Her Body And Other Parties

Her Body and Other Parties is an electrifying and provocative collection of feminist short fiction. The anthology uses a mixture of horror and fabulism to comment on societal constraints on the female body, sexuality, and artistic expressions. There are eight stories, all conveying an eerie and oppressive atmosphere, making this a perfect read for the past Halloween season. 

There are a few tales I felt I could not review due to their abstract quality, I didn’t quite understand them so my review would not do them any justice. However, I’ll review my favourite stories of the collection in more details here.

THE HUSBAND STITCH: 
"Brides never fare well in stories. Stories can sense happiness and snuff it out like a candle."
Set in a world where girls are permanently adorned with ribbons around various body parts, this story explore men’s insatiable appetite for the ownership of the female body. Interspersed within the story are snippets of cautionary tales featuring nameless women and the happy endings they are so often denied. After reading the book, I learned this particular story is a retelling of “The Green Ribbon”, and you can find the Buzzfeed summary of the original here: https://www.buzzfeed.com/lyapalater/for-everyone-thats-still-fucked-up-over-that-stor?utm_term=.jj9WAx4rJ#.vwoO2WaVg – if you’re not already familiar with the story, I recommend reading The Husband Stitch beforehand!

INVENTORY: 
A woman takes stock of all the sexual exploits throughout her lifetime, it’s a dispassionate roll call filled with both men and women. In the background, the societal order is being dismantled by a deadly virus. It spreads via physical contact. The disease disseminates as the narrator encounter various lovers. A potent yet bleak examination of the force of one woman’s sexual desire.

REAL WOMEN HAVE BODIES: 
"The rustling and trembling of the fabric could be weeping or laughter."
An utterly haunting and inventive tale about a high-fashion dress boutique. Glam is home to bespoke dresses thrumming with life and personality: ‘Mermaid cuts in salt flat white… The Ophelia, which looks perpetually wet. Ella Wants a Second Chance, the exact shade of a doe standing in a shadow.’ On the contrary, the women who wear these dresses become faded simulacrum of their former selves, literally fading into thin air. It’s a cutting and decisive commentary on the dark side of fashion and identity.

EIGHT BITES:
"It was a mouth, a single mouth that once ate and now just says, ‘I feel really, really good.’"
A story about body image and the complex relationship between mother and daughter. The narrator yearns for the body she once had before the birth of her daughter. At the same time, she recalls her mother’s absolutely discipline when it came to food consumption: ‘Eight bites are all you need, to get a sense of what you are eating.’ Her appearance weighs heavily on her mind, she views her weight as a measure of self-control and self-worth. Her inner demon manifest in a very realistic way – turning this devastating tale into a visceral horror about the monster within.

THE RESIDENT
"What is worse: writing a trope or being one?"
Our narrator finds herself in Devil’s Throat, an artist retreat filled with impossible figures – it promises to nurture her writing ability. This story contain numerous complex layers: on artistic vision, on freedom on expressions, on the colonisation of thoughts and crippling imposter syndrome. Like other tales within the collection, it’s an intoxicating mix of dark delights and very real, human horrors.

---------
If you’re a fan of the strange and the monstrous, of the beautiful and the impossible, of emotionally charged tales and spine-chilling horrors – you should definitely check out Her Body and Other Parties. It’s one of those collection that will resonate differently with every individual, and I would love to hear your interpretations on the stories if you’ve read them!

While reading the book, I found that something shifted irreversibly within me. The book is a collection of intense stories, of women empowered and fragile, soft and brittle, scared and scary, all at once. The writing is the best I’ve read in a while, the words hitting me like shrapnel, cutting open parts of me I was too scared to touch.

Occupying a woman’s body on this planet means many things to many people and I think the book is helping me process my relationship with my body as well as confront my many denials about the world we live in. I love being in my female body, I find strength in it and I find solace. I worry for it and I protect it as best as I can but I also work hard to not let my fears for my body get in the way of my life. I’m happy that I’ve found a book that helps me reconnect with these feelings.

