Then we have a story (‘Mothers’) that isn’t quite as good but, at this point, only in an ‘ah this story isn’t quite as good as the previous two, never mind, that’s to be expected in a short story collection’ sort of way. Part of the problem comes through in the difficulty of explaining just what happens (there’s a woman, her most recent lover turns up at the door with a baby they made together – the first hint of the uncanny in the fact that two women made a baby together through sheer force of will – and we see their love alongside our narrator’s difficulties looking after a new baby then there is a trip, a house, a little girl of ten or eleven and – honestly, I couldn’t tell you how the story resolves itself). Imagine a slightly more academic Kelly Link and you won’t go far wrong. Each of these stories are formally experimental, clever, funny, readable and shocking. The former is an up to the minute riff on Anna Kierstead’s ‘The Green Ribbon’ with fiercely arch reader instructions thrown in for good measure, the latter basically a list of shags set against a growing contagion. Her Body & Other Parties opens with a double whammy – ‘The Husband Stitch’ and ‘Inventory’ are both pretty damn great. On top of that little seesaw (which it’s worth having in your mind if you’re thinking of approaching the book) is the fact that some people are absolutely blown away by Her Body & Other Parties (see the Financial Times’ review quoted in the paperback, ridiculously proclaiming “Machado stands alongside Shirley Jackson and Margaret Atwood…”, as if Her Body & Other Parties is so good it rivals all of Jackson and Atwood’s combined work…).įirst of all, then, what is there to like? Well, there are good stories here, stories that work viewed close (in terms of the words that make the sentences) and from 10,000 feet (in terms of the narrative structure). So you can see where it tilts along the interesting/uneven axis. Some reviews are, like, Machado is a really interesting writer and, yeah, you could say the book is uneven if you want to split hairs but let’s focus on what an interesting writer she is and some reviews are more Yes, Machado is interesting, no doubt, but boy o boy is this collection uneven. The other reviews of the book we’ve looked at place themselves at various points on a range that is essentially, Machado is an interesting writer but the collection is somewhat uneven. That’s the one word review of Carmen Maria Machado’s debut short story collection, Her Body & Other Parties.
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