The Body Artist, Don DeLillo departs Infrom the style and length he is known for as a result of the novel Underworld, his tour de force, and turns to the form of a novella, for an exploration into perceptions of time, identity constructions, and coping with death. The story begins in the kitchen of a resort house, where Rey Robles and his wife Lauren Hartke, the body artist of the title, are eating breakfast. Their words and movements overlap, not quite meshing, but playing out a certain choreography, revealing ease in a relationship between two people each comfortable in their own individuality. Following this chapter we learn through the format of Rey's obituary, that after breakfast, Rey had driven to the city and committed suicide in his first wife's bathroom.

When Lauren returns to the rented house to work and mourn Rey's death, she comes upon...