Her Body and Other Parties is a deeply impactful read and the stories within it are certain to stay with the reader for a long time after they close its pages. It actually reminded me quite a bit of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, as this is the only other book that has left me feeling this kind of way - is it hollow, is it horrified? I really don't know. 
The first story, The Husband Stitch, is the one that resonated the most with me out of all of the ones included, which I think was aided by the fact that it struck me as a modern-day version of the folklore tale of Melusine. In the tale that first appeared in the mid-to-late 1300, Melusine is a water spirit whose only request to her husband is to be left alone every month to bathe, whereas in Carmen Maria Machado’s The Husband Stitch, the woman's only wish is for her husband not to touch the ribbon tied around her neck. Both men fail at fulfilling the desire and I can’t help but wonder what that says about how much the ownership of women’s bodies, as well as the relationship between men and women, has changed in nearly 700 years. I’ll leave that for you to decide.
The other successes of the collection are Inventory, Real Women Have Bodies, Eight Bites, and Difficult at Parties but, like the majority of short story anthologies it played a host to a couple of weaker stories. Mothers, one of the earliest in the collection, is one whose point went completely over my head. Honestly, I have re-read it around four times now and, though the writing is absolutely gorgeous, I still do not have the foggiest clue about what the majority of the tale is about. But, by far, the biggest disappointed was Especially Heinous, otherwise known as the Law & Order: Special Victim’s Unit story and the one that I actually went into Her Body and Other Parties dying to read. 
Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love crime shows - Criminal Minds, Bones, but SVU especially. My grandma and I have actually managed the mammoth task of watching every single episode of the show’s mammoth 19 seasons, but that did not mean that this story made anymore sense to me. Honestly, it was a major disappointed and actually read a quite a lot like fan fiction, which is something I mention primarily because of the story’s choice to romantically pair Olivia up with both the DA and Stabler (both of which have been shipped heavily by fans of the show) at various points in this mishmash of episode synopses. 
Overall, this was an incredibly thought-provoking and sometimes rather harrowing, collection of stories and one that, no matter whether I understood what was going on or not, let me feeling some kind of way. Carmen Maria Machado’s voice is rich and haunting and unique, and one that I definitely want to hear more from in the future.

Her Body & Other Parties is a book of incisive short stories that combine bodies, sex and relationships, horror, science fiction, and pressing issues in imaginative ways. The main characters are mostly women, living in uncanny worlds that can be apocalyptic, magical, and/or unnervingly almost real. In one, the truth about a dress shop and the women slowly going incorporeal drives an employee away from the store. In another, the ribbon around a woman’s neck becomes a mysterious focus in a story that highlights the act of telling stories and of the sounds of telling them aloud. Others play with structure—an inventory of sex that depicts a virus epidemic across the globe, a story told using Law & Order: SVU episode titles—or with common issues like dieting and motherhood, in ways that rethink how these things can be considered.

To describe the stories doesn’t quite do justice to the freshness and imagination of the collection, not only in the ideas and the blending of magical realism, sci-fi, horror, and the reality of life, but in the way they are written. The writing style is distinctive, creating atmosphere and digging deep into the female protagonists. These women have varied relationships with their bodies, different dynamics with their male and/or female lovers, assorted pasts and futures, but what unites them all is the way their stories are both real and surreal.

Some of the stories will likely have a greater effective on different people—as someone who actually thought the acronym was SUV, the Law & Order structured one passed me by quite massively—but this is an important collection. The stories do exciting things with ideas and writing, and the use of the uncanny and the monstrous to highlight issues particularly around women’s bodies and sexualities is creative and thought provoking.

I have never in my life read a collection of stories quite like this. It blew my tiny mind. Masterfully mixing different genres Machado’s stories blend magical realism, horror, sci fi and comedy into tales that are as relatable as they are fantastical. The re-imagining of the tv show Law and Order SVU (my favourite show) as a modern gothic horror-fantasy was as intriguing as it was mind-boggling. The re-imagining of the classic tale of the green ribbon was erotic and tragic, it is well placed as the first story in the collection as it demands the readers attention immediately and sets the tone for the rest of the book. I loved them all but if I had to pick a favourite it would be Inventory, the story of a woman recounting her sexual encounters against the backdrop of an apocalyptic plague. Her writing is poetic and caustic, queer and frantic, beautiful and otherworldly. Give this book to all your friends, they need to know about it.

