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Lou Grande (148 KP) rated Her Body and Other Parties: Stories in Books

Jul 17, 2018  
Her Body and Other Parties: Stories
Her Body and Other Parties: Stories
Carmen Maria Machado | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, LGBTQ+
9
6.0 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
Short fiction is hit or miss for me. I think it's actually a harder genre to write than long, sprawling novels. You have to be concise and hard-hitting, and Machado certainly achieves that in her collection here. Her stories are lush with description, beautifully vague and precise at the same time. These stories hit me on a visceral level. And they really span run the gamut: from a retelling of an urban legend ("The Husband Stitch," which plays off of the story about the little girl with a green ribbon around her neck--you know the one), to the centerpiece of the collection, an offbeat, surreal "parody" of Law & Order: SVU entitled "Especially Heinous: 272 Views of Law & Order: SVU"). Each one had me stopping after I finished, rereading certain passages, and pouring over the text again. I never do that! I'm a speed reader! But these stories demand that you take your time.

At its heart, Her Body and Other Parties is about women--especially queer women. Machado brings something of herself into each of these stories, or so she has said. The storytellers are often unreliable, but never in a degrading or dismissive way. We see stories overlapped with stories, creating intricate layers of narrative. This is not a book for a casual experience. It demands your attention, and it's good enough to deserve it. A masterful blending of prose, horror, comedy, and magic realism, Her Body and Other Parties will be read in universities for years to come. Mark my words!
  
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ClareR (5674 KP) rated Fourteen Days in Books

Sep 22, 2024  
Fourteen Days
Fourteen Days
Margaret Atwood, Douglas Preston | 2024 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I enjoyed Fourteen Days, and it was a very handy book to read at the time. I was hanging around a hospital (my mum was ill, but recovered now), and the short story style was just what I needed to distract myself when I couldn’t really concentrate.

This is set in New York, and is based around an apartment block during the Covid 19 lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic. The inhabitants meet on the roof, keeping the required distance from one another, and tell stories of their lives pre-Covid.

A constant background is the noise from the ambulances delivering sick people to the nearby hospital.

Fourteen Days was written by several authors, each telling the story of a different inhabitant of the apartment block. The reader isn’t aware of who has written which story until the end. I liked this, because it didn’t give me any preconceived ideas of what the stories would be like - and there are some very different writing styles. The janitor runs throughout the novel, collecting all of the stories, telling her own story and trying to solve an ever-present mystery within the walls of the apartment block.

An enjoyable book, and I can definitely say that its a great book to dip in and out of when you’re short on time (or read all one one go if you can!).
  
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Hazel (1853 KP) rated Polaris Awakening (Polaris Anthology, #1) in Books

Dec 17, 2018  
PA
Polaris Awakening (Polaris Anthology, #1)
Kellie Sheridan | 2015
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
<i>This eBook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Polaris Awakening</i> is a young adult science fiction anthology containing several short stories about the human race thousand of years from now where everyone lives aboard giant space stations. <i>Polaris</i> is a collaborative project between numerous authors that are rising up in the young adult world: Kelli Sheridan, E. Latimer, Erica Crouch, Janna Jennings, Hannah Davies, Terra Harmony and Meghan Jashinky. Although each story is different, they all revolve around <i>Polaris</i> – the largest human built space station in the universe.

Despite the different authors’ input, it could be easily believed that only one person wrote the anthology, as their writing styles are so similar. Whilst being labeled as science fiction, there are a lot of themes throughout the book such as a dystopian setting, social and political injustice, romance and violence. There are many strong male and female characters, which make these stories suitable to readers of both genders. The main characters are roughly the same age as the target audience thus generating appropriate language and scenarios for young adults to read and become interested in.
Naturally, some of the stories are better than others. Some are so full of action and suspense, making the reader want to stay with those characters forever, whereas others feel rather short and incomplete. What happens to those certain individuals once they are off the page?

Whilst reading this book I kept thinking about a novel that was recently published: <i>Way Down Dark</i> by J. P. Smythe. The plots of these short stories were very similar to the general story line portrayed within that book. The setting was almost the same as the spacecraft written about by Smythe. If you enjoy this anthology, I am sure you would also love <i>Way Down Dark</i>, and vice versa.
  
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