Reviews - Your Body is Not Your Body

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Your Body is Not Your Body by Alex Woodroe

132 reviews for:

This book was absolutely incredible. Going into it, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to directly relate to the topics being discussed, so I took a little longer to read this anthology to make sure I understood what each short story was trying to say and what each perspective was. This book made me extremely emotional. A lot of stories reminded me of experiences some of my friends have told me about, and I found myself putting the book down very often either due to intense contemplation or intense emotions. As I mentioned, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to directly relate to the stories - there was one story in particular that caused me to cry for a good while because of how much I related to and understood it. “Why We Keep Exploding” is, without a doubt, the most powerful short story I’ve ever read. All of the stories were very well written and each one will definitely continue to have a long lasting impact on me. I literally cannot stop thinking about this book and will most likely pick it up again for a reread soon.

jackass's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book is really intense. Some stories are deeply beautiful, some are a mindfuck bloodbath rampage, and some aren’t particularly good. It was a slow read for me as I had to put the book down after most of the stories and come back with a clear head for the next one. I don’t mean to imply that the violence/gore was particularly overwhelming, it’s just that many of the stories carried weight and depth that I had to take time to process.

Content Warnings

rh2riordan's review against another edition

5.0

dark tense medium-paced

zorawitchin's review against another edition

4.75

Nobody does body horror like trans people. I liked most of the stories. Check the trigger warnings in the back of the book though. The .25 off is for not putting them at the front of the book.

onceuponatime's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This anthology has a surprisingly even quality throught – usually a problem with anthologies. I love love love body horror, especially one made my non-cis folk

znnys's review

4.0

Like any collection of short stories, there are some hits and some misses, but this is definitely an anthology that will stick with me for a long time. This is a huge collection of work and really thematically brilliant, with all the stories exploring gender and identity through a horror/speculative lens. Some of my favorites were The Flensing Lens, High Maintenance, Brother Maternitas, The Same Thing That Happened to Sam, Hybrid, Why We Keep Exploding, Lost in Reincarnation, Because My Mother Tells Me So, Gender Envy, The Divine Carcass, Chironoplasty, and Tiny Magic. A lot of these stories came from names I'd never seen before and it was a delight to discover so many talented new authors. I hope to see more from many of them again soon!