Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

55 reviews

lily_eames's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

One of my favorite books of 2023. Machado’s short stories are incredibly unique and diverse, combining genres in a way I’ve never seen. The only story I didn’t love was the Law and Order: SVU one, which I DNFd. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Mental illness, Death, Rape, and Violence

arbramirez's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Stalking, Rape, Medical trauma, Grief, Domestic abuse, Child death, Blood, Sexual assault, Infertility, Incest, Drug use, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Hate crime, Sexual content, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Kidnapping

frogreads_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This book is lovingly and hauntingly well-written. Even though i didn't understand the analogies in some stories (and looked up each story after) i adored the way each one was written. I am left both hollow and full; the way a truly good book does. 

The only reason this is not marked higher is because of my difficulty of understanding. Some of these stories are red hot wires of pain and trauma and then they're gone- and im left grasping to find the purpose of the story itself. I look forward to the day the author releases a longform story and we are allowed to grow, blossom, and die with the main characters. 

Her characters are deep from the start and complicated like a dream you barely remember. All of these stories are feminist, predominantly queer, and have an edge of mental health and i appreciate them for that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual content

Moderate: Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy

In my opinion some of these stories read like you are going through a dissociative fugue. You jump around and know as much as the main character does to the point where you are affected too-left feeling lost and confused, but taken all the same. This is very much in the stories The Resident and Mothers. Could be triggering for those who experience dissociation and/or derealization.

intoblossom's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Body horror

Moderate: Violence, Rape, Eating disorder, and Misogyny

velvet_young's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Eating disorder

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

Minor: Violence, Murder, and Death

freja's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Misogyny, Grief, Rape, Sexual violence, Death, and Violence

gerose04's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A

3.5

 It’s not my favorite book, but I definitely enjoyed reading a lot of these short stories. Some of them dragged on, but others really kept my attention. In particular I liked The Husband Stitch.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence, Fatphobia, and Rape

Minor: Homophobia

helhas3letters's review against another edition

dark 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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Kidnapping, Sexism, Child abuse, Child death, and Death

Minor: Animal death, Colonisation, Fatphobia, Medical content, Murder, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Blood, Body horror, Dysphoria, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, and Homophobia

ehponies's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

A phenomenal selection of contemporary feminine gothic narratives that lovingly reincorporate the grotesque, the fantastic, and the practices of great women authors of the genre such as Shirley Jackson to reconstitute parables for the modern, abject subject.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, and Physical abuse

bashsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Her Body And Other Parties taps into the horror of being seen as a woman - and emphasizes it with a fine and careful touch of the surreal. Thought-provoking and cerebral, Machado doesn't hold back on displaying the female body in all its gory glory. It is unsettling and horrifying, but in a very real and relatable way - there are no jumpscares here, only uncomfortable truths. Like all short story collections, I liked some of the stories more than others (I enjoyed "Inventory" and "Especially Heinous" the most) though they are all worth a read, as every story in this collection churned in my mind for days after reading it. I can't wait to see what Machado writes next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Body horror, Alcohol, Animal death, Vomit, Death, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Violence, Eating disorder, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, and Sexual harassment

-Explicit description of a flu-like illness. -Explicit description of popping pimple-like welts.