Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - Her Body and Other Parties

Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

72 reviews

maksipad's review

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

A few of the short stories were hard to get through (specifically Especially Heinous and The Resident) but overall I enjoyed the book and admired how she wove such complex themes into each story.

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nialiversuch's review

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dark emotional 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

4.5

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danielles_reads's review

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dark

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

1.5

I’ve only ever heard amazing things about this book… like every BookTuber or Bookstagrammer I’ve seen has given this 5 stars amazing.

Why?!?! I hated this.

The half a star is for the Eight Bites story, which is the only one that I liked. It was the only one with a sort of plot, the only one with straightforward and relatable themes (body insecurity), and the only one where the vague fantasy elements actually really benefitted the story instead of making it incomprehensible and pointless. Coincidentally it was also the only story that didn’t mention sex at all…

The way Machado writes sex is disgusting. It’s so obsessive (literally all these characters think about is sex), and overly descriptive to the point of being objectifying. There are no emotions involved either, only physical needs. And multiple stories include a scene of the narrator walking in on people having sex and standing there and watching. Why?! Is this a fantasy of the author? And why do so many women in Machado’s mind willingly use the word c*nt to refer to their genitals (one woman even prefers it over the word pussy)? I hate that word so much and I know a lot of other people do too. I don’t want to read that shit. Is this supposed to be feminist? I guess it’s feminist for women to act like men are stereotyped to act, and be constantly horny? Sooo empowering. Get a hobby.

All of the romantic relationships in this book revolve around sex, and the narrators think that’s the same as love. The worst offenders were The Husband Stitch and Real Women Have Bodies. I had zero emotional reaction to either of those because they are entirely centered around sex and only sex (and only the physical parts of sex). The Husband Stitch especially bothered me because it’s so well-received but the first half is literally only about horny teenagers constantly having sex? And people seem to see it as a story about the perils of women giving up everything for men, but I see it as a story about a couple that actually knows nothing about each other besides how to have sex, and are unwilling to share personal details with the other.

And I can’t not mention that one of the stories is a 58 page long SVU fanfiction written only via episode descriptions??? Why?!?!?

I finished every story except Eight Bites with the feeling of what the fuck just happened. what the fuck was the point of that story. These stories are described as literary when really they’re just nonsensical. The Resident and Difficult at Parties (people are saying the latter is about a woman recovering from sexual assault, but how do you know that??? Nothing even close to that is ever mentioned) were the most nonsensical and pointless of all the stories. Maybe I’m just too dumb for this collection lmao. I should’ve just DNFed after Eight Bites.

I’ve also seen only 5 star reviews for Machado’s other book In the Dream House, but I don’t think I’m going to read it after suffering through this trash pile. I’m really annoyed I wasted $16 on this.

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tinyjude's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.25

I guess not for me but I appreciate the creativeness

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apolloann's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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inamerata's review

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dark emotional sad

3.5

An evocative, visceral collection. I had to skip a couple, but even with the stories I struggled to really Get, I still enjoyed the writing itself. My favorites were The Husband Stitch and Especially Heinous.

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