Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

73 reviews

bellsdixon's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Infertility, Death, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Alcohol, Body horror, Eating disorder, Cursing, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Vomit

robin_for_now's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

Strange, queer, stretching the bounds of this world and the human, femme and queer experiences in it. Unpredictable and wild, twisting and turning through short stories and layered experiences. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, and Violence

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

addythebookbat's review

dark reflective slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Sexual content, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Body shaming, Pandemic/Epidemic, Vomit, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

ahappyhallowqueen's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Violence, Eating disorder, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, and Rape

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

sarah_hutchins's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Vomit, and Blood

Minor: Sexual harassment, Cursing, Animal death, Eating disorder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Homophobia, Medical content, Self harm, Violence, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

joensign's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Death, and Rape

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexism, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual violence

At least two stories contain themes of toxic relationships, one focusing on misogynistic behavior. One story revolves around an epidemic, many stories contain sexual themes and content, one story has a brief moment of sexual violence/assault.