Our Shared Shelf discussion

Her Body and Other Parties is a collection of short stories. Let's use this thread to discuss the short story: Especially Heinous

What did you think of this story?
Machado wrote this like summaries to a TV show. How does this choice help or hinder the story and or the themes?

this chapter was exhausting i wish she go to the point but the plot really felt like a long series but reading it was weird took me two days because i got tired ignore the titles but realized they had to do with the story line but kept going

"Stabler only every wanted daughters when he first married his wife. He had a brother. He knew. Now he was paralyzed with fear for them. He wishes they were never born, that they were still floating safely in the unborn space, which he imagines to be grayish-blue, like the Atlantic, studded, like points of light, and thick as corn syrup."

or

"That's the worst part. No excuses. You fight to put names on all of your dead, but not every victim wants to be known. Not all of us can deal with the illumination that comes with justice."

If Benson was the literal conduit for all of these victims, then Stabler was then some part of society that had to bare the truth of what happened.

Can anyone give any background on the TV series this is based on? Is this a commentary on the show itself-I've never seen it so I'm not clear on this.

I also found this story hard to follow and stay engaged with, but I suspect that was partly due to not knowing the original TV series.

The TV show is a crime/legal drama that deals with the Special Victums Unit (SVU). Benson and Stabler are detectives who are called anytime a sex crime is reported. The show takes place in NYC.

I've watched it a bit in the past and the explanation in Her Body and Other Paties does not explain the plot of each episode. Rather, I think Machado is committing on the emotional and psychological toll that is placed on Benson and Stabler.

Latricia wrote: "this chapter was exhausting i wish she go to the point but the plot really felt like a long series but reading it was weird took me two days because i got tired ignore the titles but realized they ..."

The short story also felt a bit protracted to me and I took several breaks while reading it. It was an interesting experiment though. Like some sort of parody of the vast number of crime tv-dramas. I was intrigued by the dobbeltgängers (Henson and Abler). The concept of an evil twin is mentioned somewhere in the story and I think Henson and Abler might be "the evil twins", someone with altered morality, for instance less inhibitions. The character Benson suffers a breakdown of her personality during the story and is possessed by other beings, maybe her evil twin / repressed parts of her personality??

Do any of you know what the girl-with-bells-for-eyes represents? I don't know how to interpret that..

Like most of the other stories, I thought this was a great premise that didn't end up working as well as it could have. The concept of twisting the fairly cliched by now plots of a procedural series to match the book's theme of women overcoming societal expectations is promising, but I think it would have worked better if it was more straightforward, since whatever kind of literary symbolism she was going for doesn't really fit with the tone of that kind of show.

Anna wrote: " Do any of you know what the girl-with-bells-for-eyes represents? I don't know how to interpret that.. "

Well besides the horror imagery... I think with what Stabler represents which is the conduit or voice or Justice for all of the female victims.

The girl with bells for eyes than is someone who is blinded or censored by her inability to be heard. Stabler's journey is to find the hammers for the bells so they can be heard again. So that their stories can be told, be heard, and be closed.

Annie wrote: "Anna wrote: " Do any of you know what the girl-with-bells-for-eyes represents? I don't know how to interpret that.. "

Well besides the horror imagery... I think with what Stabler represents which ..."

Yeah, that makes sense... thanks..