Her Body and Other Parties

A collection of short stories. 4+ stars for The Husband Stitch (I correctly guessed the plot twist early on, but it was still a fun read!) and The Resident. The other stories were a mixed bag for me.

2.5

Ah, this one just didn't do it for me. I'm not sure if it was the writing, or the length of these stories or what. Most of them fell very flat. I did change my mind- I do see why this shows up on horror lists, there is a ton of body horror here.
I maintain that “Inventory” is one of the best things I have read in years. It read like an episode of Black Mirror. That one is worth the price of admission. The rest...eh. Glad to finally get it off my TBR list, where it has been for a long time.

This week I learned that Matt had never heard the story of the woman with the green ribbon around her neck! I don't know if this is because his family is normal while my dad liked to tell weird and freaky stories to us as kids, or if this is one of those knowledge gaps that you think everyone knows but somehow he missed it.

That story re-telling, The Husband Stitch, was one of the strongest. I also really liked Eight Bites, and Real Women Have Bodies. My biggest issue with this collection was that too few of the stories had actual conclusions/endings. Some were too ambiguous, or strange enough as to be inconclusive, and I needed just a tad bit more. Even just a sentence!

(I read a few pages of the SVU story, Especially Heinous, before skipping over it, since I've never watched an episode of Law and Order, and didn't know what I was supposed to be getting out of it.)

8 impeccable weird stories.

I felt like I wasn't smart enough for this book.

These stories are harrowing but great. Like I'm not sure I ever want to read it again ‘cause the overall impression is kind of... grim? But also I think feeling uncomfortable is kind of the point and the stories are extremely effective.

Disclaimer: I did not read Especially Heinous in its entirety and do not include it as a part of my review as I don't think it fits in this collection.

I enjoyed the writing immensely and the dark magical realism twist in all the stories. I will definitely be checking out more of Machado's work.
The Resident was my favorite story because the atmosphere was so crystal clear and ominous but the themes wrenching and true.
I do have to give kudos to the first story for really pulling me in, as I think the rest of the stories were curated perfectly and set in the best reading order.

Her Body and Other Parties is certainly atmospheric, and covers many important topics. Machado is clearly talented. That said, this really wasn't for me. I struggled to get through it and considered DNFing, and it's not long. Often I'm good with and even gravitate to heavier reads, but if I'm going to read something upsetting, I want it to do more than just upset me. I have a working theory that I might just be too squeamish for somatic horror. Like that film The Lobster, or [b:Friday Black 37570595 Friday Black Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1519263290s/37570595.jpg 59181816], a recent read. I don't want to hear this much about bodily fluids and medical ailments. Leave me alone.As with all anthologies, some of the stories worked better for me than others, and some reminded me of other texts. The Resident kind of reminded me of The Shining. Inventory kind of reminded me of [b:Severance 36348525 Severance Ling Ma https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1507060524s/36348525.jpg 58029884], but everything reminds me of Severance. If you like magical realism and feminism, this is an instance of overlap, and I'm not sure how common that is. But take it from me, don't reach for this if you're looking to unwind before bed.

This anthology is very tricky to pin down, which in many ways is probably intentional. It is horrifying and funny and deeply strange. Carmen Maria Machado's protagonists exist in ways that allow them to be barely attached to reality, and yet they still manage to fall in love, to feel fear, to fuck with exceptional gusto. Reading this is a bit like stepping through a veil, and occasionally getting confused and tangled up in the drapes.