Sometimes you come to a book because you have heard so much about it that it becomes impossible to avoid. I often try to do so anyway, until the hype dies down and I can actually enjoy it naturally, without ridiculous expectations. I do the same for movies, which is why I still refuse to watch Easy A. The same was happening with Her Body And Other Parties, only that I was intrigued by its premise that I still went for it. As a consequence I had pretty high expectations of Machado, and she managed to meet each and every single one of them. Thanks to Serpent's Tail and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I adored this collection. There is simply no other way of putting it. What I adore about short story collections is how they allow authors the space to explore different topics, writing styles etc. while uniting them under a single theme or idea. Her Body and Other Parties does this beautifully. From the very first story, Machado turns a sharp eye to the female body and all that affects it. Growing up female often means that you grow up torn, constantly questioning and doubting your body and how it looks. Why is your hair like that? Why are your legs not thinner? How dare you wear a bikini if you're not skinny? What I myself have realised over time is that it takes very long before you actually come to appreciate your body, its strength and power. In Her Body and Other Parties Machado looks at the female body from different angles, at its ability to create life, to feel love and lust, to be used and abused, to house a fragile mind. She truly does something unique here and I will be returning to this collection often.

The stories in Her Body and Other Parties are stunning. From the first tale, 'The Husband Stitch', Machado drags you into the world of women's bodies and the tales these tell. In a sense 'The Husband Stitch' is the best example of that, as the narrator chronicles her life with her husband and the mystery of the ribbon around her neck, while relating tales she has heard of other women. There is a mystical suspense to the story which consistently leaves the reader with a sense of unease and fear, yet also a desperate desire to know, to look into the darkness and confront what you find there. This feeling continues throughout all the stories, whether it's the tragically lyrical 'Mothers' or the horrifying 'Eight Bites'.The collection's last story, 'Difficult at Parties' is a perfect finale for Her Body and Other Parties, combining Machado's clear-eyed observations, a sense of lurking unease, and a revelation that feels like a punch in the throat. 

Carmen Maria Machado weaves magic with her words in Her Body and Other Parties. Usually I don't like it when blurbs draw connections between new authors and well-established "Greats" because it sets unfair and impossible expectations. In this case, however, those comparisons are completely justified. I was struck by how much the spirit of Her Body and Other Parties did indeed remind me of Angela Carter. Not because of its theme or topics, but because of the bravado and inventiveness with which Machado writes. These stories are a tour-de-force, each taking a different approach, working with a different style, and yet bringing home its point with a gentle forcefulness. You have a story like 'The Husband Stitch' which is filled with little asides, instructing readers how to "perform" certain emotions and events in case they're reading the story out loud. There is 'Especially Heinous', one of my personal favourites, which reads like an episode guide for Law & Order: SVU but with completely new and wildly outrageous stories. 'The Resident' feels like a psychological thriller, while 'Inventory' configures itself both as a memoir of relationships as well as a dystopian story. And throughout it all Machado's writing is sharp and precise, ranging between beautifully descriptive and provocatively uncanny. 


Her Body and Other Stories has so much to offer to a reader willing to dive in, no holds barred. Each story will throw up a different question to which there is perhaps no immediate answer. But that is what good books are supposed to do, make you wonder and doubt, reassess and discover. Her Body and Other Stories will make an incredible addition to anyone's bookshelf!

I loved Her Body and Other Parties and for once think that the hype is completely justified. There are not enough words to praise this collection and what it tries to do. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to be surprised and shocked, engaged and horrified, provoked and soothed. GO READ THIS BOOK!

Viseral, vivid, its been a long time since I've read a collection of short stories which made such an impact on me. I've recommended this book to all of my friends - male and female.

Part of what excites me about reading a debut author’s book is the originality of voice I might discover. The short fiction in “Her Body and Other Parties” by Carmen Maria Machado is so wild and inventive with an impressive variation in structure and subject matter shown from story to story. Often they branch into supernatural or surreal territories where women fade away into the stitching of designer dresses or the spirits of dead prostitutes with bells for eyes haunt a female detective. One story takes place in a post-apocalyptic landscape where the narrator numbers the amount of lovers she’s had, another occurs at a housewarming party that goes awry and one is centred around a clothing shop which seeks to “terrify our patrons into an existential crisis.” But, while this fiction often spills into a wonderful absurdity, I frequently felt an emotional resonance which made it seem very real. Throughout the narrators or characters are disarmingly assertive which gives these tales a confidential and urgent tone: “you may have heard some version of this story before but this is the one you need to know.”

