Reviews with content warning for Self harm - Supper Club

This book was… surprising. First of all, I read a lot of reviews about how this book was disappointing and didn’t live up to its main theme and title, but I’d like to differ. I think this book was everything it’s supposed to be, it was reflective and (way too) relatable and it’s a coming of age—both for early twenties and late twenties because the main character time hops a lot to her univerity times and present.

The book is wrapped as this female Fight Club-esque story, about women who made a Supper Club to eat (a lot) and take space. I do agree how the title misled what this book was about because the Supper Club itself only took up like probably 30% of the plot, and the rest focused on Roberta and the back and forth storytelling of her University times and current problems. But I didn’t mind it, to be honest. I think both aspects were perfectly balamced, but I do wish the Supper Club was more incorporated to Roberta’s plot.

My only strong feeling about this book is that it’s too relatable. Everything that Roberta narrates are so eerily… me. At times I keep thinking I hated the way she feels about certain things and I’m like “Wait, is it because I also think that way??”. Roberta’s so self-depricating and sad, and most of all she rarely believes in herself. Some parts of her thoughts are so embarrassing and negative and I keep realizing I’m only apalled because I am exactly the same. If this book makes you question Roberta’s personality and morals I think it might have hit you too close to home, at least it did with me.

Sometimes it’s also romanticizing a lot of harmful things, almost indulgent, like the part about self harm. But then again I think it does Roberta’s narrative some justice, after all the book Is from her pov. I do think if one was suicidal/actively SH, this would’ve been triggering.

There was a part where there’s a trans character as well but the author went back to using their old pronouns just to give this dramatic transformational effect that I thought wasn’t necessary but I digress because I don’t have a place to say whether that’s ethical or not as I am a cis woman.

All in all, it was satisfying but there are too much ehhhh moments that didn’t make it spectacularly good. It’s a solid read and I think it gives a unique perspective on late adulthood coming of age, people in their 20s deserves more of these stories. If you liked Normal People, My Year of Rest and Relaxations, or any other book with a passive—almost unlikeable—female narrator and main character that’s deeply sad and more than a little fucked up; this is for you.

Content Warnings

mollylikethedrug_'s review against another edition

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challenging hopeful inspiring reflective fast-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

Content Warnings

vitacat11's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

2.75

Started off amazing, I devoured the first half. As someone who is in recovery for an ED, the flashbacks felt realistic and too true. However, it's when Roberta and Stevie start gaining weight that I saw this book veer off into fantasy. A book where the main character has lived with an ED, and points out how the point of eating was to reclaim space and be purposeful of it, but no mention of the struggles that come alongside it? The slip ups and self-loathing that come hand in hand with recovery? The lack of that really made this book more surface level on the main theme to me. Then, the misgendering of Sash in her past before she realized she was trans didn't really help it either. Although, the relationship between Stevie and Roberta really feel queerbait-y to me sometimes, so.

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antonsi's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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skittle32's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective 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

4.0

Content Warnings

smallcasualbooktok's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective 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

3.0

I *liked* this, i just didn't *love* it, and for a premise essentially made for me, that speaks volumes! I'm bummed, i really thought I'd be obsessed with this one. I love the premise but turns out the actual supper club is a very small part of the book. I felt like the timeline switching took me out of the story and it confused me in some places. Sometimes, I felt like the book meandered and lost it's way. There are definitely lots of quotes I underlined, but I oftentimes felt somewhat removed from the characters. That being said, the writing about food made me so hungry, so obviously, the prose fit the premise and I really liked that! But like I said, it was a good enjoyable read, but i expected so much more, so in that way, I am kind of let down!

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