Hardcover, 245 pages
English language
Published June 18, 2017 by Graywolf Press.
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 …
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 naively assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgangers, 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.
So thrilling, smart, witty, tender, erotic while being uneasily and spooky. Such an enjoyable reading! My favourite chapter surely has to be the detective story.
Reminiscent of [b:Friday Black|37570595|Friday Black|Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519263290l/37570595.SY75.jpg|59181816], and I realize it’s unfair of me to say that because Her Body is the earlier work. What I mean is the gimmick: the stories all take place in a reality eversoslightly off-center from ours, recognizable yet alarming. It’s an ingenious and effective device: Machado’s matter-of-fact depiction of daily misogyny, and that world’s casual acceptance thereof, shines a spotlight on the injustices that our world turns a blind eye to.
The stories are hit or miss, but in reading my friends’ reviews I was delighted to find differences of opinion in which was which. Delighted, because it means thoughtful conversations lie ahead from which I may learn.
Scathing and honest, full of sparks
I wanted to read this because 'In The Dream House' has been on my tbr for a long time now. Although both differ widely in their genre, I wanted to make myself familiar with Machado before going into it.
This did not disappoint, not even slightly. The first story, The Husband Stitch, is by far one of my favourites, not only of this collection but in general. My only complaint with these stories is that they lacked a sense of coherency. I would've liked it more if they would've wrapped up with more intelligence (not that they aren't already, to some extent), and maybe the purpose of them is ambiguity (then, I'm the dumb one here). But, yes, anyway, I loved these, and I really hope Machado decides to write a full-length fiction someday.
A collection of astonishing, unapologetically queer, and remarkably crafted stories. Fantastical but not ridiculous or gimmicky. Haunting and horrific and wondrous.
Very enjoyable, eerie collection of stories. I found the SVU section to be a bit tedious, but I appreciated its inclusion.
Reading these stories is like having someone take your skin off, turn it inside out, and show it to you.
A lot of (positive) sex, and inner world upsets to reality. The strong 2-3 stories excel at mood.
Fascinating, slightly unsettling but very well written. I didn't like the novella in the middle of the book, since I was specifically looking for short stories, but I guess I could have skipped it. I'll have to read it again anyway, since I'm not sure I understand even half of it. I did like the actual shorts though, especially the last one, Difficult at Parties. There is a lot of potential for thinking on end about the stories.
A collection of dark and unnerving stories that crash through the borders of horror, magical realism, erotica, and literary fiction to deliver something unique. Many of the stories left me unsettled for days, resisting simple interpretation but nonetheless asking leaving something planted in my consciousness that made me keep thinking of them days later, wondering what really happened to the characters.
Beautifully written, interesting perspectives, very timely. Loved it.