Many of the stories take a different slant on the complications of desire and sex, often describing lesbian affairs or relationships. They also involve complicated ideas about women’s bodies, femininity and the way women present themselves. One that deals with this explicitly is ‘Eight Bites’ where a woman gets “bariatric” surgery in an effort to get thin after all her sisters have already done so. She asks in this “Will I ever be done, transformed into the past tense, or will I always be transforming, better and better until I die?” This is such a fascinating take on the philosophical tension between becoming and being. It’s so exhausting how our lives are frequently concerned with trying to lose weight, get fitter and eat better. Machado has a talent for dredging up all this anxiety which sounds like a low hum throughout our lives. The protagonist of the fable-like ‘The Husband Stitch’ insists that a certain adornment on her body cannot be touched like a private bit of the self that must be preserved and when this is violated she literally comes undone. Another story ‘Real Women Have Bodies’ shows women wilfully melding into designer clothes in a way that seems to provoke questions about the importance we place on fashion and commodities to enhance our sense of self-worth.

I was surprised at how Machado could stir in me feelings of nostalgia with precise descriptions of a thing or sensation I haven’t felt in a long time. For instance, she describes “hard candies twisted in strawberry-patterned cellophane” which I can recall and visualise so precisely as if their colourful wrappers were more exciting than the taste of the candy itself. Or, at one point, a character remembers being a child sitting in front of a humidifier and breathing in the dense mist being pumped out. It’s fascinating how she can use these descriptions to reach back in time to our former selves recognizing in them a more vulnerable or innocent state in our lives. One of the most sombre instances of this is the story ‘The Resident’ where a writer travels to an artists’ residency which happens to be situated on a lake where she spent time as a child camping with a troop of Brownies. Her creative process seems to compel her to physically confront her younger, more awkward self and produces an almost complete breakdown.

As with all the greatest absurd fiction, humour treads closely alongside darker sensations of dread. There are some wickedly funny and original descriptions of people from “a man mean as Mondays” to someone accused of being an “aggressively ordinary woman.” There's also many amusing commentaries on modern life: “Benson is sure that her smartphone is smarter than she is, and finds it deeply upsetting.” Quite often I felt compelled to read on just because I was fascinated to see where she'd take the story next. When it felt like the stories were becoming too ridiculously unhinged I'd come upon a line which felt startlingly heartfelt: “something inside of me is breaking, I am a continent but I will not hold.” Not only does her narrative frequently burst into odd and unfamiliar territory but the form of the story itself is often a revelation. This ranges from instructions that the listener of this tale should cut the reader's hand to the novella ‘Especially Heinous’ which takes the form of episode/season summaries for a supernatural detective television show. Only occasionally did it feel like the stories became so abstract as to be completely alienating like some sections of the stories 'Mothers' and ‘Difficult at Parties’. But, overall, this is a collection filled with such wondrous delights and sharp edges that I revelled in the experience of reading it.

3.5 stars.

A collection of surreal, visceral, highly original short stories that are quite unlike anything I've read before. Machado's words are so tangible and full of texture, I was completely absorbed in the language she used to tell her stories. Several of the are quite shocking in the way the brutal way they discuss the strange everyday violence of life - being sick, recovering from major surgery, recovering from an assualt, even having passionate sex. 

Certainly these stories are experimental, with varying degrees of success. I found myself riveted by 'Especially Heinous', a surrealist take on Law & Order SVU episode listings, but then it went on for slightly too long. 'The Resident' is, for me, the stand out story in the collection (I am still thinking about it days later), but I was left confused and disorientated by the conclusion. 'The Husband Stitch' is excellent. 

I was ultimately left with mixed feelings, slightly deflated by the endings of several of the stories, but there is no denying that Machado is an exciting writer with a sumptuous grasp of language and a plethora of original ideas. I will certianly be keeping an eye out for her future work.

Delightful, strange, full of guts and feelings, and a profoundly feminist text. I loved this collection. Her Body and Other Parties deals with the lovely, disgusting, heartbreaking, and sometimes traumatic experiences of embodiment--what it means to be a body in the world. And if you like SVU, but can't quite figure out *why,* because it's so much about dead and brutalized women, I think you'll like "Especially Heinous."