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maedo's review against another edition
5.0
Oh, how I loved this book.
Eat Only When You're Hungry, as you may have guessed from the title, is about coming to terms with compulsions. The characters and the temptations to overindulgence that they face - food, alcohol, drugs, sex - are so universal that this could be the story of you or your neighbors (or you AND your neighbors, as it were).
Yet this book also feels original in terms of fiction writing, because Hunter has resisted all authorly temptations to overdramatize inherent human dramas. There's no outlandish plot point to pull you out of the story in this one. Everything that happens makes sense from what has come before.
My favorite thing about this book is, I think, the main character, Greg. Morbidly obese characters aren't too common in fiction - unless you count female characters bemoaning their size 10-12 as morbidly obese, which I don't. It's really easy to get a fat character wrong, in terms of psychology and behavior (like we're all clowning it up and eating entire trays of cookies in one sitting to hide the sad 24/7), but Hunter gets this one so right. As Greg struggles to lift himself off the floor from a laying/sitting position, or to feel comfortable living in an RV, showering with one leg out of the bath, none of it feels comic or cartoonish. These moments are full of the proper pathos of a man who feels like he is bumbling in a big body that's gotten out of his control; a body he has earned by existing comfortably, but not mindfully. When he trips and cuts his knee on asphalt, or shocks his ankles jumping out of bed, it's not funny. His discomfort has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I loved the way Hunter handles Greg's physical being in this book. I hope more authors write fat characters with such insight.
While this book is plot driven by Greg's road trip to find his drug-addicted son in Florida, employing his ex-wife and his father in the search, it is really about Greg unearthing all of the feelings that have led him to his current catatonia along the way. He examines those relationships with his son and his ex-wife and his parents, but also with his current wife, who becomes a metaphor of sorts. As the icing on the cake (at least for me), he has these moments of self discovery amid seedy truck stops and swampy, colorful Florida landscape.
I expected to like Eat Only When You're Hungry based on its synopsis. I did not expect to love it, but here we are: five stars!
Eat Only When You're Hungry, as you may have guessed from the title, is about coming to terms with compulsions. The characters and the temptations to overindulgence that they face - food, alcohol, drugs, sex - are so universal that this could be the story of you or your neighbors (or you AND your neighbors, as it were).
Yet this book also feels original in terms of fiction writing, because Hunter has resisted all authorly temptations to overdramatize inherent human dramas. There's no outlandish plot point to pull you out of the story in this one. Everything that happens makes sense from what has come before.
My favorite thing about this book is, I think, the main character, Greg. Morbidly obese characters aren't too common in fiction - unless you count female characters bemoaning their size 10-12 as morbidly obese, which I don't. It's really easy to get a fat character wrong, in terms of psychology and behavior (like we're all clowning it up and eating entire trays of cookies in one sitting to hide the sad 24/7), but Hunter gets this one so right. As Greg struggles to lift himself off the floor from a laying/sitting position, or to feel comfortable living in an RV, showering with one leg out of the bath, none of it feels comic or cartoonish. These moments are full of the proper pathos of a man who feels like he is bumbling in a big body that's gotten out of his control; a body he has earned by existing comfortably, but not mindfully. When he trips and cuts his knee on asphalt, or shocks his ankles jumping out of bed, it's not funny. His discomfort has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I loved the way Hunter handles Greg's physical being in this book. I hope more authors write fat characters with such insight.
While this book is plot driven by Greg's road trip to find his drug-addicted son in Florida, employing his ex-wife and his father in the search, it is really about Greg unearthing all of the feelings that have led him to his current catatonia along the way. He examines those relationships with his son and his ex-wife and his parents, but also with his current wife, who becomes a metaphor of sorts. As the icing on the cake (at least for me), he has these moments of self discovery amid seedy truck stops and swampy, colorful Florida landscape.
I expected to like Eat Only When You're Hungry based on its synopsis. I did not expect to love it, but here we are: five stars!
timbooksin's review
2.0
Not sure what I was expecting going into this one but it just wasn't for me. I appreciate the size and addiction representation here but the physicality was too grotesque for my taste. I sort of liked how the GJ storyline ended but the concurrent plot felt like a drastic tone shift from the rest of the book. My biggest issue is that the whole darn thing is depressing with no real relief.
kstephens22's review against another edition
4.0
“It’s not easy being someone’s child, is it? Everyone always talks about how hard being a parent is. Being a child is worse, because you have to survive despite your parents.”
“It’s hard to love someone you don’t like. It takes everything out of you.”
“It’s hard to love someone you don’t like. It takes everything out of you.”
the_crab's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.25
jdeets03's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 Stars but I rounded down. Nothing about this book felt particularly new or innovative, but it was an interesting story with well drawn characters. Eat Only When Hungry is incredibly human with a glimpse into the lives of a family in crisis without a neatly wrapped ending. If you’re expecting a book full of chortles, I didn’t find much humor in this one. I’m not sure where others found humor.
carie's review against another edition
reflective
sad
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
3.0
mikaiya's review against another edition
4.0
How can the writing be so good, about subjects so banal in places, and outright horrific in others? Describing gorgeously the things that are most disgusting. But in the end, it's always about family and the mess we make of each other.
I need to go read a dozen romance novels after this one.
I need to go read a dozen romance novels after this one.
voya_k's review against another edition
4.0
Deep dive character study of a fat, drunk loser with no self-awareness as he bumbles around Florida in his rented RV, wondering how it all went wrong. Like Eudora Welty meets Daniel Clowes!
I'll read anything Lindsey Hunter writes and appreciate her for writing short books about rotten and regular people.
I'll read anything Lindsey Hunter writes and appreciate her for writing short books about rotten and regular people.
bestfriend_eater's review
4.0
A very original character dynamic. Haven't read a novel like it. Very slow at first but the search for GJ sucks you in.