new favorite [of Michaela Coel’s] is author Deborah Copaken’s upcoming book Ladyparts. ‘She’s a writer on Emily in Paris, but she is a brilliant novelist,’ Coel says of Copaken, who wrote an op-ed lamenting over ‘I May Destroy You’s’ Golden Globes snub earlier this year. ‘I got in touch with her this year. And she sent me an early release of her book, and she’s got a brilliant mind and she’s got a really brilliant impressive and quite shocking life.’”
—Michaela Coel, creator of I May Destroy You, as quoted in Variety
“Eye-opening, breathtaking, terrifying, enraging, but most of all heartbreakingly funny—I recommend it for everyone I know, but most of all to the men. We know almost nothing about the women we love, their bodies and their struggles. Don’t look away—read this book.”
—Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize winning, NYT bestselling author of Less
"Ladyparts is, quite simply, a beautiful book. Equal part harrowing and hilarious, enraging and heartwarming, it's a memoir unlike any other. It will open your eyes to what it means to be female in a male world, older in a society built around youth worship--or just on the wrong side of variance when the lottery of genes and life doesn't turn in your favor. And it will do it all while making you laugh, cry, and scream in turn. I couldn't put it down."
—Maria Konnikova, NYT bestselling author of The Biggest Bluff and The Confidence Game
"Ladyparts is a first-rate example of the contemporary memoir, harrowing, sad, funny, revelatory, true. Were you to misconstrue the title, you might think this was all simply anatomy, which would be fine, but as with all the best memoirs what this work really anatomizes is how it all feels--in the mind, in the soul, and in the nick of time. Copaken's memoir is poignant, necessary, and very rewarding."
—Rick Moody, award-winning author of The Ice Storm and The Long Accomplishment
“Every now and then you read a book that you know is destined to define a moment in time. Ladyparts is an instant classic. In the tradition of Nora Ephron, Lena Dunham, and Tina Fey, Deborah Copaken combines passion and courage with humor and wickedness into a modern parable that will soon be talked about in every book group in the land. Read this book quickly before everyone else insists that you must.”
—Bruce Feiler, NYT bestselling author of Life is in the Transitions and Council of Dads
"Utterly vital. Ladyparts enraged and amused me in equal measure. Deborah Copaken shows what it means to barely survive beyond the hallowed slice of privilege, where moving through the world in a woman’s body can be dangerous, absurd, frustrating, beautiful, and sometimes all at once. A wickedly smart, thoroughly investigated and elegantly written takedown of the gender discrimination and institutional misogyny we have accepted for too long. This book howls for women in a world that too often only allows us a whisper.”
—Rachel Louise Snyder, author of No Visible Bruises and What We’ve Lost is Nothing
"Reading this terrific book makes you feel like you're Deb Copaken's pal, and lucky that you're getting to hang out. She lives life with gusto and resilience, appreciates her good luck, learns from her rotten luck, nails the villains along the way––and chronicles it all with breathtaking honesty and screwball good humor as she zig-zags through middle age in the general direction of wisdom and contentment."
—Kurt Andersen, NYT bestselling author of Evil Geniuses and Fantasyland
"A fierce, caustic, joyful and deeply courageous account of what it means to go through life in a female body, this book (like women ourselves) is so much greater than the sum of its parts, yet each part, and each page, is truly phenomenal."
—Peggy Orenstein, NYT bestselling author of Girls & Sex
"On every vivid page, through every jaw-dropping, anatomically outrageous chapter, Ladyparts showcases Deborah Copaken’s scintillating ability to hold rage and humor together in one fist, alchemizing them into a literary force greater than either single emotion. The result is a memoir that is both weapon and balm, a courageous call to arms and a moving, hilarious deep dive into the pain and joy of a woman’s life in these early years of the 21st Century."
—John Burnham Schwartz, bestselling author of The Red Daughter and The Commoner
"The most laugh-out-loud story of resilience you'll ever read, but also one that provides an essential road map for the importance of narrative as a tool of healing: how we tell our stories is just as important––if not more so––as the plot twists we experience."
—Lori Gottlieb, NYT bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk To Someone
“Deborah Copaken has written an amazing book. She uses her own body as a framing device. But through that lens, she’s able to write movingly about everything you can imagine: love, divorce, war, parenting, cancer, gender inequality, dating apps, gourmet pie, you name it. I’m sorry that Deborah has had to battle so many Job-like challenges -- but I’m delighted she is the heroine, not the victim, of her life. We need her to keep writing. We need this book, and many more, from her.”
—A.J. Jacobs, NYT bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically and Thanks A Thousand
“Ladyparts is a memoir unlike any I’ve ever read — it’s quite literally visceral, from the unforgettable first moment where Copaken crawls on the tile floor collecting what she takes to be her own bloody organs. With breathtaking candor, Copaken catalogues the calamities of her body, part by part, spinning out a raw, raucous, often hilarious account of herself — with so much insight and generosity that I finished the book feeling re-made.”
—Semi Chellas, award-wining writer/producer, Mad Men and The Romanoffs
“Every chapter of Deborah Copaken’s memoir contains information about women’s bodies that I couldn’t believe no one had told me before. I was constantly outraged at what she had to endure to learn it all, but the book is so funny, smart, and entertaining that I’m grateful to have her as a guide. Ladyparts is essential reading for all women, and for the people who love them.
