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davidamarion's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
minareads1b360's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-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
leny_ba99's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
4.25
overwaterer's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
thecrookedspine's review against another edition
5.0
No Spoilers:
Her Body and Other Parties is written with all the shock and force of a compound fracture. Machado brings an almost supernatural level of awareness to the small, tactile things of life, grounding her otherwise often surrealist stories in a stark reality. Her commitment to representing the queer, female experience as synonymous with a protagonist-worthy experience is laudable, and I personally found the variance from hetero-male-centric media therapeutic.
The quality of the stories is ridiculously high (especially for a debut book), and consistently so in all but one case - though even then it’s still an enjoyable story to read. Her pacing, prose, stories, and characters are excellent. The only area of her craft I felt often seemed weak was dialogue, but she seemed to know this about herself (or at least feel uncomfortable writing it) because dialogue is light in most of the short stories.
I originally rented this book from the library, but actually went out to buy a copy a little over halfway through just to support the author and encourage more work like this. If you like Hemingway, surrealist fiction like Haruki Marukami, and viscerally poetic prose, I think you’re quite likely to enjoy this.
Her Body and Other Parties is written with all the shock and force of a compound fracture. Machado brings an almost supernatural level of awareness to the small, tactile things of life, grounding her otherwise often surrealist stories in a stark reality. Her commitment to representing the queer, female experience as synonymous with a protagonist-worthy experience is laudable, and I personally found the variance from hetero-male-centric media therapeutic.
The quality of the stories is ridiculously high (especially for a debut book), and consistently so in all but one case - though even then it’s still an enjoyable story to read. Her pacing, prose, stories, and characters are excellent. The only area of her craft I felt often seemed weak was dialogue, but she seemed to know this about herself (or at least feel uncomfortable writing it) because dialogue is light in most of the short stories.
I originally rented this book from the library, but actually went out to buy a copy a little over halfway through just to support the author and encourage more work like this. If you like Hemingway, surrealist fiction like Haruki Marukami, and viscerally poetic prose, I think you’re quite likely to enjoy this.
murphysmustread's review against another edition
3.0
Rating: 2.75/5
Before I begin my official review, please don’t take the fact that this book took me a longer time to read as a bad sign. While it did take longer to get through than average, that’s because I strictly only read this book during downtime at work. Since it covers topics such as sexual violence (through analogies, metaphors, etc.), I usually only like digesting that sort of material on work time since it relates to the organization I work for and the services we provide. In the field of social work, it’s really important to not take your work home with you or at least make every attempt to leave things at the office. That being said, this book left me a bit disappointed. I’m not sure if the themes and intentions behind each short story just went over my head, but each short story seemed to be stranger than the last. I did jot some of my thoughts down in the margins, but I have no idea if they actually make sense. The short stories certainly entertaining and spooky, I’m just not sure if I fully grasped the concepts behind them.
Before I begin my official review, please don’t take the fact that this book took me a longer time to read as a bad sign. While it did take longer to get through than average, that’s because I strictly only read this book during downtime at work. Since it covers topics such as sexual violence (through analogies, metaphors, etc.), I usually only like digesting that sort of material on work time since it relates to the organization I work for and the services we provide. In the field of social work, it’s really important to not take your work home with you or at least make every attempt to leave things at the office. That being said, this book left me a bit disappointed. I’m not sure if the themes and intentions behind each short story just went over my head, but each short story seemed to be stranger than the last. I did jot some of my thoughts down in the margins, but I have no idea if they actually make sense. The short stories certainly entertaining and spooky, I’m just not sure if I fully grasped the concepts behind them.
01hannah11's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
i would pay money to be able to peak into carmen maria machados mind!!
these stories left me feeling confused, haunted,, surprised, questioning everything. you truly are never able to anticipate how the sentence you’re currently reading will end. and i love it.
this breaks open so many expectations, assumptions, norms.
this made me feel so dissociated from the world in like the best way possible.
feminist queer horror short stories will be my favorite genre of this year, gimme more 🫴🏻🙂↕️
these stories left me feeling confused, haunted,, surprised, questioning everything. you truly are never able to anticipate how the sentence you’re currently reading will end. and i love it.
this breaks open so many expectations, assumptions, norms.
this made me feel so dissociated from the world in like the best way possible.
feminist queer horror short stories will be my favorite genre of this year, gimme more 🫴🏻🙂↕️
jascolib's review against another edition
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
roachalita's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
This is a short story collection. I didn't care for any of them. I just couldn't relate or was intrigued by the stories.