Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

212 reviews

bellsdixon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Infertility, Death, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Alcohol, Body horror, Eating disorder, Cursing, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Vomit

ominousspectre's review against another edition

4.25

The Husband Stitch (4.5 Stars)
Folktales meet bodily autonomy
 
Inventory (3.5 Stars)
The reveal is cool and this made me somber
 
Mothers (3.5 Stars)
Raising a child through abuse

Especially Heinous (DNF)
This felt very out of place and difficult if you aren't a huge SVU fan

Real Women Have Bodies (5 Stars)
My favorite. Hurt me in my deepest soul

Eight Bites (4.5 Stars)
Having a body is horror

The Resident (5 Stars)
Felt like I was reading Shirley Jackson, which I loved.
"What if you colonize your own mind and when you get inside, the furniture is attached to the ceiling?"

Difficult At Parties (4 Stars)
Really well done, just very hard for me personally to get through 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Eating disorder

mmelibertine's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Suicide

rebrosecca's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

 An uncomfortable and gritty look at issues surrounding women's bodies. Every story addresses some form of violence put on women, whether from strangers and predators, those close and dear to us, society, or ourselves, it misses nothing. The writing is very original, blending genres, making everything grim and dark and unreal. These are stories that every time you read them, you get something more from them. The book should definitely be read with caution if you are sensitive to certain issues like sexual assault/rape and body image. I found this confronting in a lot of ways, but I have a serious appreciation for how thorough and relatable the subject matter is. The utterly unique writing style sets this apart from any other collection of short stories I've read so far. New favorite author. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Body horror, Body shaming, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, Pregnancy, Gore, Violence, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, and Dysphoria

the_midnight_tea's review against another edition

Im not reading 60 pages on a whole recap of Law & Order SVU

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

wildflowercrypt's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

a strange collection of short stories, sometimes good (Especially Heinous was bananas but it’s gonna stick with me), sometimes forgettable (Inventory was ok but was pretty unremarkable compared to the other stories in the volume, imo). The Resident was my personal favorite. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

waybeyondblue's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Body horror, Sexual content, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, and Vomit

Minor: Death, Medical trauma, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Blood

catsy2022's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

Rating: B-

Like the other reviews say about short story collections being a mixed bag, I totally agree. I liked the first story about the green women, collectively about people (men) not respecting boundaries / curiosity killed the cat. 
The Law and Order kind of story that was like a synopsis of every episode in like 8 seasons of TV shows - that was really bad.
I did kind of zone out and lose track of the other stories. Not really worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

addythebookbat's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Sexual content, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Body shaming, Pandemic/Epidemic, Vomit, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

shaun_dh's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

I loved this collection. It’s freaky and weird in the best ways

A total random aside, the feel of the paperback is fantastic. It’s just heavy enough, the font is great, and the thickness of the pages is perfect 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder and Fatphobia

Minor: Domestic abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Vomit, Mental illness, and Body horror