—Maile Meloy, award-winning author of Do Not Become Alarmed
“I want every single woman, and every human who has loved (or even met) a woman, to read this essential book. This deeply personal memoir manages to encapsulate in its pages virtually every way society conspires to screw us over, from sexual assault to workplace harassment to the absurd and nearly fatal gender inequities in the healthcare system. And yet it is also warm and compassionate and, yes, hysterically funny. It is a page-turner that makes you scream in empathetic frustration, and laugh so hard you have to put the book down. I'm honestly not sure whether I cried more because I was laughing or because I was so very sad.”
—Ayelet Waldman, author of Love and Treasure and A Really Good Day
“This book is a must read for anyone who knows a woman, loves a woman, or is a woman. Deborah’s sharp wit, heartfelt humor and unabashed honesty turn what could be a tragic tale into a heroic journey of perseverance. Anyone who reads it will walk away feeling inspired.”
—Katherine Schwarzenegger, NYT bestselling author of The Gift of Forgiveness
"Ladyparts is in equal measure raw, unshrinking, hilarious, and heartbreaking. Deborah Copaken has been both a war photographer in Afghanistan and a single working mother in America, but take a quick guess as to which experience has been more dangerous. Lucky for her, she lived through both to tell the tale. Lucky for us, she has transformed her unique traumas into wholly relatable gold. Few people write like Deb: her ability to translate the workings of her dazzling mind into prose is without parallel."
—Donal Logue, actor and author of Trejo
"Filled with stories of what it’s like to be a woman and a writer in America today, and heart-wrenching moments of injustice and redemption, this page-turner of a memoir is harrowing, hopeful and urgent. If you are a woman, it will change the way you look at the parts that make you and the parts that you play. If you are a man, it will illuminate you. And if you are either, or neither, it will move you and transform you. This memoir is visceral and beautiful. Thank you Deborah Copaken for writing this brave and brilliant book. Ladyparts is an absolute must-read.”
—Ariana Neumann, NYT bestselling author of When Time Stopped
"Ladyparts is an unmanicured middle finger to an archaic culture that shames women into suffering in silence. It is a bold love letter to 'women warriors,' championing self-reliance while tackling the societal obstacles unrelentingly thrown in that path. Deborah Copaken shines a light on her scars, bravely helping those who cover their own feel less alone."
—AJ Mendez, NYT bestselling author of Crazy is My Superpower and mental health advocate
“With Ladyparts, Deb Copaken proves again that she is one of our most gifted, creative, and important cultural critics: that rare if not wholly unique writer who can transform the fear and shame of going broke in a woman’s body into a luminous, rageful, measured, thoroughly researched and brilliant indictment of America’s inequality crises. Woke, poignant, personal, funny, and shattering—Ladyparts is a book that will change you.”
—Wednesday Martin, NYT bestselling author of Primates of Park Avenue and Untrue
“Ladyparts is a beautifully written, boots-on-the-ground, first person chronicle of everything that can go wrong with women's bodies and too often, does. Deb's book is an important addition to the field of women's health, from the lens of a patient."
- Dr. Lisa Mosconi, NYT bestselling author of The XX Brain
“Highly informative. Copaken uses her misfortunes to comment on, among other issues, corporate policies that force working women/mothers out of jobs; income inequality; female sexual harassment; and the many complications of the American unemployment system. The result is a conceptually unique narrative from a talented author. Sharp and funny and always extremely candid.”
—Kirkus
“In a candid, confessional voice, photojournalist and writer Copaken channeled her experiences into this book, a feminist outcry exposing experiences and erasure of women in the corporate, journalism, and medical worlds. By reconstructing the story of each of her ailing body parts, she reconstructs her life and career, with each part serving as a metaphor for survival of traumas unique to women. At times darkly humorous, at times despondent, Copaken’s very relatable memoir is a strong act of self-assertion.”
—Booklist
“A searing indictment of capitalism, the gig economy, and the U.S. medical system--all recounted with a sense of dark humor. Copaken’s latest will engage readers of feminist memoirs."
—Library Journal
“Ladyparts weaves an enlightening, blistering critique of gender bias and misogyny in the workplace and in medicine; income inequality; internalized hatred and intrasexual competition between women; and how they all coalesce to literally kill those of us with ladyparts. It perfectly telegraphs the way that even— especially—at their most vulnerable, Copaken and her ladyparts have priceless lessons to impart.”
—The Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy
“Ladyparts, Copaken’s seventh and most ambitious book, is a characteristically incisive takedown of the impact of misogyny on health care, divorce, solo motherhood, middle-aged dating, housing and employment.”
—Washington Post
“Pick up ‘Ladyparts: A Memoir,’ by New York Times best-selling author Deborah Copaken, and you won't put it down. The former Emmy Award-winning news producer and photojournalist will hook you from page one.”
—Colorado Springs Gazette
“The body part that anchors Ladyparts, however, is Copaken’s mouth. It’s a memoir about the struggle to be heard, and the constant internal negotiations that those with female bodies perform in weighing the costs of speaking up and those of remaining silent. But what will likely linger for readers—particularly those inhabiting female bodies—is its stark illustration of sickness and disease that, when up against American systems of healthcare, insurance, and employment, compound the pain and prolong the suffering.”
—Bitch
“Engrossing. Notwithstanding the impressive tale of how Copaken managed to keep it all together while her body fell apart, Ladyparts is crucially about the larger picture of how American society fails women in myriad ways.”
—The Times of Israel
“Copaken inserts humor into all of these stories, but she is detailing a reality that millions of Americans understand all too well: What do you do if you need help but you can’t afford it, and you have no one to help you?”
—Jewish Insider
“Refreshing honesty.”
—New York Times Book Review