Your Body Was Made for This: Short Stories by Debbie Bateman

A Short Fiction Review by Naomi MacKinnon

The stories in Debbie Bateman’s debut collection Your Body Was Made for This feature women in mid-life whose stories are linked “not only by the interweaving of the characters’ lives but also by the visceral themes of food, sex, exercise, beauty, and aging.” The women in these stories “want full authority over their bodies and their lives.”

Having recently turned fifty, that’s all I needed to know to pick up this book. I’m cognizant of the changes going on in my life and the lives of other women my age: empty nests, aging parents, health problems, retirement, re-entering the workforce, menopause, divorce, and new partners. Many of us are hoping things will settle down soon, while others are searching for what comes next. Whatever it is we’re going through, it’s nice to know we’re not alone.

The women in Bateman’s stories all work at the same college, allowing for character links between stories. With or without the links, however, these stories are stellar. Full of astute observations about the human mid-life experience; the messy greyness of it – nothing is black and white. As much as we strive for “full authority” over our lives, it seems more likely to elude us.

In two separate stories—Secret Workings and Sundowning--Pauline is struggling with menopause and a sexless marriage, while simultaneously dealing with her mother’s dementia. In a timely coincidence with recent news, Pauline wonders if her mother knew about the abuse Pauline suffered from her father many years ago.

“There is no escape from her mother’s words. They echo in the hollow of Pauline’s mind, a final answer to the dread she’s carried in her stomach for as long as she can remember. All the years of hoping for a flash of her mother’s attention, wanting only a minute and hating that want, wishing instead to be free and not care. And now, none of it matters.”

In a mesmerizing story called Intimacy, Lynn is still grieving the death of her mother while trying in vain to resurrect a dying marriage. In contrast, Helena considers herself to be in a happy marriage, which contributes to her guilt after having an affair with a younger man, in The Art of the Scarf.

“She sets the pan on the burner and turns towards him. The flat of her palm presses his heart, and she draws closer. Their lips meet in a swirl of body warmth and sweat and shared breath, their long life together. Everything will be okay, she thinks, if only she tries.”

In Take Two, Myrna and Alice are able to successfully conceive a child after many years of trying, while, in Your Body Was Made for This, Brianne must face the fact that she will likely remain childless after a bout with cancer.

“Don’t grieve too hard over what you’ve lost, or you risk missing what you have.”

In Double Zero, Darya and Maria meet at the gym, motivating each other to keep going. And in Crossing the Line, Maria, Grace, and Hanna train for a marathon. These women aren’t as concerned about body image as much as they are about empowering themselves.

“Darya has no interest in a dainty waist, and she can do without perky breasts. What she wants and needs is power, kicking legs, a rock-hard abdomen, a nice impenetrable shield.”

Addiction rears its ugly head in The Point of Failure as Grace struggles with yo-yo dieting and binging. In The Love Drug, Hanna—an empty nester whose husband has left her--discovers the temporary healing powers of Ecstasy.

“But in the locker room, I’d have to unplug and listen to the gathering of lost souls. From twenty-somethings to fifty-year-olds, women shared the same obsessions. They viewed themselves as renovation projects that had run off schedule and over budget.”

In turn, these stories are comforting, joyful, and achingly sad.

The image I choose to take away from this collection is the one of Brianne and Dylan in their seventies as they “run screaming, fingers interlocked, into a glacial lake. They have nothing on but water shoes.”

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About the Author

Debbie Bateman graduated from The Writer's Studio at Simon Fraser University. Her short stories "Sundowning" and "The Art of the Scarf" appeared in You Look Good for Your Age (2021); "The Point of Failure" appeared in Qwerty (winter 2019); and "Secret Workings" was published in Phoebe (winter 2020). Now a post-menopausal woman, she is too young to be told what she cannot do, and old enough to know we are all a beautiful mess. A proud mother of three sons, Debbie lives in Quw'utsun (Cowichan) on Vancouver Island with her husband and soulmate.

About the Reviewer

Naomi MacKinnon lives in Nova Scotia with her husband, three kids, a dog, three cats, and a bunny. She works in the children's department at the beautiful Truro Public Library where she loves to read all the picture books and play with the puppets. She blogs about (mostly) Canadian and Atlantic Canadian books at Consumed by Ink. 

Book Details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ronsdale Press (Oct. 13 2023)

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 210 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1553806921

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1553806929