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Her Body and Other Parties

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'Her Body and Other Parties' by Carmen Maria Machado is a collection of dark and compelling short stories that delve into themes of horror, body autonomy, feminism, and sexuality. The stories range from eerie retellings of urban legends to surreal summaries of Law and Order SVU episodes, all with a focus on the struggles faced by women and LGBTQ people. Machado's writing style is described as colorful, compelling, and powerful, with each story offering a unique perspective on the female experience.

Characters:

Characters are complex and often centered on female experiences, grappling with trauma and societal expectations.

Writing/Prose:

The writing style is lyrical, vivid, and at times surreal, characterized by poetic prose that creates an eerie atmosphere.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot consists of various short stories combining magical realism and horror, focusing on women's lived experiences, societal pressures, and urban legends.

Setting:

Settings vary widely, often contributing to a haunting and surreal atmosphere that enhances emotional tension.

Pacing:

The pacing is uneven, with some stories engaging quickly while others are lengthier and require more contemplation.
In the beginning, I know I want him before he does. This isn’t how things are done, but this is how I am going to do them. I am at a neighbor’s party with my parents, and I am seventeen. I drink half ...

Notes:

The book is a collection of short stories by Carmen Maria Machado.
It explores themes of female sexuality, body image, and societal expectations.
The first story, "The Husband Stitch," is a retelling of the urban legend about a woman with a green ribbon around her neck.
Machado incorporates elements of horror, magical realism, and feminism.
The story "Inventory" recalls the narrator's past lovers against a backdrop of a plague.
"Especially Heinous" parodies episodes of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit in a unique format.
"Real Women Have Bodies" depicts women mysteriously disappearing, turning into mist.
The collection is described as having haunting and lyrical prose with a blend of dark humor and tragedy.
Readers note some stories can be ambiguous and open to interpretation, leading to varied reactions.
The book has received critical acclaim and was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Triggers include sexual violence, body image issues, trauma, and explicit sexual content, all of which are prevalent throughout the stories.

Has Romance?

There are elements of romance interwoven throughout the collection, but it takes a backseat to the exploration of deeper themes.

From The Publisher:

Finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction

"[These stories] vibrate with originality, queerness, sensuality and the strange."-Roxane Gay

"In these formally brilliant and emotionally charged tales, Machado gives literal shape to women's memories and hunger and desire. I couldn't put it down."-Karen Russell

In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women's lives and the violence visited upon their bodies.

A wife refuses her husband's entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store's prom dresses. One woman's surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella "Especially Heinous," Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a show we naïvely assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgängers, ghosts, and girls with bells for eyes.

Earthy and otherworldly, antic and sexy, queer and caustic, comic and deadly serious, Her Body and Other Parties swings from horrific violence to the most exquisite sentiment. In their explosive originality, these stories enlarge the possibilities of contemporary fiction.

Ratings (52)

Incredible (14)
Loved It (14)
Liked It (14)
It Was OK (4)
Did Not Like (4)
Hated It (2)

Reader Stats (156):

Read It (52)
Currently Reading (2)
Want To Read (74)
Did Not Finish (3)
Not Interested (25)

2 comment(s)

Did Not Like
1 week

This just wasn't the short story collection for me. Didn't enjoy any of the stories and couldn't see where the hype came from. It's well written but it still didn't work for me.

 
Loved It
7 months

lgbt short stories with a tinge of horror

 

About the Author:

Carmen Maria Machado's work has appeared in Granta, The New Yorker, NPR, Electric Literature, and elsewhere. She has been nominated for a Nebula Award and a Shirley Jackson Award, and was a finalist for the Calvino Prize. She lives in Philadelphia.

 
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