diff --git a/glanceclient/common/http.py b/glanceclient/common/http.py
index d963be67..cc62c417 100644
--- a/glanceclient/common/http.py
+++ b/glanceclient/common/http.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ OpenStack Client interface. Handles the REST calls and responses.
 import copy
 import logging
 import os
+import StringIO
 import urlparse
 
 import httplib2
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@ from glanceclient import exc
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 USER_AGENT = 'python-glanceclient'
+CHUNKSIZE = 1024 * 64  # 64kB
 
 
 class HTTPClient(httplib2.Http):
@@ -88,7 +90,12 @@ class HTTPClient(httplib2.Http):
             # Redirected. Reissue the request to the new location.
             return self._http_request(resp['location'], method, **kwargs)
 
-        return resp, body
+        #NOTE(bcwaldon): body has been loaded to a string at this point,
+        # but we want to move to a world where it can be read from a
+        # socket-level cache. This is here until we can do that.
+        body_iter = ResponseBodyIterator(StringIO.StringIO(body))
+
+        return resp, body_iter
 
     def json_request(self, method, url, **kwargs):
         kwargs.setdefault('headers', {})
@@ -97,7 +104,8 @@ class HTTPClient(httplib2.Http):
         if 'body' in kwargs:
             kwargs['body'] = json.dumps(kwargs['body'])
 
-        resp, body = self._http_request(url, method, **kwargs)
+        resp, body_iter = self._http_request(url, method, **kwargs)
+        body = ''.join([chunk for chunk in body_iter])
 
         if body:
             try:
@@ -115,3 +123,21 @@ class HTTPClient(httplib2.Http):
         kwargs['headers'].setdefault('Content-Type',
                                      'application/octet-stream')
         return self._http_request(url, method, **kwargs)
+
+
+class ResponseBodyIterator(object):
+    """A class that acts as an iterator over an HTTP response."""
+
+    def __init__(self, resp):
+        self.resp = resp
+
+    def __iter__(self):
+        while True:
+            yield self.next()
+
+    def next(self):
+        chunk = self.resp.read(CHUNKSIZE)
+        if chunk:
+            return chunk
+        else:
+            raise StopIteration()
diff --git a/glanceclient/v1/images.py b/glanceclient/v1/images.py
index 5bee3597..4263bafd 100644
--- a/glanceclient/v1/images.py
+++ b/glanceclient/v1/images.py
@@ -159,8 +159,9 @@ class ImageManager(base.Manager):
         if copy_from is not None:
             hdrs['x-glance-api-copy-from'] = copy_from
 
-        resp, body = self.api.raw_request(
+        resp, body_iter = self.api.raw_request(
                 'POST', '/v1/images', headers=hdrs, body=image_data)
+        body = ''.join([c for c in body_iter])
         return Image(self, json.loads(body)['image'])
 
     def update(self, image, **kwargs):
@@ -199,6 +200,7 @@ class ImageManager(base.Manager):
             hdrs['x-glance-api-copy-from'] = copy_from
 
         url = '/v1/images/%s' % base.getid(image)
-        resp, body = self.api.raw_request(
+        resp, body_iter = self.api.raw_request(
                 'PUT', url, headers=hdrs, body=image_data)
+        body = ''.join([c for c in body_iter])
         return Image(self, json.loads(body)['image'])
diff --git a/tests/v1/test_images.py b/tests/v1/test_images.py
index b3fe1281..dc2f2c17 100644
--- a/tests/v1/test_images.py
+++ b/tests/v1/test_images.py
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ class ImageManagerTest(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(image.name, 'image-1')
 
     def test_data(self):
-        data = self.mgr.data('1')
+        data = ''.join([b for b in self.mgr.data('1')])
         expect = [('GET', '/v1/images/1', {}, None)]
         self.assertEqual(self.api.calls, expect)
         self.assertEqual(data, 'XXX')
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ class ImageTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_data(self):
         image = self.mgr.get('1')
-        data = image.data()
+        data = ''.join([b for b in image.data()])
         expect = [
             ('HEAD', '/v1/images/1', {}, None),
             ('GET', '/v1/images/1', {}, None),