manikahemmerixh 's review for:

How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann

2.5

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This is a…unique little book. I was drawn in by the idea of fairytales turned modern with the intention of highlighting the ways they’ve been detrimental to the perception of women, and this does do that to an extent, but the more I reflect on it, the more I realize I didn’t really like it.

I think this has the makings of something really interesting. The skeletons of the way that each girl’s story was modernized are good, but in many ways they feel only half formed. Gretel and Ashlee in particular when I got to the end of their sections I was like, that’s it?? The author makes her point with both stories, but it feels rushed and for me to really feel the impact of any of the stories, I needed more. Then there also parts of it that just didn’t work for me at all. A girl can survive being eaten in Ruby’s story, but a candy house is unthinkable in Gretel’s?

Also, the author’s description of Rumple registered as much too childlike, in my mind, for the direction that it was then taken. There wasn’t nearly enough of a fleshed out storyline there for that to have the emotional impact on me I think it was supposed to have. In fact, that entire chapter left me feeling kind of uncomfortable, which isn’t the lasting impression you want from a book.

Then there’s the sub-plot or “twist”. I figured out what was going on there during the second office scene, but was okay with that. The culmination of it all was a let-down though. I probably could’ve done without that all together, which is why I realize that what the author wanted to do with this book, and what I wanted from it, don’t match up.