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A review by lizflynn
Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
I LOVED this. It’s sad, slightly unhinged, and just the right amount of creepy. Knowing Lydia’s true nature while the other characters don’t also makes parts of the story absurdly funny, too.
The exploration of identity through body and food is so well done. Lydia is half vampire and half Japanese half Malaysian. She constantly feels disconnected from a part of herself because she never met her human dad, nor can she connect to food in a meaningful way. Kohda uses the vampire trope as a metaphor for cultural identity and the feeling of not belonging or being “good enough” that I think a lot of people who have mixed cultural backgrounds feel (I know I do).
CW: disordered eating, descriptions of food, SA in the workplace, light body horror of the vampire variety
The exploration of identity through body and food is so well done. Lydia is half vampire and half Japanese half Malaysian. She constantly feels disconnected from a part of herself because she never met her human dad, nor can she connect to food in a meaningful way. Kohda uses the vampire trope as a metaphor for cultural identity and the feeling of not belonging or being “good enough” that I think a lot of people who have mixed cultural backgrounds feel (I know I do).
CW: disordered eating, descriptions of food, SA in the workplace, light body horror of the vampire variety
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Sexual harassment, and Eating disorder