A review by everie
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

It's interesting--I don't feel like I loved any one story (aside from the first one). But that's because almost every one of them sucked me in so much, only to end abruptly (or go on way too long--we'll get to that one). Most of the endings didn't live up to the jouney, but the journey was so incredible that I'll definitely keep an eye on Machado's future works. 

The first story is my favorite. There's really no way to live up to every demand of patriarchy--she's the perfect woman for him, then the perfect wife, but to guard anything within herself is seen as a temptation to unwrap. And when all the mysteries are gone, what then? But I don't think there's only one theme there, of course. Lots to think about, lovely to read, and least meh ending.

Others fell a little flat. And then there's the Law and Order SVU saga.

I feel like Machado wrote this as a personal challenge and then halfway through realized just how many episodes of SVU exist. If it had been half as long, it would have been hilarious. Insteeead it turned into a slog

after the detectives' doubles vanished for the first time

and circled the drain for many many pages. Which may have been the point, poking fun at the endless grimmness of SVU bizarro-world New York City, where weirdos are doing the Worst Crimes Imaginable every 0.5 seconds and it's up to Whozit and Whatzer to be exposed to the horrors. But yeah. There'd have been nothing wrong with cheating a little and skipping like 3 seasons in between.

Excited to see what she does next!