diff --git a/src/HTTPure/Body.js b/src/HTTPure/Body.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..89e6c74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/HTTPure/Body.js
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+/* global exports */
+
+"use strict";
+
+exports.aggregateChunks = function (stream) {
+  return function(onEnd) {
+    return function() {
+      var chunks = [];
+      stream.on("data", function (chunk) {
+        chunks.push(chunk);
+      });
+      stream.on("end", function() {
+        onEnd(chunks)();
+      });
+    };
+  }
+};
diff --git a/src/HTTPure/Body.purs b/src/HTTPure/Body.purs
index c09da37..ece9c34 100644
--- a/src/HTTPure/Body.purs
+++ b/src/HTTPure/Body.purs
@@ -8,17 +8,16 @@ module HTTPure.Body
 import Prelude
 
 import Data.Either as Either
+import Data.Foldable as Foldable
 import Effect as Effect
 import Effect.Aff as Aff
-import Effect.Ref as Ref
+import HTTPure.Headers as Headers
 import Node.Buffer as Buffer
 import Node.Encoding as Encoding
 import Node.HTTP as HTTP
 import Node.Stream as Stream
 import Type.Equality as TypeEquals
 
-import HTTPure.Headers as Headers
-
 -- | Types that implement the `Body` class can be used as a body to an HTTPure
 -- | response, and can be used with all the response helpers.
 class Body b where
@@ -79,12 +78,16 @@ instance bodyChunked ::
     Stream.onEnd stream $ done $ Either.Right unit
     pure Aff.nonCanceler
 
+foreign import aggregateChunks :: forall w. Stream.Readable w ->
+                                  (Array Buffer.Buffer -> Effect.Effect Unit) ->
+                                  Effect.Effect Unit
+
 -- | Extract the contents of the body of the HTTP `Request`.
 read :: HTTP.Request -> Aff.Aff String
 read request = Aff.makeAff \done -> do
-  let stream = HTTP.requestAsStream request
-  buf <- Ref.new ""
-  Stream.onDataString stream Encoding.UTF8 \str ->
-    void $ Ref.modify ((<>) str) buf
-  Stream.onEnd stream $ Ref.read buf >>= Either.Right >>> done
+  let
+    stream = HTTP.requestAsStream request
+    decode = Buffer.toString Encoding.UTF8
+  aggregateChunks stream $
+    Foldable.foldMap decode >=> Either.Right >>> pure >=> done
   pure Aff.nonCanceler