Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

63 reviews

krispiefries'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

Minor: Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Child abuse, Grief, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Vomit

mirasu's review

dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.5

Alas... Her Body and Other Parties felt sophomoric and contrived. Machado's technical skills far surpass her conceptual premises here. It's interesting to compare these stories to In the Dream House, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Dysphoria, Medical trauma, Sexual content, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

helhas3letters's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Kidnapping, Sexism, Child abuse, Child death, and Death

Minor: Animal death, Colonisation, Fatphobia, Medical content, Murder, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Blood, Body horror, Dysphoria, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, and Homophobia

kshertz's review

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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Everything about this book is complicated. It’s a mix of short stories that are heavily sexual, and deal with a lot of different worlds and themes. It was hard for me to follow at times. I definitely liked some stories more than others. Overall I think it is like a niche group of people that would really enjoy this work and I just don’t think it was something that was for me.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Body horror, Chronic illness, Rape, Murder, Gaslighting, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

estellazacharia10's review

dark emotional reflective medium-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? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Sexual assault, and Eating disorder

bashsbooks's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Her Body And Other Parties taps into the horror of being seen as a woman - and emphasizes it with a fine and careful touch of the surreal. Thought-provoking and cerebral, Machado doesn't hold back on displaying the female body in all its gory glory. It is unsettling and horrifying, but in a very real and relatable way - there are no jumpscares here, only uncomfortable truths. Like all short story collections, I liked some of the stories more than others (I enjoyed "Inventory" and "Especially Heinous" the most) though they are all worth a read, as every story in this collection churned in my mind for days after reading it. I can't wait to see what Machado writes next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Body horror, Alcohol, Animal death, Vomit, Death, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Violence, Eating disorder, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, and Sexual harassment

-Explicit description of a flu-like illness. -Explicit description of popping pimple-like welts.

jialianyang's review

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

A haunting book about queer women. They are from different backgrounds, telling their experiences in various ways. It is like stepping into another's mind over and over. This is a book where you must be ok with being sad, confused, desiring, hurting, haunted, lost. The women are not the side characters here, but they are also not always in control. Disorienting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Suicide, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Bullying, and Vomit

Moderate: Colonisation, Chronic illness, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Rape, and Toxic relationship

vdparedes's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Blood, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Animal death

moreadsnrambles's review

challenging dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, and Medical content

Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual assault

ilovepastaandpizza's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? Yes

3.75

mir fehlen die worte aber ich versuche mal ein paar aufzukratzen.
insgesamt fand ich die meisten geschichten gut. es ist sehr viel up-to-interpretation und mysteriös, weshalb ich für manche interpretations ansätze googeln musste.
es geht sehr viel um sexualität und körperlichkeit, und besonders um deren verknüpfung zur psyche. ich muss sagen, beim lesen habe ich oft echten ekel, tiefe scham, verzweiflung und traurigkeit gespürt, und manchmal auch einfach angst, frustration oder plain anger. manchmal auch ein punch in the face oder ich musste laut gaspen. die geschichten sind genial geschrieben.
ah und es ist sehr queer-normalising which was nice.
i saw someone make a ranking so i will do that too.

Stories Ranked

1. Real Women Have Bodies
2. Eight Bites
3. The Husband Stitch
4. Inventory
5. Difficult at Parties
6. The Resident
7. Especially Heinous

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Misogyny, Eating disorder, Self harm, Sexism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fatphobia

Minor: Sexual assault