Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

35 reviews

lolajh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

It’s hard to rate this because I found some of the stories, like Real Women Have Bodies, Inventory, and Mothers, so memorable and good, whilst the rest were either not as memorable, very difficult to read, boring, or just unappealing.

The Husband Stitch was predictable for me mainly because I am familiar with the ribbon story, and I get what the story was  trying to do by making the husband the physical embodiment of every unlikeable quality a man could ever have, but it just ended up irritating me that the main character continued to be with him. I would have loved to see more women with ribbons as I’m intrigued on whether their location affects the outcome of pulling it off, like if that woman in the story with a ribbon around her ankle would

still have her head fall off from it being pulled off

Inventory I loved, as it was a story told through each of the main character’s sexual encounters throughout her lifetime, and still manages to convey a post-apocalyptic setting of a deadly virus spreading over the world whilst portraying various types of relationship partners that exist, such as those who are respectful and use consent, or those that are violent and manipulative and don’t i.e. literal rapists. The main character’s resilience through it all and the fact that she continues to have relationships with people throughout the apocalypse without letting it get to her enough to give up was really nice to see. And even through her relationships with both men and women, there were never instances of homophobia to be the factors breaking the pair up, which was lovely.

Mothers opened with two cisgendered lesbians somehow conceiving of a child, followed by looking back at the pair’s relationship and its eventual toxicity. I loved this one, but I have to be honest, “My uterus contracted in protest“ sounds so much like it was written by a man and I do hate it I’m sorry.

Especially Heinous was the only story not in first person from the persective of a woman, and was a rather confusing mess of a psychological horror twist being put onto each episode of Law and Order SVU, which just felt totally like a fever dream and would maybe be enjoyable if it was readable and not based on Law and Order SVU maybe? Like the ghosts and hallucinations and overall insanity things were so cool, but impossible to piece together in a way that made sense.

Real Women Have Bodies. Wow. The ‘fading body’ malady was done in a way that made it so creepily good, and portraying it in a very modern context allows for the darker plot points like

dresses being sewn onto the faded women, and the condition spreading to the romantic partner of the main character

made it a scary and reflective tragedy, which I loved.

I could hardly read Eight Bites; it was way too heavy on eating disorder themes, and so I could hardly review the content as every page I found myself having to skip several graphic paragraphs.

The last two stories were okay, but not at all memorable for me. The Resident reminded me slightly of Plain Bad Heroines at first, which I liked, but Difficult at Parties was far too sexual-assault graphic for me, and its whole plot is about being able to hear the thoughts of the actors in porn that the main character was watching was hardly as eerie as the other stories.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual harassment

nialiversuch's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Alcohol

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Sexual content, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Homophobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Excrement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Illness outbreak, epidemic ("Inventory"). Unreality ("Especially Heinous"). Insects ("Eight Bites," "The Resident"). Illness ("The Resident").

woweewhoa's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.25

This is a weighed review because if Especially Heinous was on its own, I'd rate it 5 Stars. The writing is haunting and the way it describes things is very vivid. I enjoyed it a lot!

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

itsheyfay's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

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

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

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

travelseatsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

It's hard to put into words just how striking Carmen Maria Machado's writing is. I read In The Dream House at the start of the year & was left bereft yet craving more. I wanted to immediately dive into Her Body & Other Parties but waited a few months as I wanted to appreciate it in its own right & in its entirety. 

 

What I found in the pages behind the striking cover was another world of brilliance which captured my imagination fully & left me wondering with every carefully chosen word. 

 

As with any collection of short stories some will have more resonance than others with every reader but overall I found that even if I didn't necessarily 'enjoy' each short story while reading, every single one left me pondering for quite some time after. The perfect example of this was Especially Heinous which felt almost a little bit tedious at times as I was going through the individual episodes, but eventually unfurled into a creepy & oppressive portrayal of the indeed tedious, relentless & pervasive acts of violence against women. 

 

In all honesty there isn’t a story within the collection that didn’t leave some kind of a mark on me or didn’t leave me sitting struck & deep in thought but some of my favourites which really struck a chord with their brutality & honesty were The Husband Stitch, Inventory, Real Women Have Bodies, The Resident & Difficult At Parties. 

 

The whole book is bursting full of so many moments and quotes to relish, digest and just linger on that I’ll definitely be buying a physical copy to reread and devour again and again. I rarely buy books due to fortunately receiving ARCs & having the use of a fantastic library system but I need, not even just want, to have a copy of Her Body & Other Parties on my shelf to return to. 

 

Carmen Maria Machado is a writer like no other & Her Body & Other Parties conveys her innate ability to write pieces which are visceral, haunting, brutal & deeply thought-provoking. 

 

Powerful, surreal and simply stunning. 

 

(It is a book I want to recommend to everyone but due to its dark thematic nature & at times perplexing story arcs I can admit it may not be for everyone so I’ve included TW in comments & happy to chat about these if you’re considering reading it.) 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

ruthbreakher's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

The book is confusing at times, but maybe I just need to read this like I'm a engl 302 teacher

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

hippiequeen's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I think the reading is worth for the “Especially Heinous” short story, which is the one that impressed me the most, especially for the choice of narrating through episodes summaries of a tv show. That story was brilliant, but unfortunately I found the rest of them quite boring. Maybe it’s because I am not that into fantasy / dystopia books, but I did love her memoir and her writing style is always good. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Rape, Violence, Vomit, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

melinabarbuto's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Rape, Suicide, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Blood, Grief, and Gaslighting

jenmaysiereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

3 out of 5 stars 

‘Her Body and Other Parties’ is a beautifully written and complex short story collection which has left me with a lot of mixed feelings. The work is very experimental, both in prose and form and I really enjoyed how provocative that made each short story. Each story explores the different and violent ways women’s bodies are exploited, whilst also leaving the reader to create their own interpretation for each ending. 

Like every short story collection, the quality of the work is uneven and the meanings behind each story are differing levels of abstract. My favourites are ‘Real Women Have Bodies’ and ‘Difficult at Parties’. I enjoyed the abstract nature of ‘Especially Heinous’ but given I have no knowledge of Law & Order: SVU and the entire short story is a rewrite of the episode plot summaries it wasn’t the easiest concept to understand. 

Ultimately, there are stories in here which I liked significantly more than others—usually the ones that tread the line between absurdist and concrete in meaning (Difficult at Parties and The Husband Stitch) but the collection is definitely not as flawless as I’ve been lead to believe by other reviewers. I still think this is worth the read for anyone who enjoys complex explorations of feminist concepts and some fantastical, absurdist plot beats. 

I’ll definitely be picking up more of Machado’s work in the future; her prose is too decadent and her concepts too intriguing to not. For a debut collection, it’s definitely pretty solid. 

My individual ratings for each short story are as follows: 

The Husband Stitch—3.5

Inventory—3

Mothers—2.5

Especially Heinous—2

Real Women Have Bodies—4.5

Eight Bites—2

The Resident—1

Difficult At Parties—5

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment