Book Review: Her Body and Other Parties

Her Body and Other Parties 
by Carmen Maria Machado

(Finished reading: 3/6/19)

4/5 stars

Deep, unsettling, magical.

“(If you read this story out loud, please use the following voices:
ME: as a child, high-pitched, forgettable; as a woman, the same.
THE BOY WHO WILL GROW INTO A MAN, AND BE MY SPOUSE: robust with serendipity.
MY FATHER: kind, booming; like your father, or the man you wish was your father.
MY SON: as a small child, gentle, sounding with the faintest of lisps; as a man, like my husband.
ALL OTHER WOMEN: interchangeable with my own.)”

Her Body and Other Parties is a collection of eight short stories by Carmen Maria Machado that cover themes such as feminism, horror, sexuality and dystopia. In their simplest forms, The Husband Stitch focuses on a woman who permanently wears a green ribbon around her neck. Inventory focuses on a woman recalling her sexual history throughout an apocalypse. Mothers explores themes of motherhood. Especially Heinous outlines twelve seasons of Law & Order. Real Women Have Bodies explores a world where women are turning transparent. Eight Bites focuses on a woman who has surgery to remove some of her stomach in order to lose weight. The Resident focuses on a woman who visits the mountains for an artists' retreat. And Difficulty at Parties focuses on a woman who can read minds. But naturally, there is more to each story than you might initially assume.

I admit, I had never heard of this collection and found myself drawn to its stunning neon green cover design whilst browsing Foyles. But what really sucked me in was the first paragraph of the first story which I've quoted above. After reading this I found myself begging for more and immediately purchased without needing any further information. I haven't read many short stories before so I was intrigued going into this particularly unique and experimental style. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this collection and adored the writing style.

The stories are so fearlessly unique and have been described as urban ghost stories and macabre fairy-tales-- which I utterly agree with. Each one is strangely unsettling but not in a typical horror story way. Machado mixes this abstract and whimsical magic into an urban environment not far from our own. Each one plays with social themes but they have been mixed and tangled and drowned by a simple narrative. I particularly liked the feminist threads running through it. The stories were so cleverly crafted and written so lyrically that it almost challenged the borders of poetry and prose.

My favourite of the stories by far was the first one, The Husband Stitch, which I believe is Machado's most well known short story. I loved how it weaved the chilling contemporary folklore stories into the main narrative. I thought the story-telling aspect with the prompts of how to read certain parts was so creative and something I've never come across before. But it also explored some really important themes about women's freedom and encouraged the reader to question how much of ourselves we are required to give to others. I don't want to say anymore for fear of spoiling an incredible story but if you are to read any of these I highly recommend reading this one at the very least. It is an essential for every reading list.

I also thoroughly enjoyed Real Women Have Bodies which was super imaginative and left me feeling kind of breathless. I thought The Resident was also really interesting and had some great quotes. The only one I didn't like was Especially Heinous which I actually got bored of and gave up reading. I've never watched Law & Order so it just sort of went over my head and although the format was different I just found it dull. But that was just my personal feeling, I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts on it just in case I was missing something really clever. Other than that, I actually enjoyed all the rest but some were better than others.

What I will say is that this was by no means an easy read. The writing is clear and well written but its meaning was a little more challenging to grasp (for me at least!). The collection is only 250 pages approximately and yet it took me a few months to digest as I felt like I needed time between each story to properly digest and interpret it. I think this would be a great collection for an academic literature seminar or a social book group as there is so much I would love to explore. I'd be particularly interested to see how other people interpreted each story because there is so much to think about and so many glorious quotes to unpack. But, for me, this isn't a beach read. Sure, you could pick it up and read it all in one sitting and appreciate it for what it is on its simplest level. But what makes it so beautiful to me is its complexity and depth which definitely requires a long periods of contemplation and a pencil to underline those sentences of perfection.

Overall, if you love shows like Netflix's Black Mirror or a story that will leave you thinking for days, I think you'll really enjoy this collection. Particularly if you are a lover of queer or feminist literature with a twist. And even if you aren't, I highly recommend only reading The Husband Stitch as it's just an important story that everyone should read. Machado was supposedly inspired by Angela Carter's work so I am keen to read The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories and other similar collections as I really enjoyed this taste of short stories.