Her Body and Other Parties: Stories

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I still don’t understand all of these stories and I’m not sure I’m suppose to... and a few I liked more than others Going mad, Machado seems to suggest, is a perfectly reasonable response to the world we’re living in. But if you’re writing the story, at least you’ll be building yourself your own attic. Trigger/Content Warnings: childbirth, death, sexual content, misogyny, sexual assault, deadly virus/epidemic, domestic abuse, murder, sexual assault of a minor, suicide, blood, Gore, incest, kidnapping, fatphobia, animal death, body horror, vomit I cannot tell if they are holding on for dear life or if they are trapped. The rustling and trembling of fabric could be weeping or laughter.” pg. 137 so, i've found that horror can be written in very short stories and still be incredibly scary...so i went looking for horror shorts.

Feminism: 5/5 again. She uses the ribbon as an allegory for what it is to be female in society and how scary that is but also just, a fact of life? And she doesn't trash talk the men while she does this which is really impressive. Characters, 5/5. The husband is a sweet, loving person, and even though we KNOW he will ultimately be her downfall (when he allows his curiosity to overcome him and that kills her), we still love him as the girl does. This is really impressive since usually, when I read a story about a woman falling for a man who is definitely going to be her downfall, it's just frustrating to watch and makes me angry. But this story is so well written, that I understand why she loves him even though his nature will kill her. There are a lot of people talking about the metaphors here. like in feminism and what not. The husband pushes for years and years for the woman to take off her ribbon and finally, she gives and lets him take it off. Only to have her head roll onto the floor and him be horrified. and that's pretty much what it's like being with a man in general. being pushed beyond your limits (even when you've proven time and time again that you will do almost anything for them), being accused of keeping secrets (even when those "secrets" are literally just parts of you that you don't enjoy talking about), and being shown that your boundaries aren't sacred (goes with being pushed beyond your limits) and being made fun of or being rejected or gawked at.Her Body and Other Parties is a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction, and it is truly the debut of a dazzling, fearless new voice in the world of short stories. While I wish I could talk to someone about what they think happened in some of the stories, I honestly can't stop thinking about the worlds Machado created, and how masterfully she reeled me into them. I only know how to scream,’ she said. Marcel placed his hand on her thigh. ‘And that’s all anyone wants from me.’

Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2023-01-12 13:50:50 Associated-names Machado, Carmen Maria. Husband stitch; Machado, Carmen Maria. Inventory; Machado, Carmen Maria. Mothers; Machado, Carmen Maria. Especially henious; Machado, Carmen Maria. Real women have bodies; Machado, Carmen Maria. Eight bites; Machado, Carmen Maria. Resident; Machado, Carmen Maria. Difficult at parties Boxid IA40089309 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier a b Robbins, Ellie (September 27, 2017). "Carmen Maria Machado's 'Her Body and Other Parties' reclaims the female body in subversive, joyful ways". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved December 20, 2021.No summary. Uhhh... somebody please explain what the hell this story's ending means? Because I honest to god do not understand. I think I kind of loved it, though. Maybe worth a reread. At the same time there is life energy in these stories through women’s bodies....beautiful women’s bodies... Favourite line? ‘Only then did I see the crystal outline of my past and future, conceive of what was above me (innumerable stars, incalculable space) and what was below me (miles of mindless dirt and stone.) From The Resident

You may recognise the setup from that hoary old horror story “The Green Ribbon” (inexplicably retold for first graders in the US by Alvin Schwartz in In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories, thereby traumatising a generation). Machado folds many folk tales into “The Husband Stitch”, from the modern classic about the hook-handed murderer disturbing teenagers who are making out in a parked car to stories of a girl who is dared to go to a graveyard after dark and an old woman who must find a liver to cook for her husband. Oh my God. This was the best short story I have ever read in my entire life. I'm writing this review in tears, because it was so immensely powerful. My hands are shaking, because this story is so real and so relevant. My stomach is in knots, because I'm not sure any combination of words I will create will do this story justice. This story is very feminist and very sexually explicit, but so damn important. It's about the life of a woman, who gives everything to men and never is allowed to keep anything for herself. It's about life's expectations on women, and how society shapes the choices we do and do not have. It's about how, no matter what, giving everything will never be good enough as a woman. It's about enjoying and exploring your sexuality, yet trying to cope with the shame. It's about never fully being able to become the person you are, but becoming the person your husband and/or family require you to be. It's about having children, who will just repeat the same vicious and unfair cycle. I wish I could put this story in everyone's hands. This was another tough one to rate, because it felt so incredibly personal; I literally, at multiple times, thought, "Am I reading an autobiography?" It tells the story of a writer who goes to a writer's retreat in an area where she once had a childhood "incident" with her Girl Scouts group, but we are left guessing as to what the incident was for most of the tale. In a nutshell, it's a story of learning to accept who you are and how you feel about yourself, as well as the world around you.

If you think of works of fiction like works of art, Carmen Maria Machado's debut story collection, Her Body and Other Parties, is an abstract painting. It's undoubtedly gorgeous and attention-getting, there's no one right way to interpret the things you see (or read), everyone will see something different in it, and each time you look, you'll catch something you didn't see the first time. You may also find yourself wondering, "What did that mean?"

Hood, Mary Angeline. "Desire and Knowledge: Feminist Epistemology in Carmen María Machado's "The Husband Stitch" ". The Journal of Popular Culture. 53 (5): 989. ISSN 0022-3840.Eight Bites - Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts". texas.gulfcoastmag.org . Retrieved 2019-08-13.