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A review by thegoblinempress
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
2.0
I've been meaning to read this collection for years, ever since it was released and praised so widely, and I was certain it was a collection I was going to enjoy. Sadly, this wasn't for me.
Reading Her Body and Other Parties feels like watching the news. I've come out of this collection feeling glum and underwhelmed, and to be honest if glum's what Machado's going for then she's achieved what she set out to do. I'm getting tired of books described as 'feminist [insert genre here]' being so damn bleak, though.
There's no denying that Machado is a talented writer and she's a writer I will definitely try again in future as I have a feeling In the Dream House will be more up my street than this book ended up being, but even the stories I enjoyed were so depressing. I think my favourite was the first story in the collection, "The Husband Stitch," simply because it's the one story I'm 100% sure I understood. Honestly I could just be an idiot who hasn't got what the stories in this collection were trying to do, but sometimes I don't want them to do anything--sometimes I just want a story, and so often these stories ended in such a way that I didn't feel any kind of resolution.
It doesn't help that Machado's writing style leads us to spend our time with characters who feel pretty held at a distance throughout the collection, so not only are these stories often a bit of a bummer but I didn't feel as though I got to know any of the women particularly well either.
I would also have to agree that the longest story in the collection essentially being a bizarre piece of Law & Order: SVU fanfiction was such a strange choice. Though weirdly it's a story I'm more likely to remember than some of the others.
There's not much else to say aside from that Her Body and Other Parties bummed me out. Don't get me wrong I wasn't expecting happy stories at all, but when I hear a collection described as feminist I'm hoping for stories that aren't about women being and remaining miserable.
Reading Her Body and Other Parties feels like watching the news. I've come out of this collection feeling glum and underwhelmed, and to be honest if glum's what Machado's going for then she's achieved what she set out to do. I'm getting tired of books described as 'feminist [insert genre here]' being so damn bleak, though.
There's no denying that Machado is a talented writer and she's a writer I will definitely try again in future as I have a feeling In the Dream House will be more up my street than this book ended up being, but even the stories I enjoyed were so depressing. I think my favourite was the first story in the collection, "The Husband Stitch," simply because it's the one story I'm 100% sure I understood. Honestly I could just be an idiot who hasn't got what the stories in this collection were trying to do, but sometimes I don't want them to do anything--sometimes I just want a story, and so often these stories ended in such a way that I didn't feel any kind of resolution.
It doesn't help that Machado's writing style leads us to spend our time with characters who feel pretty held at a distance throughout the collection, so not only are these stories often a bit of a bummer but I didn't feel as though I got to know any of the women particularly well either.
I would also have to agree that the longest story in the collection essentially being a bizarre piece of Law & Order: SVU fanfiction was such a strange choice. Though weirdly it's a story I'm more likely to remember than some of the others.
There's not much else to say aside from that Her Body and Other Parties bummed me out. Don't get me wrong I wasn't expecting happy stories at all, but when I hear a collection described as feminist I'm hoping for stories that aren't about women being and remaining miserable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Body shaming