Carmen Maria Machado’s writing just clicks for me in truly spectacular way, and I adored this feminist collection of weird, dream-like, visceral short stories! With short stories, what I really look for is something I can’t stop thinking about and which leaves me with a lasting impression, be that questions or emotions or inspiration to write more myself, and each one of these absolutely hit the mark. They’re definitely on the strange side, with some of them leaning more confusing and unexplained and unreliable, but that really works for me personally. I made myself read these over a couple of days rather than at all once, and I was literally lying in bed at night unable to sleep because I was too busy thinking about each story. 

My favorite stories were “Real Women Have Bodies” and “The Resident,” but I really enjoyed every single one. “Eight Bites” probably left the least impression on me, but even then I’ll probably end up rereading it and thinking about it down the line. I also know absolutely nothing about SVU, but I was still really entranced by “Especially Heinous” and its formatting, though I can see this one dragging for some readers.

If you’re up for a little weirdness and confusion I can’t recommend Her Body and Other Parties enough. I knew that I’d love this collection and I did—I’m thrilled to have a signed copy!!!