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

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

69 reviews

lizzyjean's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

This book of short stories is astounding. Each story was so unique and thought-provoking, and I fell in love with each page. Each story may need a bit of reflection and analysis in order to grasp the story, but that is something I love to do, so I didn’t mind.

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undecidedpersonality's review

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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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janwe's review against another edition

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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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moonyreadsbystarlight's review

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challenging emotional mysterious tense

4.0

This was a really intense collection. It's the sort of literature you really have to sit with. I felt like I should have been reading it for a class (not in a bad way). There was a lot explored in interesting and intricate ways. There was a lot thematically about misogyny, trauma and mental health, and queerness.

As with any collection, there were ups and downs. My favorite story was probably Mothers. My least favorite was Especially Heinous (though I love a lot of the ideas there, it was way too long). Overall, it was well written, intense, and definitely fucked with my mind

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snazzy10101's review

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challenging dark emotional slow-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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bellist's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.75

There’s no doubt that Carmen Maria Machado is an immensely talented storyteller. Her prose is variously elegant and chilling in this collection, and I really enjoyed hearing it read aloud in the audiobook. But I wasn’t gripped by the plots of the stories themselves — most of them ended fairly quietly and lacked the thrill of a some kind of mystery revealed. I fully skipped “Especially Heinous” (a retelling of SVU plots) because the format didn’t do anything for me, and I don’t know anything about that show. That doesn’t mean the rest of the stories weren’t good, they just didn’t give me what I wanted out of a horror anthology, but I don’t regret seeing the collection through. If you want to read some gorgeous writing and engage with thoughtful stories that blend themes like body horror and trauma with feminism and queerness, give it a try.

Standout: The Husband Stitch

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