‘My Body Is a Destroyer’
— Andrew Sargus Klein
A friend sent me Hannah Gordon’s story ‘My Body Is a Destroyer’ over Gchat with the words “this is upsetting” preceding the link, and I wasn’t sure what to do with that sort of preface.
This story is upsetting—and it’s upsetting in such a profound and resonant way that I scarcely know how to speak to its power.
Craftwise, the decision to space the text out in extremely short paragraphs gives the narrative a terrifying amount of speed. A woman and her boyfriend are trying to get pregnant—though we know from the beginning the woman attempted to self-sabotage the process—and along the way the surrounding world slips into something resembling apocalyptic ruin. Or maybe it’s the interior emotional strife of the narrator made manifest. Regardless, it works, it gives voice a multilayered conflict of maternity, biology, relationships, and existential dread.
It’s the best kind of upsetting, because it gives you the chance to resettle anew.