The Body Institute Paperback – September 1, 2015

i liked the premise of this book. the government taxes you heavily if you’re overweight, since you place more of a burden on the health care system.the body institute has an easy fix: someone else, someone used to keeping fit, someone who needs the ‘credits’, has their ‘brainmap’ downloaded into your chubby body. they work the weight off for you, you wake up a few months later slim and toned.sounds great, right? ha! that’s what *you* think! i know better, ‘cause i read the book.i think you should read it, too.

Morgan Dey was concentrating on earning maximum credits to help pay her Grandad’s debts as well as help her parents, plus have enough for college. The opening at the Body Institute for Reducers – inhabiting the body of a Loaner while the Reducer loses weight for her – had the type of credits she was after. Much against the wishes of her Grandad, but with her parent’s approval, Morgan did her first job. The success was exciting and Morgan, although not remembering any of the past three months, decided to do it again; this time for longer, therefore more credits.But slowly, little things began to go wrong. Morgan had flashes of memory that weren’t her own. The protesters outside the Body Institute became violent and the Enforcers had to act. Why was Morgan feeling uneasy about the whole situation? Why did she have the feeling she couldn’t trust the one person she’d felt aligned with – the Director of the Body Institute?The Body Institute by Carol Riggs was an amazingly imaginative, intriguing young adult/speculative fiction novel which I devoured. The teenage Morgan was a well-rounded character who was determined, stubborn and knew right from wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel – I’ve loved all this author’s work – and have no hesitation in recommending The Body Institute highly.

The Body Institute, by Carol Riggs is a compelling read with an intriguing premise. It grapples with body image and scientific technology gone awry. What if you could swap bodies? What if you could pay someone to enter your body and lose weight for you? Would you do it? Do our bodies affect who we are inside? Does our consciousness change with changes in our physical appearance?Carol Riggs explores all of this with her engaging characters and fast paced plot. The book shines a light on fat shaming in a way that seems eerily close to the truth in our world today.Morgan is a teen girl who needs money to keep her family out of the slums.Although she is brilliant, her application for a school grant is suspiciously denied. She discovers she will get the grant if she becomes a REDUCER and allows her brain to be uploaded into the body of a girl who is 100 pounds overweight. Morgan must lose the weight before she can be returned to her own body, but she imagines the job will be fairly easy and without lasting consequences. But when her thoughts are invaded by those of the girl she’s inhabiting, will her views change. She begins to consider: "Are we our minds...or our bodies?"This book is well worth the read for anyone who enjoys sci-fi or simply enjoys a good read!

The Body Institute is a fun YA Sci-Fi read that I devoured in a couple of days. The book asks some freaky and thoughtful questions: what if the government controlled people's weight? Are we defined by our looks? Are we our bodies or or minds? This is NOT a fat shaming book - in fact it is just the opposite.The story itself was a bit slow to start, with the real action picking up towards the middle of the book This is understandable in a way, because we are introduced to Morgan's life, The Body Institute and the struggles / mystery surrounding it. I loved Carol Riggs' writing style - a great mix of concrete details with just enough poetic description. While I really enjoyed this book I wish there was a lot more world building. I found myself confused as to how things were in this future and simply longed for more insight. For example, what are these colored zones people live in? I would have liked to known more details. I was excited to read this book because I love psychology / neuroscience stuff. I was definitely surprised by the turn of events and felt really bad for the MC.I highly recommend this book if you enjoy shows like The Dollhouse and Inception.

Morgan Dey is a Reducer. She slips into bodies of Loaners, people who are out of shape and on the verge of being fined for it. Morgan’s job is to diet and exercise while she’s in their bodies. She’s quite successful at this. Supposedly, her brain map and the maps of the Loaners are intact during this process, with Morgan forgetting what happened while in a Loaner’s body.When strange things start to occur with protesters who believe this type of science is dangerous, the institute leader hiding things, and memories from Loaners popping up, Morgan has to watch out. The institute doesn’t care for anyone who discovers their true intentions. Perhaps the protesters have been right all along when death, murder, intrigue, and illegal body swapping pop into the picture.The idea of reducing and loaning was interesting. I can’t remember reading a plotline like this before. Morgan was a strong character thrown into a suspenseful situation, and her family and friends were wonderful secondary characters. This futuristic world was well-written and felt very real. I highly recommend this for anyone who likes sci-fi YA.

Riggs proposes that minds cannot be copied (as many other authors do willy-nilly). She also proposes a mind-body link that the scientists don't really know about. Normally it is such that nothing important is lost since the Reducers always return to their own bodies. But when things start to go wrong, the problems become apparent, at least to our heroine.What I didn't like, and withheld a star for, is that the novel becomes more and more dystopian and despite her best efforts and some successes, the heroine's life goes down into chaos. It's just a tad too depressing for me.

First of all, I'll say that I was really drawn into this book, due to a combination of factors - the action was fast-paced, the narrator was engaging and resourceful, and perhaps most of all, the book poses a very interesting question - to what extent does our appearance form a part of who we are? The answer, it turns out, is probably quite a lot, as teenager Morgan Dey finds out when she joins the Reducer program to occupy the bodies of overweight clients and lose weight on their behalf. As Jodine, she finds herself knowing and doing things that only her client should, through some kind of residual or muscle memory. The story isn't perfect and not everything is explained - does the Reducer system really work, do the Loaner clients actually take care of themselves after resuming their bodies, as they don't have any memories of when someone else was losing weight for them? Mainly, though, this was an interesting projection of how "body shaming" could be taken to its ultimate conclusion - not a very pleasant future. Things don't go smoothly for Morgan, of course, and I was kept reading to find out what happened next. The ending did wrap up perhaps a little too quickly and easily, but that doesn't take too much away from the story. I would definitely recommend this for anyone looking for a thought-provoking sci-fi thriller.

I always enjoy reading dystopic YA novels because I find even when the writing isn't great the plot is interesting enough to keep you reading and that was the case here. The writing wasn't superb but the idea behind the plot was cool and the story was pretty well developed although I felt at the end it was kind of rushed and the ending just felt a little off. I think if it had been written as a series the story could have been developed a lot further instead of just ending somewhat abruptly.Overall entertaining though

I loved the storyline but felt the author left nowhere to end the book. It wasn't the ending this great story deserved, but maybe there is a second book planned?

This was a different type of book from what I would normally read but I really enjoyed it. Would recommend.

I really enjoy this book! Couldn't put it down. Perfect romance scifi with a twist. Great for people who enjoyed books like matched and divergent