The stories I loved, like really loved, are probably in the minority. Those are definitely “The Husband Stitch,” a re-telling of the urban myth of the girl who won't take off the ribbon around her neck, and “Real Women Have Bodies,” a story of a woman working in a dress shop as the world endures of a plague in which young women are literally fading away. I thought about “The Husband Stitch” for days afterward. I never thought of the story of the girl with the green ribbon as a morality tale about consent, but it absolutely is. They should tell that story in sex ed class. “If your girlfriend tells you no, think of that ‘no' as a green ribbon around her neck,” is what I would say if I was a my 9th grade sex ed teacher. Would that be too much? Would I traumatize kids with that? Of course, I definitely would not recommend this story, as Machado tells it, to teach, because wowzers is it a sexy story. It's a little bit weird to reduce what in any other circumstances is a healthy, happy couple with a good relationship down to their sex life. Machado would let you believe that the only thing these two did for eighteen years was fuck. But more than that is the betrayal at the core of the story - that regardless of how much you love and respect a man, he can still do you irreparable harm by not respecting your boundaries. The fact that this is something that good men are perfectly capable of is an important point to put at the front of this anthology.

“Real Women Have Bodies” is one of the stories in this collection that reflect Machado's interest in unusual apocalypses, and I appreciate when an author discusses the end of the world in such matter of fact ways. It's hard to say what conclusions Machado wants us to draw from this story, but perhaps its simply more about what it is like to not exist anymore, and whether as woman that's good thing or a bad thing. “The Inventory” is similar, though a little more literal, as it is about a woman recounting her series of lovers while an unnamed plague sweeps across the nation, killing her friends and family, decimating civilization, and forcing her deeper into hiding. Like with “The Husband Stitch,” “The Inventory” makes me feel like I've been unbearably prudish with my life, while also showing how someone can feel so alone while being intimate with others, and how they can feel loved and a part of whole when isolated from the rest of the world.

Stories like “Mothers,” “Eight Bites” and “Difficult At Parties” sat in a middle ground for me. Though I am quite intrigued by the device of “Difficult At Parties” where a woman develops the ability to hear the thoughts of performers in porn films after enduring a sexual assault, what Machado did with that concept I found more frustrating than anything else. “Mothers” is a fascinating, evocative story about a woman who somehow conceives a child with her abusive ex-girlfriend, that gets increasingly more abstract and by its end I couldn't tell what was up or down. “Eight Bites” is more straight forward, a magical realism perspective on a woman getting bariatric surgery. While I liked this story, as a woman who has been thin all her life, there's probably quite a bit that went over my head.

Then there were stories that I just didn't know what to make of. “Especially Heinous,” a kind of bizarro fever dream fan fiction of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, was clever and funny and strange at first. And then it kept going and I felt like I was being sucked down a strange USA marathon K-hole. “The Resident” likewise I struggled to get into, though it does possess what is quite possibly my favorite paragraph that I have read this year:

“It is my right to reside in my own mind. It is my right,” I said. “It is my right to be unsociable and it is my right to be unpleasant to be around. Do you ever listen to yourself? This is crazy, that is crazy, everything is crazy to you. By whose measure? Well, it is my right to be crazy, as you love to say so much. I have no shame. I have felt many things in my life, but shame is not among them...You may think that I have an obligation to you but I assure you that us being thrown together in this arbitrary arrangement does not cohesion make. I have never had less of an obligation to anyone in my life, you aggressively ordinary woman.”

You heard it was good yes? Yes it is good. #bookclub4m

Like any collection of short stories, some I liked and some I didn't. For the most part I enjoyed everything except for Especially Heinious. I don't know what it was about that one but I really didn't like it!

Highly recommend listening to the audiobook while walking alone in the woods.

I struggle with short story collections and this one was no different. There were a few stories that resonated with me, including The Husband Stitch, Eight Bites, and Difficult at Parties. However, most of the stories left me feeling confused and convinced that I missed something important, particularly the story Especially Heinous - a 50-page long short story that is a series of Law and Order: SVU episode synopses. I think this book is probably really good but just not for me.

This collection is so dark and subversive and unsettling and AMAZING. I will definitely read the entire book again, and still may not feel like I quite grasp everything the author wants to convey. Standouts for me include Inventory; The Husband Stitch; Eight Bites.....but there is not a single story I don't want to experience again. Completely absorbing. Very recommended.

