Reviews tagging Gore

Her Body and Other Parties, by Carmen Maria Machado

32 reviews

joppiereading's review against another edition

Short story collections are a hit or miss for me. 

If this were a physical book, I would skip ahead until I got to a story that was no longer about

Spoiler

Law and Order

. It is too repetitive and absurd in audio form. 

But I adored the first stories, especially the story about the ribbon. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Gore, Body horror, Rape, Gaslighting, Sexism, Child death, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Death, and Body shaming

cassbarker's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

whilst there was much to love, i was left feeling a bit eh from some of the stories. the first had me completely hooked, but ended up plateuing out. it's very show don't tell in the way she feeds you each story, but i do think i will read her other work. the imagery was outstanding, moments of light gore that managed to make me feel yuck and i loved it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Body shaming, Gore, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Body horror, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Death, Violence, Injury/injury detail, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Pregnancy, Medical content, Murder, Rape, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Abandonment, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Mental illness

Minor: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Incest, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Bullying, Pedophilia, Cannibalism, Suicide, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, and Child abuse

Illness outbreak, epidemic ("Inventory"). Unreality ("Especially Heinous"). Insects ("Eight Bites," "The Resident"). Illness ("The Resident").

lmaloney's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Wow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcohol, Physical abuse, Self harm, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Addiction, Gaslighting, Gore, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Confinement, Dysphoria, and Eating disorder

Minor: Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infertility, Child abuse, and Cursing

dromedaryreader's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I loved some of the stories in this book. Others seemed lazy and were too caught up in small details to work as a short story. Eight Bites, Mothers, Difficult At Parties, and The Husband Stitch were my personal favorites. Inventory and The Resident were alright. I was not a fan of Real Women Have Bodies or Especially Heinous.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Gore, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Misogyny, Outing, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Medical content, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Suicide

florecita_lectora's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Dysphoria, and Gore

Moderate: Violence, Misogyny, and Sexual violence

Minor: Miscarriage

travelseatsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

It's hard to put into words just how striking Carmen Maria Machado's writing is. I read In The Dream House at the start of the year & was left bereft yet craving more. I wanted to immediately dive into Her Body & Other Parties but waited a few months as I wanted to appreciate it in its own right & in its entirety. 

 

What I found in the pages behind the striking cover was another world of brilliance which captured my imagination fully & left me wondering with every carefully chosen word. 

 

As with any collection of short stories some will have more resonance than others with every reader but overall I found that even if I didn't necessarily 'enjoy' each short story while reading, every single one left me pondering for quite some time after. The perfect example of this was Especially Heinous which felt almost a little bit tedious at times as I was going through the individual episodes, but eventually unfurled into a creepy & oppressive portrayal of the indeed tedious, relentless & pervasive acts of violence against women. 

 

In all honesty there isn’t a story within the collection that didn’t leave some kind of a mark on me or didn’t leave me sitting struck & deep in thought but some of my favourites which really struck a chord with their brutality & honesty were The Husband Stitch, Inventory, Real Women Have Bodies, The Resident & Difficult At Parties. 

 

The whole book is bursting full of so many moments and quotes to relish, digest and just linger on that I’ll definitely be buying a physical copy to reread and devour again and again. I rarely buy books due to fortunately receiving ARCs & having the use of a fantastic library system but I need, not even just want, to have a copy of Her Body & Other Parties on my shelf to return to. 

 

Carmen Maria Machado is a writer like no other & Her Body & Other Parties conveys her innate ability to write pieces which are visceral, haunting, brutal & deeply thought-provoking. 

 

Powerful, surreal and simply stunning. 

 

(It is a book I want to recommend to everyone but due to its dark thematic nature & at times perplexing story arcs I can admit it may not be for everyone so I’ve included TW in comments & happy to chat about these if you’re considering reading it.) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Blood, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Death, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

ruthbreakher's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

The book is confusing at times, but maybe I just need to read this like I'm a engl 302 teacher

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Body horror, Blood, Gore, Eating disorder, Death, Violence, Injury/injury detail, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical content

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Vomit, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Rape, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Murder, Medical content, Grief, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Death, Toxic relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

miamcmillan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

i’m not entirely convinced i like this book but it is incredibly Present in my thoughts and my friend pearl said this provocativeness was conducive to a piece of art and i think they’re completely right. some of the stories made an overwhelming impression on me and some i can barely remember but it was an out of body experience reading this book and i felt almost separate from myself. some thoughts i had while talking about it with pearl because i think they are the best way of describing how i feel: 
- it feels so overwhelmingly 21st century to me and i feel that’s not what the author was going for so in a way i feel guilty for not interpreting it like the artist but then stupid for that because art is supposed to be interpreted by the onlooker but then it makes me wonder whether actually she intended for us to have a collective reaction after all and she’s just a genius at creating it im not sure 
- the resident has affected me so deeply i think the line that’s sticking with me is when one of them calls the speaker ethereal because to me she felt almost cumbersome but not in a bad way. it was eerie and beautiful and i cannot get it out of my head 
- i keep thinking about how some of the stories were so obvious and some were absolutely incomprehensible (to me)
- especially heinous felt like a mixture of both to me. like it confused me as a concept but it was also weirdly addictive and beautifully done and i keep coming back to it. the almost positive ending felt disjointed in the context of the collection but it was even more strikingly hopeful because of that. i also like associated it so strongly with b99 in this like hazy summer soup of just gotham city energy that it almost removed any law and order intention or themes around it and it was so interesting to see how it affected me in a way i’m not sure it was supposed to (but then again maybe it was). maybe because the city was breathing and bleeding and heart beating so much i felt connected to it (in a way it reminded me absolutely unintentionally of the weird evocative mess of new york and the contrast with the version i read of it in detransition baby)
- real women have bodies had a line about fingers being tied into grommets which was intensely unnerving 
essentially i don’t think i liked the experience of reading it at all but i also liked it for making me uncomfortable. i think some stories personally will stick with me more than others and some i will probably forget. i think overall it is very much worth reading just to see what resonates and what doesn’t. a very interesting and subversive debut <3  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

daismcvic's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Death, Sexual harassment, Murder, and Gore