Review | Her Body & Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

A collection of eight short stories featuring the various lives of women as they deal with relationships, marriage, work and motherhood. The stories are experimental, fantastical, even apocalyptic. But at its core the stories are about women and the price they pay to survive.

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

This is a brilliant, haunting collection of short stories about womanhood and queerness. Women live in a society that puts importance on bodies and beauty and how they’re supposed to behave. This book tries to subvert that and create characters who defy expectations and embrace their wanting. Sadly, they don’t always get what they need. There is a violence inflicted towards them by others and by themselves, and it makes for a bleak reading.

The stories venture into magical realism and doesn’t always explain everything which might be frustrating to some readers. But I love the originality in them and how they made me think. There were moments where I feel seen and it’s not often that my feelings are captured on page. The horror in each story may not seem obvious but the worst tends to appear in unexpected moments, like when a loving partner refuses to listen, or when a familial relationship goes sour.

My favourites are ‘Real Women Have Bodies’, about women who become invisible but remain alive and ‘The Resident’, about a woman on a writing retreat who uncovers the trauma of her past. There is a scene in the latter where the main character confronts another woman and it’s such an affirming, powerful scene. I also liked ‘Eight Bites’, about a women who undergoes surgery to lose weight and ends up with something more. My least favourite story is a retelling of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. I used to watch the show so I understand where the story is going but it is far too long and doesn’t feel complete. But each story has value and brings something different each time.

Overall, Her Body & Other Parties is an outstanding debut and I look forward to read more from the author!

About the author: Carmen Maria Machado

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