‘'What magical thing could you want so badly they take you away from the known world for wanting it?''

This book is one of those cases when you feel someone calling your name. From the enticing cover to the cryptic tale. Naturally, this being a short story collection falling into Literary Fiction, Magical Realism and Gender Studies, finding itself in my hands was unavoidable. This proved to be a very special, extreme adventure.

Machado writes with bravery, clarity, and confidence, centering her stories on sexuality and beauty from the perspective of women who do not follow the flow or adjust to society's demands and conformities. In frank, open, haunting writing, she stresses how the body becomes a projection of the way women have been viewed- and are still viewed- in our societies. Beauty, sexuality, everything is preconceived, even in our modern, sophisticated world. More so now, I believe. Many support- either consciously or not- that you must change when you are different or you will find yourself ostracised. This notion was obviously much more common in the past. In my opinion, today we have a different kind of isolation. The psychological imprisonment, the bullying, the feeling that you simply aren't good enough. We let others decide and throw parties on our bodies and our souls. Why? Because we need acceptance. What if we don't find fit the image of beauty and grace others have already cultivated for us?

The Husband Stitch: A woman, born with a green ribbon on her neck, finds love and creates a beautiful family. Or does she? A dark tale that becomes darker with references to urban legends and tragic folk myths. Absolutely brilliant.
Inventory: A woman remembers past lovers as a deathly virus is slowly destroying the country.
Mothers: A very complex story, centered around a horribly dysfunctional relationship, where reality blends with the memories of a shattered mind. This is one of the most powerful moments in the collection.

‘'Stabler never told Benson about his little brother. But he also never told her about his older brother, which was understandable, because he didn't know about him, either'' (If this isn't perfect sarcasm, I don't know what is...)

Especially Heinous: Machado imagines plot lines for episodes of the TV series Law and Order: SVU or whatever its name is. Frankly, they are so much better than the actual episodes of the actual series. The only problem is I found this to be completely irrelevant to the overall tone of the collection but it was hugely entertaining.
Real Women Have Bodies: Women become mist. Suddenly and without any comprehensible cause. They turn invisible while clothes become alive. This is a story of the complex relationship between us and our bodies which become even more perplexing as we grow up. Body positivity, anorexia, the notion adopted by many men that our bodies are theirs to use as they see fit since the beginning of time. Who and what decides how a ‘'real'' woman should look like? This is such a beautiful, tragic tale with a beautiful relationship at its heart and haunting descriptions of the misty women.

‘'Foxes wove through the streets at night. There was a white one among them, sleek and fast, and she looked like the ghost of the others.''

Eight Bites: One of the most profound stories in the collection. Young women have to undergo surgeries to remain thin. Eight bites. That's what they can eat. Eight bites to keep the perfect body intact.

‘'Do you ever worry'', she asked me, ‘'that you're the madwoman in the attic?''

The Resident: This is the most perplexing story in the collection. It gave me quite a lot of trouble in trying to classify it so to speak. A woman finds herself in an old-fashioned hotel, occupied by bohemian artists that are not what they seem. Is it a horror story? An allegory? Probably a combination of the two. It is certainly haunting, sensual and atmospheric but I didn't find it particularly interesting. If anything, it seemed a bit pretentious.
Difficult at Parties: A story of trauma, abuse and obsession that crosses the lines. I found parts of this tale distasteful and, for me, this was the dud of the collection.

Despite the (very) few issues, this is a raw, haunting, brave collection. I recommend it without any hesitation but I don't think it is for everyone. If you are uncomfortable with certain dark thematic elements, there's a chance you may not enjoy it. However, I know that most of us are brave readers, attracted to dark and controversial themes and to books that make us think....

‘'There are strange evenings when the sun sets but it rains anyway, and the sky is gold and peach and also gray and purple like a bruise. Every morning, a fine mist coats the grove. Some nights, a bloody harvest moon rises over the horizon and stains the clouds like an alien sunrise.''

