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brookeabillion's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
the main characters relationship with her mother and other women was heartbreaking, the ending was definitely not how i wanted it to go but not in a bad way.. definitely worth the read :))
Content Warnings
Moderate: Biphobia, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Fatphobia, Religious bigotry, Eating disorder, and Toxic relationship
mayayyyx's review against another edition
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Toxic relationship
kathleencoughlin's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I wasn't sure about Milk Fed at the beginning but I ultimately ended up enjoying it. Rachel embodies a lot of issues that millennial women, or just women in general, tend to deal with including issues surrounding their bodies, food, and relationships. The book can be funny and even cute at times but it is overall a very freak description of a very mentally ill woman. Rachel has such negative self-talk and body dysmorphia and goes through cycles of binging and restricting food in an attempt to have some control over her body and make others love and be proud of her. Through her relationship with Miriam who in many ways represents the things she both yearns and fears to be, she starts to repair her sense of self. It's not by any means a healthy relationship but I think both of them new that there were foundational issues that meant it couldn't last.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Dysphoria, and Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Incest, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia
Minor: Antisemitism
romie_chat's review against another edition
okay, I'm sorry but no. I just have to dnf. 19% through and it's making me feel way too uncomfortable. I really wanted to enjoy it as it's so difficult to find books with Jewish main characters that aren't taking place in WWII, but this is not doing it for me at all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder and Toxic relationship
savvylit's review against another edition
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Milk Fed is supposed to be satirical and thus all of the character's flaws are exaggerated for comedic effect. But instead of laughing, I was bored. (That is until I got to the comically unsensual sex scenes.) The characters are all totally unoriginal stereotypes.
The most disappointingly two-dimensional character of them all was the love interest, Miriam. Miriam is a queer woman's manic pixie dream girl. She's a sex object who solely exists to help Rachel on her journey of self-acceptance. Seriously.After meeting Miriam, Rachel's disordered eating is virtually cured. Wtf??
I really wanted to like Milk Fed. At first, I actually did! I enjoyed the pace and the potential for satire. Which is ultimately what kept me going. But the superficiality of every single thing and the pretty-bow-wrapped ending ruined it for me.
The most disappointingly two-dimensional character of them all was the love interest, Miriam. Miriam is a queer woman's manic pixie dream girl. She's a sex object who solely exists to help Rachel on her journey of self-acceptance. Seriously.
I really wanted to like Milk Fed. At first, I actually did! I enjoyed the pace and the potential for satire. Which is ultimately what kept me going. But the superficiality of every single thing and the pretty-bow-wrapped ending ruined it for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Dysphoria, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Biphobia
Minor: Incest
veganecurrywurst's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Dieses Buch war echt hart zu lesen. Bevor man zu diesem Buch greift, sollte man sich echt die Triggerwarnungen anschauen und überlegen ob es wirklich das richtige für einen ist.
Melissa Broder behandelt Essstörungen, Sexualität, Sex, Religion und toxische Eltern-Kind-Beziehung.
Man wünscht sich als Leserin echt, dass Rachel endlich ihre Essstörung überwinden kann und freut sich über jeden noch so kleinen Erfolg mit ihr.
Ich hätte mir so gewünscht, dass Miriam ein mehrdimensionaler Charakter geworden wäre. Manchmal hat man einen kurzen Einblick in ihr Leben bekommen, aber das blieb meist oberflächlich. So schien es als wären ihre einzigen Charaktereigenschaften eine dicke Jüdin zu sein, die noch weiß wie sie mit ihrer Sexualität umgehen soll. Miriam war teilweise nur eine Art "Fetisch-Objekt" für Rachel.
Die verschiedenen Auffassungen/Auslegung des Judentums die eher am Rande behandelt wurden fand ich echt interessant, aber man sollte etwas Vorwissen mitbringen.
ich fand es gut, dass Rachel bezüglich ihrer Essstörung große Schritte nach vorn machen konnte. Ganz überwinden konnte sie sie leider nicht. Vor allem Ana's Kommentare hatten wieder diese Ängste in ihr ausgelöst. Ich hätte mir irgendwie gewünscht, dass Miriam und Rachel doch noch irgendwie zusammenkommen. Man liest leider so selten von lesbischen Beziehung, die nicht durch Gesellschaft, Religion und Familie kapput gehen
Melissa Broder behandelt Essstörungen, Sexualität, Sex, Religion und toxische Eltern-Kind-Beziehung.
Man wünscht sich als Leserin echt, dass Rachel endlich ihre Essstörung überwinden kann und freut sich über jeden noch so kleinen Erfolg mit ihr.
