Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

55 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

robin_for_now's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

Strange, queer, stretching the bounds of this world and the human, femme and queer experiences in it. Unpredictable and wild, twisting and turning through short stories and layered experiences. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, and Violence

hannahshriver5's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

incredible collection of short stories that have really stuck with me since. touches of sci-fi/horror elements both highlight and critique the normalized violence, expectations, and hypocrisy that femme people face under patriarchy. the stories had elements of both beauty and grotesqueness. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body shaming, Sexual assault, and Misogyny

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic and Death

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

ahappyhallowqueen's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Violence, Eating disorder, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, and Rape

lancemama's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, Rape, Misogyny, Sexism, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Sexual assault, Child death, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Gore, and Death

Minor: Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Addiction, Abandonment, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Confinement

mariaologist's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.75

The first batch of stories (I think it’s the same characters stretched out over different titles)  are brilliant, empowering, change-provoking. The type of stories I want to dissect and reread. I skipped the SUV stories for personal reasons. The reimagined pandemic takes were fascinating. Some better than others. The writing retreat story nearly put me in a book slump. Almost caused me to DNF. But for Carmen, I continued. Interesting collection of stories. Poignant writing. Would recommend only specific stories. Some stories centered on metaphors that felt like too much of a reach. Hard to compare after reading the gem that is The Dream House. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness

pisceseason's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Domestic abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

sarah_hutchins's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Vomit, and Blood

Minor: Sexual harassment, Cursing, Animal death, Eating disorder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Homophobia, Medical content, Self harm, Violence, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

avasbookmark's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Body horror, Sexual content, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Vomit, and Violence