Review: Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy by Hailey Piper

 

While I have read other works of Hailey Piper’s, this was my first collection of short stories written by her. Like her other work, I was not a bit disappointed. Hailey is famous for creating consistently excellent writing. This collection has 18 stories, a little something for every taste, be it body horror, queer horror, cosmic horror, dark fantasy, and more.

With it being a collection of short stories, I thought that I would be able to jump from story to story, but this was not the case. Some stories required deep thought and reflection.

As with all her writing that I have read, there are deep themes of trans rights and gay rights, of love, of isolation and loneliness, of longing for acceptance, and despair upon being rejected. Themes of tearing yourself apart and rebuilding yourself into the person you were born to be.

For me, the standout stories of this collection were “Feast for Small Pieces,” where a woman brings home a man who comes on to her sexually, only to use the best parts of him to heal others who are sick or broken, “The Law of Conservation of Death,” tells the story of a ghost who pursues the woman he claims to own him throughout her every reincarnation, and “Candyland”, my favorite in the collection, where teenage girls make themselves “sweet” to be valuable to aristocrats for whims until they are consumed by them.

I could go on and on about this book. I highlighted and copied so many quotes that spoke to me, but I will not add them here because this review would be nothing but quotes. You will get something from every story in this collection, some deeper truth that will strike you when you read Hailey’s words.

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5/5 Stars