Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Il suo corpo e altre feste by Carmen Maria Machado

32 reviews

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!

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Content Warnings

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

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

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

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.) 

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Content Warnings

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

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

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Content Warnings

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

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

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. 

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Content Warnings

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

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

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

 

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Content Warnings

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

daismcvic's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Death, Sexual harassment, Murder, and Gore

mmatti300's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

Machado is an excellent storyteller. At no part in the collection did I feel like skipping a story or glazing over bits and pieces, she had me hooked from the very beginning and I was more than enrapt in her diction. A truly beautiful novel and an excellent collection. I look forward to reading more by her in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, and Medical trauma

ellyrivera's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Body shaming, and Eating disorder