Reviews with content warning for Body shaming - Piglet

what a wild ride. an encapsulation of what it feels like for the life you’ve built to spiral out of control. hazell writes with such intent and incorporates food into the story seamlessly. the descriptions are rich and lush and border on gross and nearly too much. you feel like you’re over indulging.

the level of anxiety that is constantly humming in the background is impeccable and consistently rises until it hits its peak. it ties itself with the descriptions of food and i’m obsessed.

spoiler: you’ll never know exactly what kit did to betray piglet. some people would hate that. normally, i wouldn’t be a fan, but i kinda like that here. you can assume it’s infidelity, but you can fill in the blanks with what you think is unforgivable and make it personal. it almost hits harder that way.

a gorgeous debut and i look forward to what hazell writes next.

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milliemark's review against another edition

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emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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wordsmithreads's review

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emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I am not someone who cares about food writing. Descriptions of baking, of chopping vegetables or preparing a glaze do not romance me into feeling any particular way. And yet, after finishing this, I stood at the stove, wondering, “What if I added [blank] to this? Maybe this seasoning? Would these pair well?” Hazell’s debut would be delectable for the food descriptions alone, but the pointed plotlines around women, women’s eating habits, and control — Follow the recipe, follow the rules, Hazell writes at one point — are spun like the sugar of the croquembouche. I found myself marveling at how many phrases and adjectives in our language are food-based — devoured, hungered, gorging, bitter, soured, sweet. They are sprinkled (seasoned?) artfully throughout the text as Hazell bakes (okay, I’ll stop) the picture of Piglet’s spiraling gluttony in response to her to-be-husband’s betrayal. Many plot points are implied, including the true reason behind Piglet’s nickname, but I was never lost in the plot. I loved Piglet, even when she was making bad decisions. All the tension leading up to the wedding day was excellent. And I was very pleased to find out that Hazell has a PhD in creative writing, and her research is on food-writing in twenty-first-century fiction — that added another great layer to this smart read.

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tracikennedy25's review

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emotional tense

Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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another_dahlia's review

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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barbn's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Thank you to NetGalley, Henry Holt and Company, and Lottie Hazell for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Content warnings: disordered eating, body shaming

Honestly? It was the cover that drew me into Lottie Hazell's Piglet. The enormous burger on the cover is consistent with the food descriptions throughout Piglet - detailed and over-the-top.

This is a story of excess, a sort of horror story about a woman who wants it all.

But, Piglet left me unsatisfied. The descriptions of body shaming from Piglet's family and Piglet's binge eating may have been comments on the pressure society puts on women about food and their bodies, but the satire left me feeling disturbed and unsettled. I didn't find the characters particularly likable. And, frustratingly, the details of the mystery of the story were never revealed.

Piglet was fast-paced and sometimes bizarrely charming, but, overall, it's not a book I'd whole-heartedly recommend.

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thulanileigh's review

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medium-paced

4.0

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ameliabellward's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I finished this in less than 24 hours. One of the best books I’ve read, cannot believe it’s her first one.

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