In the end our narrator is ruined, for the only piece of herself that was completely hers was finally ripped away. What is most prominent to me is the how our narrator believes that her saying no should be enough to explain why her ribbon cannot be touched, yet it never is. Boundaries are crossed in relationships sometimes, and this story asks the reader to examine their own relationships and see how they can relate to this sense of trespassing, of a line that should never be crossed, with their partner. We see also how despite her begging and pleading with her husband to not touch her ribbon, it pinnacles as the ultimate sexual fantasy for him, to be able to touch the part of her that she doesn’t, and, really, can’t be touched. Maybe we are all marked in some way, even if it’s impossible to see” (21). their ravenous sex-life), but still have parts that we want to remain secret, and just for ourselves? As the narrator curiously states: “I am up for a long time listening to his breathing, wondering is perhaps men have ribbons that do not look like ribbons. As the story concludes we find out why she cannot have her ribbon touched, or untied, and it begs the question about how can we give ourselves so wholly and completely to someone (i.e. She pleads with her husband to not touch her ribbon yet she never explains why he cannot, only that he shouldn’t. Our main character’s ribbon is green and it’s right at the nape of her neck. The novel begins with the magnetic, awe-inducing and sexy story “The Husband Stitch”, which is full of sex-induced love (or love-induced sex?) and is about this concept where all women are tied ‘together’ by a different colored ribbon. The names of each story will be highlighted if you’d like to read about one story in particular. I’ll be briefly discussing each story from the collection in chronological order. Each story offers a different view on the plight of women, whether it is how they overcome it, how they endure through it, or how they succumb to it. I really can’t say enough about how impactful and inspiring this book has been to me. Even though this book came out in 2017, it stills feels as modern as if it was released this year. Like, really good.īeing Machado’s debut novel, the subversive, magical realist, feminine-fueled stories included in this collection put this author straight in the spotlight. This collection of short stories is one of those books that places itself on a pedestal so high its hard to compare it to other books you’ve read in the past.
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