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

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

I'm not going to lie-- I was not endeared to this collection right away. It is clear that the author is a very strong writer and her imagery invokes some very visceral pictures, which drew me in utterly... but almost every story revolved around sex, if not as a theme, then as a common denominator between character actions. Characters mourn and have sex. They cry and stick their hands between each others legs. Sex is described as if it is the basic state for couples to fall into, which I suppose it can be. Desire for sex is lost and the guilt is a driving conflict between two characters who continue to watch porn like daytime television. There's even two scenes that nearly mirror each other in two different stories, where the POV character is a voyeur to two others having sex and becomes turned on by it. 

 There is so much sex, entirely too much sex for my comfort level. So, perhaps, it is less of an indictment and more of a compliment that I continued to read these stories regardless of the overt sexual bend to them. 

Most of the stronger stories are later in the book. Some favorites:

I found "Real Women have Bodies" and "Eight Bites" to be especially beautiful and poignant. 
"Especially Heinous" was very unusual, but fun and, I think, spectacularly creative. 
"Difficult at Parties" was beautiful in it's rendition of grief and loss in the face of a traumatic incident. 
Against everything, I did enjoy "Inventory" in the story it told, even if it was through the lens of every sexual partner the POV had ever had. 

Less engaging was, unfortunately, the introductory piece, "The Husband Stitch," which I found to be stuffed too full of conceptual commentary (saying the same thing entirely too many time) and then predictable to boot. "Mothers" started strong, but ended confusing and difficult to follow, even with an elaborate second read. "The Resident," while profound in it's writing, went nowhere fast and fell flat at the end for me, though I enjoyed the journey there. I do appreciate that it was less sexual than some of it's counterparts. 

Overall, a strong 4* read from me. The later stories did a lot to strengthen the collection as a whole, and I came to respect the authors perspective more. 
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