Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - Cursed Bread

The title alone had me interested in this book. It's right up my alley in terms of deranged female narrators taking us through an unsettling ride.

The story shifts between Elodie's POV as a baker's wife, and her letters to her friend Violet. It starts plain and quite boring, unravels very slowly, and then drops the plot twist over a few pages in a nightmarish daze.

The main theme is obsession, the need to live as someone else, and steal their life, their love, their intimacies. It's a heavy focus on masochistic, degrading fantasy, born from boredom, neglect, and Elodie's invisibility as a woman and sexual being.

The writing is one long fever dream that gets more twisted and confusing as you go. It was hard for me to find footing, which is probably purposeful. Even the time period was hard for me to figure out. This kind of verbose, vague inner monologue writing style often loses me, but give it a try if you're into that, as well as really demented characters.

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jennikreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

4.0

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ambermariebee's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.25

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ciwanski's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

This book definitely is not for everyone. I’m not quite sure it was for me. The writing was good, the writing style and plot were not my favorite. This would make a good A24 movie for sure though.

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erisouls's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

If you enjoyed reading Bitter Orange you will enjoy this book. It felt strangely similar at times. I liked it enough to read it all in one sitting but I wouldn’t pick it up again, nor do I think I would tell anyone else to read it.

I was incredibly disappointed that Violet and Élodie never hooked up. I realize that thematically, the ending made sense, however I was crushed hearing how cruel they were to her. Perhaps I am the gullible one for thinking they were ever interested.

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gibetal's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

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callmeamelia's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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bronzeageholly's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

3.0

There were incredibly sculpted moments in this book, but the majority of the pacing was not for me. Despite the short length, I found it difficult to keep going and often had to convince myself to come back to it with the thought that there might be another brilliantly written section coming up. I saw it described as a “fever” and I think that fits it perfectly - the highs and lows of temperature.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes beautifully crafted characters who it’s hard to wholly like or hate.

The main character experiences a lot of obsessive thoughts around sex, bodies, eating, and violence, and I would not recommend this book to anyone who might find this triggering.

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