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com

This is another book off my Wronged Women list - women who have been part of the #metoo movement. Specifically the ones that have come out against Junot Diaz and Sherman Alexie, but I hope to expand it to others as well. Her Body and Other Parties is a collection of eight surreal stories. Magical Realism is probably the best categorization for them, as they're not really fantasy. Real World stories with a touch of magic, or events that we're not sure whether they could be magic or are just in the narrator's head.

The Husband Stitch is the first story, and it's a retelling of an old children's story that I recently saw being discussed on Twitter - the one with the woman who had a green ribbon tied around her neck. Her husband always wanted to ask about it, but she refused to answer any questions about it, and wouldn't let him touch it until she was on her deathbed. In Machado's version, it isn't just the narrator that has one. Every woman does. It's different colors, in different places, but it's still never talked about. I think she means it as a metaphor for trauma. It works well.

Eight Bites is a particularly haunting piece about self-hate, body acceptance, and peer pressure. It's probably my second favorite story after The Husband Stitch.

The only one I didn't love was Especially Heinous. It was written as episode synopses of a television show, and it was interesting, but it just went on too long.

All of the stories are written well, though, and each one makes a different point. I think this would make an amazing Book Club book, because I'd love to discuss the meanings of the stories with other people. Other women, specifically. It would definitely be a great book for discussion.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

DNF at 71% Might finish this at some point but right now it's not pulling me in like it did in the beginning.

A great story collection, both in the quality of the stories and how well they hung together while still touching several genres. Sometimes the speculative elements felt a bit too on the nose for me (mostly in “Real Women Have Bodies” and “Eight Bites”) but the emotional truth of the stories was always very strong.

I heard so much about this book, and I so very much wanted to like it more than I did.

There are stories hung loosely on narratives that are really just lists of things, or a description of lists of things. An inventory of sexual experience during a rando plague of some sort. Descriptions of Law & Order: SVU plots, but not really the plots; and I would rather have read a story with what was going on rather than what I read, because that got incredibly tedious. There were some more formally structured short stories with slight horror elements, but the ends delivered no punch. There was cleverness abounding, but it did not signify enough. And that's a shame.

Also, multiple times in the first few stories, there were references indicating popping cherries. HYMENS DON'T WORK LIKE THAT. I'm over cherries being popped, because they aren't.

I'm fine with the erotic elements, the anger, the bitterness. Those are what I like. I just wanted better stories and less gimmick.

All amazing stories, except for ‰ЫПEspecially Heinous‰Ыќ which went on for much too long.

06/07/2019 Edit: Eff it, 5 stars. This is such a good collection and has stuck with me.

Original review:
(This review can also be found on my blog.)

I love weird fiction and I love short stories and I love literature with a feminist slant, so this collection was 100% for me. Machado's writing is just beautiful and the prose in every piece stands out so strongly. There were only a couple pieces that fell flat for me, the rest of the collection was fairly hard-hitting. I definitely recommend this to everyone, but warn that there are a lot of sensitive topics tackled, so anyone with triggers should proceed with caution.

Brides never fare well in stories. Stories can sense happiness and snuff it out like a candle.

My rating for each story:

Her Body and Other Parties ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Inventory ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mothers ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Especially Heinous ⭐️⭐️
Real Women Have Bodies ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Eight Bites ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Resident ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Difficult at Parties ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“It's not that I hate men,” the woman says. “I'm just terrified of them. And I'm okay with that fear.”

I actually had to double-check my math, because it turns out that these scores averaged out to 4.75 stars. I guess the two-star story threw me off. I'm rounding down to 4 on Goodreads because it just doesn't feel like a five-star collection to me. There was just... something missing. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. It's just not quite there for me yet. I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for future works of Machado's.

READ THIS BOOK! I found each story imaginative, compelling, thought-provoking, and deeply moving. One of the best short story collections I've ever read.