Welcome to our sixth post about the Horror A Month Storygraph Reading Challenge. Like before, we decided to pick up different books to give you some options for the prompt. We hope that you are enjoying this kind of discussion on the blog. 🙂
June Prompt: Written by a LGBTQ+ author
Discussion of the Prompt:
This is the first time when we decided to read the same author for the month, focusing on different books. Ariel had read and recommended The Low, Low Woods and a graphic novel seemed like the way to go for me!
My pick this month was Her Body and Other Parties, which is written by the same author as The Low, Low Woods. After reading The Low, Low Woods, I was interested in other works by the author, Carmen Maria Machado. I knew Her Body and Other Parties was a selection of short stories, and I was really excited to see how shorter snippets of a horror story varied from a longer, slower build of a full-length novel.
Ariel’s June Horror Read
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
(Find it on Storygraph and Goodreads)
Synopsis:
In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women’s lives and the violence visited upon their bodies.
A wife refuses her husband’s entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store’s prom dresses. One woman’s surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella Especially Heinous, Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a show we naively assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgangers, ghosts, and girls with bells for eyes.
Earthy and otherworldly, antic and sexy, queer and caustic, comic and deadly serious, Her Body and Other Parties swings from horrific violence to the most exquisite sentiment. In their explosive originality, these stories enlarge the possibilities of contemporary fiction.
General Thoughts of Book
Of all the stories in this book, a handful of them stood out to me. I especially liked one about the end of the world, or another about a woman and her green ribbon she won’t let anyone touch. The stories all start off feeling somewhat “normal” with an element here or there that sets off the entire story into a creepy spiral. While the stories were all beautifully written, the longest story was my least favorite. My favorite story was the first story, and that set my expectations high for the rest of the book, which may have done a disservice to the rest of the stories. Ultimately, this was an excellent horror. I really liked how each story had a different mood and feel to them. While I listened to this book as an audiobook, I think I would have enjoyed these better in print format.
Kriti’s June Horror Read
The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado
(Find it on Storygraph and Goodreads)
Synopsis:
When your memories are stolen, what would you give to remember? Follow El and Vee as they search for answers to the questions everyone else forgot.
Shudder-to-Think, Pennsylvania, is plagued by a mysterious illness that eats away at the memories of those affected by it. El and Octavia are two best friends who find themselves the newest victims of this disease after waking up in a movie theater with no memory of the past few hours.
As El and Vee dive deeper into the mystery behind their lost memories, they realize the stories of their town hold more dark truth than they could’ve imagined. It’s up to El and Vee to keep their town from falling apart…to keep the world safe from Shudder-to-Think’s monsters.
Content notes: Body horror, sexual assault, rape, gore.
General Thoughts of Book
With every horror book I learn something about dark stories. Horror isn’t always gorey and supernatural, it can also be the inhuman things that humans can do. The Low, Low Woods had vivid imagery and it portrayed the loss of memories very well. I think it brings up an important question about memories and the dark secrets that can be hidden there. It is all in our minds and when one chooses to access them and what we want to gain out of remembering can reveal a lot about us. I loved the focus on El and vee’s friendship and though the book isn’t very book, it does a great job of portraying how important they are to each other. The story of their town and the people who live there is heartbreaking. The women have gone through so much and I liked how El and Vee supported each other through the tough times. The LGBTQ identities were also integrated very well into the books and the story did a fantastic job of portraying what care looks like through the visual storytelling.
Closing Discussion for June Horror A Month
Next month our prompt is to read a horror book by an author we have not read before. Who are some of your favorite horror authors? Let us know in the comments!
Thank you for joining us for our fifth Horror a Month post! We look forward to bringing you some horror recommendations this year! If there are horror books you would recommend, please let us know in the comments. We will try to fit them into our prompts. See other horror recommendations on the Book Review Index. I have been on a bit of a hiatus lately and will be updating it in the coming days!
Cover image: Photo on Unsplash
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