Ich hätte mir so gewünscht, dass Miriam ein mehrdimensionaler Charakter geworden wäre. Manchmal hat man einen kurzen Einblick in ihr Leben bekommen, aber das blieb meist oberflächlich. So schien es als wären ihre einzigen Charaktereigenschaften eine dicke Jüdin zu sein, die noch weiß wie sie mit ihrer Sexualität umgehen soll. Miriam war teilweise nur eine Art "Fetisch-Objekt" für Rachel.
Die verschiedenen Auffassungen/Auslegung des Judentums die eher am Rande behandelt wurden fand ich echt interessant, aber man sollte etwas Vorwissen mitbringen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Addiction, Homophobia, Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Antisemitism, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Minor: War
mlaursen's review against another edition
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I didn’t want to put this book down! It was a bit of a wild ride and the MC is frustratingly annoying, but her realness is extraordinary. I felt shame and awkwardness while reading but it was only from the bare reality of the MC’s life/situation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, and Mental illness
msmarlena's review against another edition
I should've known this would be gross when I learned the author is thin.
Miriam, the speaker's fat lust object, is written as just that, to the point that the speaker repeatedly wonders whether she created her out of clay in a therapy session, a Jewish monster, a golem, a manifestation of her worst fears.
Miriam, a fat, happy, funny woman of faith with a large family, doesn't actually exist outside of the part she plays in the protagonist's self-obsessed journey from starving to binging.
It absolutely strains credulity that Miriam doesn't hesitate to invest energy in encouraging and cheering on the thin woman who panics when her sugar-free froyo exceeds the lip of the cup.
She stewards her through new experiences eating endless courses of Chinese food, snacking at the movie theatre, eating with her family... All openness and nurturance, as though she has no self-preservation instinct, no idea what this woman thinks of fat people. Ughhh.
Manic pixie dream girl only make her fat. I'm so disappointed that Carmen Maria Machado vouched for this book.
The speaker is a deeply unlikeable person, and I wasn't able to sympathize with or relate to her in any way. I felt like I needed a long shower after hanging out with her and her toxic inner monologue for these few hours.
Like honestly. There are plenty of people who were slightly ("softly") chubby as children, and/or had emotionally abusive mothers, (The protagonist even has joyful, food-loving grandparents! A supportive father!) and still manage to become adults who have even one friend, who have more than one facet, who believe they deserve to buy themselves a damn rug for their bedroom.
If I want simply to read Mommy/girl kink fantasies or genuinely, unreservedly adoring descriptions of a fat woman's body, I know now where not to look.
Miriam, the speaker's fat lust object, is written as just that, to the point that the speaker repeatedly wonders whether she created her out of clay in a therapy session, a Jewish monster, a golem, a manifestation of her worst fears.
Miriam, a fat, happy, funny woman of faith with a large family, doesn't actually exist outside of the part she plays in the protagonist's self-obsessed journey from starving to binging.
It absolutely strains credulity that Miriam doesn't hesitate to invest energy in encouraging and cheering on the thin woman who panics when her sugar-free froyo exceeds the lip of the cup.
She stewards her through new experiences eating endless courses of Chinese food, snacking at the movie theatre, eating with her family... All openness and nurturance, as though she has no self-preservation instinct, no idea what this woman thinks of fat people. Ughhh.
Manic pixie dream girl only make her fat. I'm so disappointed that Carmen Maria Machado vouched for this book.
The speaker is a deeply unlikeable person, and I wasn't able to sympathize with or relate to her in any way. I felt like I needed a long shower after hanging out with her and her toxic inner monologue for these few hours.
Like honestly. There are plenty of people who were slightly ("softly") chubby as children, and/or had emotionally abusive mothers, (The protagonist even has joyful, food-loving grandparents! A supportive father!) and still manage to become adults who have even one friend, who have more than one facet, who believe they deserve to buy themselves a damn rug for their bedroom.
If I want simply to read Mommy/girl kink fantasies or genuinely, unreservedly adoring descriptions of a fat woman's body, I know now where not to look.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, and Self harm
kait_'s review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, and Toxic relationship
korinnagarcia's review against another edition
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Milk Fed is centered around the hunger that Rachel, a lapsed Jewish woman, feels. A hunger she has for the food she deprives herself of due to meticulous calorie counting, a hunger for the approval of her mother or any mother figure, and the hunger she feels for Miriam, an orthodox Jewish woman, who works at the yogurt shop that Rachel frequents. I read this book in almost one sitting, I was genuinely entertained throughout, and I found the writing style and shorter chapters refreshing. It was engaging, darkly funny, and a bit sexy at times but I don’t know if I liked it. Rachel’s character is just truly unlikable and I wished Miriam would get far away from her.
Milk Fed overall left me feeling unfulfilled. I can’t say that I’d recommend it to anyone but if you were to read it please be aware of the trigger warnings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Mental illness
Minor: Toxic relationship and Body shaming