Reviews with content warning for Self harm - Supper Club

Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Supper Club by Lara Williams

91 reviews

vitacat11's review against another edition

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.

Content Warnings

antonsi's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

skittle32's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Go to review page

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!

Content Warnings

haagar's review against another edition

Go to review page

very triggering and hard to read

Content Warnings

savvylit's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.5

Supper Club is a reflective and often very sad slice-of-life novel. University student Roberta is desperately lonely and preyed upon by men. Late twenties Roberta is doing a bit better but she still carries the insecurities that have haunted her since school.

Supper Club as a whole shines the brightest through its primary concept: the club itself. The sections where new members are introduced were some of the most interesting and empathetic portions of the whole book. And the club meetings themselves were quite entertaining! As many women know, there is still an abundance of gender norms that can be difficult to escape. Imagining the women of this novel doing so and being gluttonous & unrestrained was delightful.

Eventually, however, the titular Supper Club fades into the background when Roberta enters into a serious monogamous relationship. At this point, I lost interest a bit. I understand the inclusion of this relationship as an obstacle to Roberta's friendship with Stevie. However, that didn't make it any less frustrating to read. Too much time was wasted describing the (frankly lackluster) relationship. Not to mention that diverting from the emphasis on sisterhood and radical norm-busting was a mistake, in my opinion. Eventually, the ending redeemed this choice... but not really.

Content Warnings