Her Body And Other Parties

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
Published by Graywolf Press on October 3, 2017
Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Short Stories (single author), LGBT, Women
Pages: 245
five-stars

Her Body and Other Parties, by Carmen Maria Machado, was a thoughtful birthday gift from my husband. This short story collection has many of my favorites: weird plots, beautiful writing, and layered themes. Machado’s stories focus on women and crimes committed upon their bodies. There is a wide variety of story formats and genres throughout the collection. One of the weirdest stories, Especially Heinous, features episode synopses of the first 12 seasons of Law & Order SVU. The main characters’ names:  Benson and Stabler, remain the same, but Machado introduces supernatural and science fiction elements that become progressively wilder. Reading Especially Heinous reminds me of time I’ve spent reading episode synopses of shows on Wikipedia. Another one of my favorite stories was Real Women Have Bodies where a dress shop sells dresses with human souls sewn into the fabric. And in Eight Bites a woman makes the horrifying decision to surgically remove a portion of her GI tract to decrease her appetite and have a thinner figure. As a foodie this story was highly disturbing. The pressure placed on women to maintain a certain figure leads this character to sacrificing one of life’s greatest pleasures:  eating.

But the standout of this anthology is The Husband Stitch. If you do not have the time to read this entire book, I implore you to make time to read this one story. It is a literary feat that deserves multiple readings and enthusiastic discussion. You cannot read this story without thinking about the horrendous possibility that SCOTUS may soon overturn Roe v Wade. The story follows the life of a married woman and eventual mother. The woman wears a green ribbon around her neck. She never removes the ribbon, and its purpose is not revealed until the story’s conclusion. This ribbon is the only part of her body that is off limits to her husband. The husband can’t stand not knowing the secret of the ribbon. I loved The Husband Stitch so much. I want to share my interpretation of the story (mind you this is a man’s interpretation of a story that is very much centered on women’s issues).  Spoiler Warning for the Remainder of the Review!!!

I believe the ribbon represents the woman’s privacy. This was the one piece of her body she kept off limits from her husband. It was only for her. And like many straight males, the husband can’t stand part of his wife’s body being off limits to him. Even though the wife freely gives every other part of her body to her husband, he’s unsatisfied. At the end of the story the wife finally relents and allows the husband to untie the ribbon. Her head falls to the floor, and she dies. Are women really living if men have control over their bodies?

The husband stitch scene was hard to stomach. A husband stitch is an extra stitch the doctor puts into a women’s vagina after vaginal tearing from childbirth. The extra stitch is meant to create more tightness for the husband’s sexual pleasure. This is vile. Minutes after giving birth the wife helplessly listens to her male doctor and husband decide to surgically alter her body, without her consent. This reminds me of all the recent news stories of red states creating legislation that limit women’s access to abortions. These news stories are often accompanied by images of solely male politicians signing the bills that limit women’s access to healthcare.

There is a scene from the woman’s childhood when she spots a toe mixed in with the produce at the grocery store. She is insistent that she saw a toe, but no one takes her seriously. Her father explains that the male shop owner would never allow toes to be mixed in with his produce. This reminds me of how women are often not believed or taken seriously when they bravely come forward to share stories of sexual assault.

five-stars

Red, White & Royal Blue

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Published by St. Martin's Publishing Group on May 14, 2019
Genres: Fiction, Gay, LGBT, Romance
Pages: 432
five-stars

Red, White & Royal Blue was my biggest reading surprise of the year. I’ve never had any interest in the romance genre, but after seeing Casey McQuiston’s gay rom-com recommended all over Bookstagram and Booktube I decided to give it a try.  Less than halfway through the book I was fully invested.  My husband had to endure me rambling on about Alex and Henry’s dramatic romance and how amazing the book was.  I have discovered a new favorite book.

Alex Claremont-Diaz, first son of the United States, and the UK’s Prince Henry are rivals.  After the boys have a messy altercation involving a cake their two families agree to force Alex and Henry to fake a friendship to improve U.S/U.K. relations.  However, the enemies become eventual lovers when Alex and Henry find themselves in a secret romance.  They both have reasons to keep the relationship a secret.  Alex fears the relationship will hurt his mom’s odds at being reelected in the upcoming presidential election.  And Henry is not allowed to be out of the closet because his elders believe it would tarnish the royal family’s reputation. But as their feelings grow stronger keeping the relationship a secret becomes more challenging.

My favorite part of the novel was the perfectly written banter between Alex and Henry. Their flirty exchange was written perfectly. The emails they share between each other, including quotes from historically queer characters, are especially cute.   Many of Alex and Henry’s friends are fantastic allies.  Red, White & Royal Blue is a feel-good, wholesome queer love story.  When so much of queer fiction focuses on trauma, stories like this are refreshing.

I appreciated how the story focused on Alex’s professional life, instead of solely his love life. In your 20s every career decision seems critical because your professional life is just beginning. Alex was concerned his relationship with a member of the British royal family would ruin his ambitious goal of becoming an American senator before 30. I related to this strongly.  Two years ago, I decided to move out of state with my partner for his doctorate program’s internship.  We moved before I was able to secure a new job.  I was worried that I was compromising my career for my relationship.  Fast forward to today and I am happily married to my best friend and my career is moving in a positive direction. Young professionals have decades of time to develop their careers. We need to normalize making shifts in our career goals.  It is freeing when you realize that changes in your professional plans are not failures, especially when they are for the love of your life.

My only (tiny) criticism of the book is I was not sold on the sex scenes.  This wasn’t a huge drawback for me. Sex scenes in books are not my favorite. Steamy bedroom scenes are not McQuiston’s strength if literary smut matters to you. I found these scenes to be awkwardly written. The writing was almost muddled. It felt strangely asexual.

Nonetheless, Red, White & Royal Blue was a beautiful book that I can see myself reading again!  Alex and Henry’s relationship is brilliantly written. I was glued to the pages as they turned from enemies to lovers.  I definitely plan on reading more gay romance books in the future.  Please give me some recommendations in the comments!

five-stars