And Carmen Maria Machado’s short story collection Her Body and Other Parties, although admirably stylish and original, does prompt feeling above all else. But it’s difficult to write coldly, in the precise language of criticism, about a book that provokes a personal, emotional response. If I write about a book with affection I worry I’m, consciously or unconsciously, revealing something about myself – that I have good taste or bad taste, troubling obsessions, a sympathy towards those who are undeserving of it, that I’m insensitive or incapable of intellectual thought – and I have no interest in revealing anything about myself. It’s less exhausting, it gives me an opportunity to say something sharp, if not mean it certainly takes less time – you can dismiss something in one short, swift action. I’m reluctant to admit this but it’s often easier for me to write about a book I hated rather than a book I loved. Carmen Maria Machado’s ‘Her Body and Other Parties’
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