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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
Some of the stories were really good. It's well written and interesting, a review of what it is to be a woman. I haven't read many books that have so much lesbian representation and I'm here for it. Some of the stories kind of flopped. 5* for some 2* for others. I would recommend
“A little wordy and hard to read.” That grammarly commercial comes to mind when I think about this book. This was my first book back into leisure reading since high school and it was a big mistake
Stunning. I balk at writing a review that covers it all. Each story speaks to every woman’s experience without tripping into any of the pitfalls that would make such stories unspecific.
Gruesome, graphic, poetic, necessary. Unbelievable that this is a debut. I will be certain to pay attention to anything else this brilliant author puts out.
At the risk of sounding too generic, I have to mention the last story in this collection, “Difficult at Parties.” A whirlwind tour through the mind of a woman who has been victimized by an act of violence and the desperate search for true connection and intimacy that she experiences in the days following. It’s haunting, it’s painful, it’s realistic. It is a story like this that I lament at the personal nature of reading; how can I convey the arrow straight to the heart that Machado has launched at me? How could I possibly explain to anyone that this experience is so nearly my own, after having survived an assault only a year ago? From the disconnect she has with others’ words to the gentle suggestions from people in her life that she move out of her apartment, I, in a way, lived this story.
This is what makes her stories so full and rich- commutability. I have no doubt that someone who hasn’t had my experiences can read this story, this collection, and have it resonate as deeply with them. It is the type of universalist feminist literature that demands study but requires only emotion and surface reaction.
If you are, have been, want to be, or know a woman, read this collection. If you’re a fan of horror that torments long after the story has ended, read this collection. If your relationship with your body oscillates between average and below-average, read this collection. I cannot overstate the personal connection I have to these stories, but I also cannot overstate the belief that anyone can have them. Go and find yours.
Gruesome, graphic, poetic, necessary. Unbelievable that this is a debut. I will be certain to pay attention to anything else this brilliant author puts out.
At the risk of sounding too generic, I have to mention the last story in this collection, “Difficult at Parties.” A whirlwind tour through the mind of a woman who has been victimized by an act of violence and the desperate search for true connection and intimacy that she experiences in the days following. It’s haunting, it’s painful, it’s realistic. It is a story like this that I lament at the personal nature of reading; how can I convey the arrow straight to the heart that Machado has launched at me? How could I possibly explain to anyone that this experience is so nearly my own, after having survived an assault only a year ago? From the disconnect she has with others’ words to the gentle suggestions from people in her life that she move out of her apartment, I, in a way, lived this story.
This is what makes her stories so full and rich- commutability. I have no doubt that someone who hasn’t had my experiences can read this story, this collection, and have it resonate as deeply with them. It is the type of universalist feminist literature that demands study but requires only emotion and surface reaction.
If you are, have been, want to be, or know a woman, read this collection. If you’re a fan of horror that torments long after the story has ended, read this collection. If your relationship with your body oscillates between average and below-average, read this collection. I cannot overstate the personal connection I have to these stories, but I also cannot overstate the belief that anyone can have them. Go and find yours.
I like it and I don’t like it.
The author is without a doubt extremely talented. Each of the short stories are completely different settings. They are immersive and feel like being planted in the middle if the story.
I just am not motivated to read a collection as much as i am motivated to read a long book.
These stories make me uncomfortable but they have important messages for and about women.
The author is without a doubt extremely talented. Each of the short stories are completely different settings. They are immersive and feel like being planted in the middle if the story.
I just am not motivated to read a collection as much as i am motivated to read a long book.
These stories make me uncomfortable but they have important messages for and about women.
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think that Carmen Maria Machado is remarkably talented. Her prose style is polished and elegant, with descriptions that evoke the contexts and inner landscapes in haunting ways. Like many readers, I was sometimes confused, but I tend to like this kind of confusion (for example, I loved the films Memento and Mulholland Drive). Stories that challenge our assumptions about reality are worth the effort, I think. That said, I plan to reread this book, now with the knowledge of where it ends (I think Machado has said that the order of the stories was deliberate). As T. S. Eliot said in considering Dante, "genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood" (this was certainly true for me and Eliot's poetry). The same has proved true for me in fiction.
Still my idea of the perfect book, and inventory and especially heinous are my idea of perfect surrealist short stories. Carmen, your mind. I feel so seen.
In all their weird, creepy uncomfortability, these stories make me feel incredibly seen. It’s been almost a year since I discovered Carmen Maria Machado’s short stories and they never seem to get any less impactful. As with any collection, Her Body and Other Parties has strengths and weaknesses, but the ability to address such varied experience, fears and traumas through such poetic eloquence is a talent I can only hope to someday possess