A review by miamcmillan
Her Body and Other Parties, by Carmen Maria Machado
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
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, and Gore
Moderate: Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence