Her Body & Other Parties
Author: Carmen Maria Machado
Published by: Profile Books
Pages: 256
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★
Published by: Profile Books
Pages: 256
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★
Carmen Maria Machado demolishes the borders between magical realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. Bodies become inconsequential, humans become monstrous, and anger becomes erotic. A dark shimmering slice into womanhood, Her Body & Other Parties is wicked and exquisite.’
My thoughts:
Carmen Maria Machado's debut short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties is a unique, experimental book with inventive writing and provocative content. Each story in this collection forces you to think about its themes and come up with your own interpretation for its message.
For me this was much like most short story collections I have read in that some of the stories worked for me far more than others. It is a strange, experimental, feminist collection that often crosses into fantasy, dystopia and/or magical realism. It's weird and wild, and some of the stories take some time to sort out. But they are great.
The first story is a powerful blow to the gut and a must read. The Husband Stitch tells the tale of a woman who wears a green ribbon around her neck that she never removes. At seventeen, she meets the man she'll marry, and manages to keep her ribbon and its secrets secure until their son goes off to college. It is a creepy, beautiful, disturbing tale that I think will haunt me for a long, long time. A blend of horror stories and urban legends, The Husband Stitch explores the implications of a husband trying to control every part of his wife's life and not letting her keep anything private. The story touches on the loss of self in a relationship, and how it is often expected and demanded. The protagonist's own tale blends together with so many horror stories she has heard before.
I was intrigued by Machado's subtle plot reference to Anthony Thorne’s thriller novel, So Long at the Fair, which itself was inspired by an urban legend of the 19th century entitled The Vanishing Lady or The Vanishing Hotel Room.
I also enjoyed Inventory, and Real Women Have Bodies, where women start fading and becoming invisible at random, very much too.
The other stories were not quite as enthralling for me, but they are always menacing and disquieting. Among the weaker stories, in my opinion, was Especially Heinous, which reimagines plot summaries of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes through a surrealist lens, playing on the various acts of violence against women in such shows.
Her storytelling centres around the emotions and experiences of queer women. Carmen Maria Machado writes about women's most pressing desires and their most difficult challenges. As a side content note, this book features strongly explicit sexual content. It is not one for readers who want clean reads.
This writer is undeniably gifted and has a very distinct voice. I enjoyed most of these stories and found them intriguing. This collection is a meditation on what it means to have a body. Machado weaves together old folk tales and urban legends to create a disturbing and surreal exploration of female desire, rage, and longing.
Overall reaction:
Carmen Maria Machado's debut short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties is a unique, experimental book with inventive writing and provocative content. Each story in this collection forces you to think about its themes and come up with your own interpretation for its message.
For me this was much like most short story collections I have read in that some of the stories worked for me far more than others. It is a strange, experimental, feminist collection that often crosses into fantasy, dystopia and/or magical realism. It's weird and wild, and some of the stories take some time to sort out. But they are great.
The first story is a powerful blow to the gut and a must read. The Husband Stitch tells the tale of a woman who wears a green ribbon around her neck that she never removes. At seventeen, she meets the man she'll marry, and manages to keep her ribbon and its secrets secure until their son goes off to college. It is a creepy, beautiful, disturbing tale that I think will haunt me for a long, long time. A blend of horror stories and urban legends, The Husband Stitch explores the implications of a husband trying to control every part of his wife's life and not letting her keep anything private. The story touches on the loss of self in a relationship, and how it is often expected and demanded. The protagonist's own tale blends together with so many horror stories she has heard before.
I was intrigued by Machado's subtle plot reference to Anthony Thorne’s thriller novel, So Long at the Fair, which itself was inspired by an urban legend of the 19th century entitled The Vanishing Lady or The Vanishing Hotel Room.
I also enjoyed Inventory, and Real Women Have Bodies, where women start fading and becoming invisible at random, very much too.
The other stories were not quite as enthralling for me, but they are always menacing and disquieting. Among the weaker stories, in my opinion, was Especially Heinous, which reimagines plot summaries of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes through a surrealist lens, playing on the various acts of violence against women in such shows.
Her storytelling centres around the emotions and experiences of queer women. Carmen Maria Machado writes about women's most pressing desires and their most difficult challenges. As a side content note, this book features strongly explicit sexual content. It is not one for readers who want clean reads.
This writer is undeniably gifted and has a very distinct voice. I enjoyed most of these stories and found them intriguing. This collection is a meditation on what it means to have a body. Machado weaves together old folk tales and urban legends to create a disturbing and surreal exploration of female desire, rage, and longing.
Overall reaction: