This Is My Body

A chubby evangelical Christian kid grows up, becomes a farmer, endures obesity and a failed marriage, and then trains to be an Ironman competitor. Sutterfield’s memoir explores the relationship between body and soul, ultimately rejecting the idea within Christian teaching of a dichotomy between them that devalues the body because the soul is all that will live eternally. This concern is the unifying thread of alternating narratives, one about Sutterfield’s history of unhealthy choices of food and tobacco, the other about preparing for an Ironman triathlon. While some chapters are underdeveloped, Sutterfield shows he can carry a story and turn a phrase. About his ex-wife’s loss of desire for him, body and soul, he writes: “This didn’t happen in one instant; it was a progressive deletion.” Through returning to the roots of his Christian faith, training for triathlons, falling in love with an athlete, marrying her, and having a child, he discovers a joyful resurrection and comes to believe God wants to save not only his soul but also his body. Agent: Wendy Sherman and Associates Literary Management. (Feb.)