Inventory

by Carmen Maria Machado

Short Story.

Genres: Short Stories, Queer, Dystopia, LGBT

Unknown Binding

About the author

Carmen Maria Machado's debut short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties, was a finalist for the National Book Award, the Kirkus Prize, LA Times Book Prize Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction, and the winner of the Bard Fiction Prize, the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Prize, and the Crawford Award. In 2018, the New York Times listed Her Body and Other Parties as a member of "The New Vanguard," one of "15 remarkable books by women that are shaping the way we read and write fiction in the 21st century."

Her essays, fiction, and criticism have appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Granta, Tin House, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, The Believer, Guernica, Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the Michener-Copernicus Foundation, the Elizabeth George Foundation, the CINTAS Foundation, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, and the Millay Colony for the Arts. She is the Writer in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania and lives in Philadelphia with her wife.

Reviews

[Irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

La historia de una vida contada a través de diferentes parejas sexuales y cómo fueron aquellas relaciones.
Me parece bonito imaginar y explicar cómo ha sido una vida a través de escenas tan íntimas; es interesante pensar en cómo cambia el contexto y la propia persona a través de las personas con las que te has vinculado afectivamente

[Hester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apocalyptic story , first person narrator who keeps sane by making lists, in this case all her sexual encounters. Would have liked to have seen the same for all he school teachers but, hey , this was probably more entertaining . Deft exploration of how sex answers so many emotional needs.

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even with covid I’ll never get sick of a good apocalypse virus story with good emotional stakes.

I nearly raised this to 5 stars cause have you ever seen 14 (presumably) super-virgin indoors-loving writer-book-nerds (myself included) try to discuss a story whose structure is literally a woman semi-explicitly describing every sexual encounter she’s had?

Well it’s an awkward experience and I love awkward.

[Cas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grade: A+

I had to read this for my uni degree.

I am a BIG fan of this author.

[Ciaran Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story gave weird flashbacks to covid, but was unrecognisable enough to prevent PTSD. Machado interestingly chronologies her protagonist’s life with the relationships (often sexual) that she has as an epidemic blooms in the background, whittling down space and time until it is on her doorstep. There is no nightly Prime Minister broadcasts, no death count and transmission rates, but there is a quality to this story that is unsettling.

[Naina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the style of this short story. It could've easily been a regular apocalyptic story where the MC is trying to survive, but the limited information that the MC gives in her list makes for a much more intriguing read. It also feels more realistic this way. Though she wont admit it, you can really feel how lonely she is as she struggles to balance her sexual desires and attachments to others with her fear of intimacy and commitment. Just the idea of keeping an "Inventory" of sexual partners seems impersonal on a surface level, but the MC remembers many details about each circumstance, proving that she did get attached to each person even if she wont admit it.

I read this a couple years ago when the COVID pandemic first hit, and though "Inventory" was written in (i think) 2017, its setting and themes felt eerily relevant to the times we were in. Super interesting read, highly recommend !

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inventory - 4 Stars

Reminds me a little of the essay/story "We Came All The Way From Cuba So You Could Dress Like This" by Achy Obejas.

A woman recounts her past relationships in short summaries as time passes and the world seemingly tries it best to end. The world we see only snippets of was maybe a bit more interesting than our main character however. I did mostly enjoyed this one (even as fears of a mysterious virus sweeping the nation hits a little too close to home post-2020).

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so powerful by the ending that my heart was doing some pounding and I couldn’t have laid the book aside for even one minute. I had to know what happened next.

The basis is that the world is being consumed by a pandemic and the person writing this is making an inventory of all her lovers over the years up to now.

Very well written. Took very few pages to have me enthralled.

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story about a woman and her sexual encounters before and during a pandemic. I liked the listing format and also how casual it was that she sleeps with both men and women. I’m not sure if I really go the point of this story (or if there even was one) but it was quite well written.

[3murderer1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Purple bruises, bloodshot eyes, red beds of fingernails, and a pretty sunset. Her final inventory being the last scribble of her life.

https://open.spotify.com/track/66VPaq...

[♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

i think the length of this one and the writing style were just perfect. love the mysterious vibes around the virus as well

[Pa_tr0_clus · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars i read this in public by accident since it was required reading for uni

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely beautiful

[rosy c · Rating 5 out of 5]

genius

[Elena ( The Queen Reads ) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Machado is really good

[Ren · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was just a really good short story

[Charlotte Forwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐️
“I realise the world will continue to turn, even with no people on it. Maybe it will go a little faster”

[Ivy Rockmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

lovely as always

[Saira · Rating 4 out of 5]

yes I'm putting a short story on here yes I'm petty like that

[ash🐞 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t really get the whole epidemic part of the story but I enjoyed it

[Sigurd Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This doesn’t deserve a 4 but it’s definitely not a 3

[Isaac · Rating 2 out of 5]

5/10

The concept was far better then the execution

[ry ✿ · Rating 1 out of 5]

currently reading Carmen Maria Machado’s anthology of short stories and I LOVE the husband stitch but i didn’t like inventory at all😞😞😞