Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

25 reviews

yaoipaddle's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-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

2.0

Average rating: 2.6
Read this very spaced out because you may tire of the author's writing style SO FAST. I loved the Husband Stitch when I read it online, so I was excited to read an entire book by the same author. Big mistake. She struggles to end even her most interesting stories well and the sheer amount of sexual content is exhausting when you read the stories back to back.

The Husband Stitch - 5 stars
One of my fave short stories. I had read it twice on its own before finding it in this book.
Every time I read it I have new thoughts on it. All time top story.

Inventory - 4 stars
Very interesting to read after COVID. Short and easy to read.

Mothers - 1 star
Useless. Truly dogshit.

Especially Heinous - 2 stars
IDK if it was supposed to emulate this weird perversion society has with Law & Order SVU. If that was the case it succeeded. It dragged on and the ending was so lame.

Real Women Have Bodies - 3 stars
By this point I was dead tired of the author's writing style. I liked the premise but the ending yet again was a let down.

Eight Bites - 2 stars
I felt nothing about this. The commentary was shallow.

The Resident - 1 star
This took me so long to read because I barely wanted to get through this crap story. I was exhausted by the author's writing style and I found the main character loathsome. I could write a better feminist short story in high school than 'The Resident'.

Difficult at Parties - 3 stars
I will reread this one at a later time. I think it was just OK. I am so tired of the author though that I don't think I could appreciate this story as much as I would on a reread in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Alcohol, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Violence, Cursing, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Suicide, Dysphoria, Sexual harassment, Grief, Sexual assault, Medical content, Mental illness, and Sexual content

Moderate: Stalking, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

alexiconic's review against another edition

Short story collections are a hit or miss for me. 

If this were a physical book, I would skip ahead until I got to a story that was no longer about

Law and Order

. It is too repetitive and absurd in audio form. 

But I adored the first stories, especially the story about the ribbon. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Gore, Body horror, Rape, Gaslighting, Sexism, Child death, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Death, and Body shaming

lmaloney's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Wow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcohol, Physical abuse, Self harm, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Gaslighting, Gore, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Confinement, Dysphoria, and Eating disorder

Minor: Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infertility, Child abuse, and Cursing

dromedaryreader's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I loved some of the stories in this book. Others seemed lazy and were too caught up in small details to work as a short story. Eight Bites, Mothers, Difficult At Parties, and The Husband Stitch were my personal favorites. Inventory and The Resident were alright. I was not a fan of Real Women Have Bodies or Especially Heinous.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Gore, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Misogyny, Outing, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Medical content, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Suicide

itsheyfay's review

challenging 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Confinement, Eating disorder, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Rape, Blood, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Vomit

Minor: Domestic abuse, Vomit, Physical abuse, and Sexism

dearbhlanoonan's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Bullying, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Violence

emilymbrown's review

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Absolutely jarring. Not what I was expecting at all but I fell so attached the moment I read the first page. Beautiful and scary and confusing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Grief, Suicide, Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Violence, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Addiction, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Pregnancy, Abortion, Rape, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, and Death of parent

breeoxd's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Terribly dark, twisted, funny, tragic uncategorizable collection of gothic short stories. Carmen dives into all the ways violence is visited on women- emotional, physical, societal, intimate, large-scale. She turns the world upside down, inside out and back again. You find yourself almost laughing, then hugging yourself  as you realize how accurate some of these parodies are. I don't even know if calling them parodies is right? Anyway. Read it. Sit with the discomfort. You'll be better for it. Can't wait for more from this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse and Emotional abuse

There should be a GIANT trigger warning on this book, but it is beautiful.

ms_sarah621's review

dark mysterious reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Body shaming, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Rape

soni's review

emotional tense 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? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death and Vomit

Minor: Lesbophobia