Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

72 reviews

rosieecross's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Rape

rebrosecca's review

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 An uncomfortable and gritty look at issues surrounding women's bodies. Every story addresses some form of violence put on women, whether from strangers and predators, those close and dear to us, society, or ourselves, it misses nothing. The writing is very original, blending genres, making everything grim and dark and unreal. These are stories that every time you read them, you get something more from them. The book should definitely be read with caution if you are sensitive to certain issues like sexual assault/rape and body image. I found this confronting in a lot of ways, but I have a serious appreciation for how thorough and relatable the subject matter is. The utterly unique writing style sets this apart from any other collection of short stories I've read so far. New favorite author. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Body horror, Body shaming, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, Pregnancy, Gore, Violence, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, and Dysphoria

shaun_dh's review

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved this collection. It’s freaky and weird in the best ways

A total random aside, the feel of the paperback is fantastic. It’s just heavy enough, the font is great, and the thickness of the pages is perfect 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder and Fatphobia

Minor: Domestic abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Vomit, Mental illness, and Body horror

pisceseason's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Domestic abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

downcircles's review

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

What a wonderful book! I found for me it was best to read the stories individually and put the book down after so I had time to reflect on the themes and messages. The stories vary in how straight forward their themes are (and wether I personally got something out of them) and I wouldn't reccomend this for people who are just getting into this sort of wrapped up in several layers sort of societal commentary. But if you like that sort of thing definitely worth a try. This book uniquely made me want to seek out other people's views and analysis of the indivual stories and I gained a great deal more appreciation for the book this way. If you have someone else who likes this sort of thing and is willing to discuss their interpretations give it a go! (also my favorite is still "the husband stitch) 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexism, and Sexual violence

arbramirez's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Stalking, Rape, Medical trauma, Grief, Domestic abuse, Child death, Blood, Sexual assault, Infertility, Incest, Drug use, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Hate crime, Sexual content, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Kidnapping

mostlymetaphors's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault

yleavy's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Domestic abuse

undecidedpersonality's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Pandemic/Epidemic, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Blood, Misogyny, and Self harm

Minor: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Lesbophobia

janwe's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Difficult to rate... Although, I did not really enjoy reading these stories, I think the exploration of themes (especially sexuality and power dynamics) were very well executed and the writingstyle is brutally harsh and beautifully poetic at the same time. 
BUT, and that has rather to do with my personal reading tastes at the moment, than with the stories and their contents ...
 I AM soo over that kind of "vulgar sexual content"...  I don't know... I just couldn't care less about it... That definitely influenced my reading experience..
Additionally, due to the blurb on the back, I expected the short stories to be weirder, and dip more into SF and horror (it is horror - but rather everyday horror of the female experience in society)... 
I guess, I am not the right audience for these kind of literary short stories 🤷‍♀️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Rape