{"id":2467,"date":"2026-06-01T19:41:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T07:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/?p=2467"},"modified":"2026-06-01T19:41:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T07:41:27","slug":"other-peoples-bodies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/other-peoples-bodies\/","title":{"rendered":"Other People&#8217;s Bodies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Megan Nicol Reid<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Allen &amp; Unwin<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Otago Daily Times, May 9th 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">At the height of the pandemic it seemed the public engagement with science and the compassionate solidarity people exhibited during early lockdown might be sustained once \u2018normal\u2019 life resumed. Instead, we have seen a rejection of collectivist social policies and conventional medicine that populists and influencers have exploited and amplified to divide families and communities. In <em>Other People\u2019s Bodies<\/em> former Sunday Star Times and NZ Herald columnist Mandy Nicol Reed explores the \u2018wellness-to-alt-right\u2019 pipeline that contributes to this polarisation, and how readily competent, intelligent people\u2019s needs and insecurities can be exploited for personal gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">On the face of it, the five women who attend Lars Heikkinen\u2019s bi-weekly sessions at First Tree gym have little in common. But the classes\u2019 intimate setting and shared goals have fostered friendship, despite the participants\u2019 differences in age, stage and station. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Their group feels even more exclusive when Lars allows them to test a new, holistic programme he is developing. Divided into 7 weeks, one devoted to each of the cardinal sins, their physical training is supplemented by yoga and spiritual practice (a mishmash ranging from Finnish ice-bathing to a Mayan cacao ceremony). And each week one of the women&nbsp;is chosen for&nbsp;a one-on-one appointment to help them address the unique barriers they must overcome to reach \u201cenlightenment, good health, [and] equilibrium.\u201d It is an alluring offer that makes them feel seen in a way that inspires belief and devotion \u2013 and allows Lars (for a profit) to reshape their minds and bodies to match his own masculinist ideals. The harm this causes may result from his unshakable self-belief rather than deliberate ill-intent, but it is significant, and only the behind-the-scenes intervention of his wife Priya prevents tragedy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The novel\u2019s impact is heightened by its narrative structure. Events are presented from the perspective of the most vulnerable of Lars\u2019 targets, giving insight into their slipping self-perception: Min, a lawyer with a disintegrating marriage follows his advice to tap into her feminine side by exploring tradwife subculture; Kat, an loner artist whose mantra is \u2018the inside is on the outside\u2019, interprets his instruction not to feed her inner emptiness literally as well as figuratively; and Sally, a young mother who trusts Lars to \u2018treat\u2019 not just herself but also her daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Their accounts are supplemented by passages from Priya that reveal the impact of Lars\u2019 toxic beliefs on his own family. These brief interjections mirror her position on the sidelines of the marriage, in which she protects herself by passive resistance, but leave her role as Lars\u2019 enabler ambiguous.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Verity and Flick, the other two members of the fitness group, are rather less enamoured with the programme, and their thoughts remain closed to us, accentuating the growing distance between themselves and their friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Powerfully and compassionately written,&nbsp;<em>Other People\u2019s Bodies<\/em> is a reminder that \u2018Wellness\u2019 can be a tool for both empowerment and coercion, and a warning of how blurred the line between the two can be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Megan Nicol Reid Allen &amp; Unwin Otago Daily Times, May 9th 2026 At the height of the pandemic it seemed the public engagement with science and the compassionate solidarity people exhibited during early lockdown might be sustained once \u2018normal\u2019 life resumed. Instead, we have seen a rejection of collectivist social policies and conventional medicine that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[518,370,527,500,18],"class_list":["post-2467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews","tag-518","tag-fiction","tag-megan-nicol-reid","tag-nz-author","tag-odt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2467"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2476,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467\/revisions\/2476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}