Written by Carmen Maria Machado
Review written by Diana Iozzia
When I receive a complementary galley from a publisher, I'm not always sure what to expect. I rarely read reviews of the book prior to opening it up, because I always feel I might become biased or read something I don't want to. I was very hopeful for this book, because my favorite type of reading to do is reading collections of short stories. The themes of romance, science fiction, comedy, horror, and psychological realism (that are mentioned on the back cover) intrigued me. There also is an underlying theme of LGBT, which was interesting, as well as a teeny underlying tone of feminism. Neither of which made me interested in reading the book, because those topics I relate to, but they don't interest me.
Also, I rarely have ever rated something as a 5 star. My 5 stars are often set for books that I would re-read over and over again. I'll probably read this book another 10 times in my lifetime. I truly rate this as a five star book. A five star review does not mean that I think the book is flawless, that every story intrigued me, that I sat on my bed in denial that I had finished it, but I was kind of disappointed that there wasn't anymore. I can tell you for a fact I will be watching for more books in the future by this author. Anyway, let's begin.
The book is a collection of eight short stories. To review, I'll mention a little about each story, and my thoughts and opinions on it.
"The Husband Stitch" is a great retelling of the classic kid's creepy story "The Girl with the Green Ribbon". I thoroughly enjoyed this adaptation, but was a bit disturbed by the lack of mentioning any resources or credits to this story, and the many other stories mentioned in the book, that were clearly ripped from "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" and "In a Dark, Dark Room". I loved this story as a kid, so I enjoyed the retelling, but didn't like the lack of citing sources.
"Inventory" was a woman listing her sex stories, but it frames around a viral outbreak and plague that engulfed the country. The sex stories were not the main focus, and I like how this was told to explain the plague.
"Mothers" is a very confusing and not very interesting story about a woman who adopts???? is given???? steals??? has??? a baby. I read through this twice, and I still really don't understand this story.
"Especially Heinous" is practically a fanfiction story of "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit", but with plots that have the lead detectives encountering supernatural beings. To be honest, I read about a page, and then skipped the entire rest of the story. Again, no credits. I'm surprised the author hasn't received a lawsuit.
"Real Women Have Bodies" is a very interesting Black Mirror-like story about a dress shop worker who discovers something strange about the dresses, in a world where women fade away randomly. It seems like it's a condition that's developing for all women, but I don't really understand the story fully, I think.
"Eight Bites" is about a woman who goes through bariatric surgery, who hallucinates that she sees the part of her person she removed from herself after the surgery. Weird. Confusing. Not the best out of the collection.
"The Resident" is probably the best story and most well-written story in this collection. I think it could have been wonderfully written into a novella or a novel of its own. In this story, our narrator visits a writer's retreat in the woods, meets many different and eclectic characters, and then suffers a very strange fever and a disturbing mental breakdown where she learns truths about herself. It's a very mysterious and strange read, and I don't know how to explain that anymore without giving it away.
Lastly, the final story in the collection is called "Difficult at Parties". Our main character seems to have been raped or sexually assaulted in the past, and now she is trying to reappear and reenter the world she knows after her tragedy. She arrives at a party, and doesn't have the greatest experience.
In conclusion, I absolutely loved this book. Certain stories I liked less, but this is a really cool and unique collection of stories. I highly recommend this. I will be storing this book in my collection for years to come.
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