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ellenclibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
Some of the stories in this were simply amazing. I actually would give this a 3.25 or 3.5, (5 for a couple stories) but I just couldn't complete the Law & Order, Special Crime Victims Unit stories. I highly recommend giving the other stories a read.
aangelinee's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? Yes
4.0
mollyburgess96's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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? Yes
4.5
cam_rose1's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
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
3.75
lauramay94's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
3.0
noragrace89's review against another edition
It took me 15 days to finish this book!
I can’t pick a favorite story because I was equally confused while reading each one of them..
I can’t pick a favorite story because I was equally confused while reading each one of them..
rereader33's review against another edition
5.0
To say that this book is phenomenal would be an understatement. I honestly do not have the vocabulary to properly praise this book and that is beyond frustrating. I will say right here and now that this book is not for everyone. Readers have to take their time reading it because of the writing style, the supernatural/fantasy/science fiction aspects are more their to illustrate a point rather than being part of some "world", and some people are just not interested in fantasy/supernatural/science fiction stories. If you are willing to accommodate or tolerate these aspects, you are in for one hell of a great collection of stories.
When asked to describe this collection of stories, I have referred to the stories as fairy tales on steroids with a feminist edge, and after completing it I feel that this description is fairly accurate. Each story feels like its in some alternate world, even the most realistic one, "Difficult at Parties". As I mentioned earlier, the supernatural/fantasy/science fiction elements to each story are more so there to help illustrate the message in each story rather than building a "world". As such, the elements are not well-defined and readers will not get answers to most questions they have concerning said elements. I did not have an issue with this because I enjoyed what was there and what was being said, but I can understand why this would bother some people. Machado's writing is absolutely stunning; her prose can be sharp and contain swearing or be beautiful with flowery language. Sometimes she combines these two, like in "The Husband Stitch" and "Eight Bites", but it doesn't feel unnatural. Another aspect of her writing that I appreciate is how she writes sex scenes. This may sound weird, but I think it is incredibly refreshing to read a novel that has a fair amount of casually written sex scenes. They aren't flashy, they aren't graphically detailed, they are just there, and I really appreciate that Machado understands that a) people have sex in real life and b) that doesn't mean this has to be an erotica-just write the scene and move on.
Something that is both a pro and a con for this collection is that it is obvious that some stories are given more love than others. That is to be expected, after all there are eight stories and not all of them are going to be perfect, but it is easy to see which ones she really went all-out for. "The Husband Stitch" starts the collection out strong, written as if someone is telling a story while giving the reader instructions as if they are reading the story out loud, which added so much depth and enjoyment to the story as a whole (and was my personal favorite out of the bunch). "Inventory" was written as a series of vignettes, meant to flow and read like someone is literally recalling an inventory of events. "Especially Heinous" is meant to resemble the little summaries before television episodes, episode titles included, and "The Resident" purposefully omits parts of people's names and places. That isn't to say that stories with a more traditional structure are bad, but they are then only as memorable as their premise, and herein lies the biggest problem I have with the collection.
It pains me to say that out of all the stories I read in this collection, there were two that I simply did not enjoy, "Mothers" and "Difficult at Parties". "Mothers" was a good portrayal of abusive/toxic relationships, but it was so weird that it was hard to wrap my head around. "Difficult at Parties" was the final story and for me it did not end very strongly, especially as the final story. It was a very interesting story that dealt with relationship troubles in a fresh way but the ending of the story was not that strong and it was kind of disappointing.
Yes, while I have my gripes, I still stand by giving this book 5 stars. The writing is phenomenal, the stories were interesting, the structure of some of the stories was a delightful addition, and I cannot say enough good things about this novel. Definitely in my top 5 favorite books of all time.
When asked to describe this collection of stories, I have referred to the stories as fairy tales on steroids with a feminist edge, and after completing it I feel that this description is fairly accurate. Each story feels like its in some alternate world, even the most realistic one, "Difficult at Parties". As I mentioned earlier, the supernatural/fantasy/science fiction elements to each story are more so there to help illustrate the message in each story rather than building a "world". As such, the elements are not well-defined and readers will not get answers to most questions they have concerning said elements. I did not have an issue with this because I enjoyed what was there and what was being said, but I can understand why this would bother some people. Machado's writing is absolutely stunning; her prose can be sharp and contain swearing or be beautiful with flowery language. Sometimes she combines these two, like in "The Husband Stitch" and "Eight Bites", but it doesn't feel unnatural. Another aspect of her writing that I appreciate is how she writes sex scenes. This may sound weird, but I think it is incredibly refreshing to read a novel that has a fair amount of casually written sex scenes. They aren't flashy, they aren't graphically detailed, they are just there, and I really appreciate that Machado understands that a) people have sex in real life and b) that doesn't mean this has to be an erotica-just write the scene and move on.
Something that is both a pro and a con for this collection is that it is obvious that some stories are given more love than others. That is to be expected, after all there are eight stories and not all of them are going to be perfect, but it is easy to see which ones she really went all-out for. "The Husband Stitch" starts the collection out strong, written as if someone is telling a story while giving the reader instructions as if they are reading the story out loud, which added so much depth and enjoyment to the story as a whole (and was my personal favorite out of the bunch). "Inventory" was written as a series of vignettes, meant to flow and read like someone is literally recalling an inventory of events. "Especially Heinous" is meant to resemble the little summaries before television episodes, episode titles included, and "The Resident" purposefully omits parts of people's names and places. That isn't to say that stories with a more traditional structure are bad, but they are then only as memorable as their premise, and herein lies the biggest problem I have with the collection.
It pains me to say that out of all the stories I read in this collection, there were two that I simply did not enjoy, "Mothers" and "Difficult at Parties". "Mothers" was a good portrayal of abusive/toxic relationships, but it was so weird that it was hard to wrap my head around. "Difficult at Parties" was the final story and for me it did not end very strongly, especially as the final story. It was a very interesting story that dealt with relationship troubles in a fresh way but the ending of the story was not that strong and it was kind of disappointing.
Yes, while I have my gripes, I still stand by giving this book 5 stars. The writing is phenomenal, the stories were interesting, the structure of some of the stories was a delightful addition, and I cannot say enough good things about this novel. Definitely in my top 5 favorite books of all time.
cyaneve7's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-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
4.0
cboll's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
katie_l21's review against another edition
5.0
I read this short story collection for a women's literature class but have been wanting to read it for a few years now. This was my first venture into horror, but I did enjoy it. It was very well written and some of the stories really took an unexpected turn. I genuinely enjoyed reading Her Body and Other Parties!