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A review by artemisg
Milk Fed by Melissa Broder
dark
emotional
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
3.5
I thoroughly enjoyed the beginning and the end, but the middle (unfortunately, the majority) was a bit too gross for my taste and made me feel icky. Although I’m sure, that was the point.
Intellectually, I know that this book is an artful examination of eating disorders, religious identity and modern womanhood. However, so much of it was so gross that I couldn’t expend the energy examining and unpacking the themes; I just had to power through the visceral descriptions of mildly incestuous and fetishy sex fantasies (and eventual actual sex scenes). Rachel’s relationship with Miriam
This book follows our narrator, twenty-something-year-old Reform Jew Rachel, as she struggles with her relationship with her mother and body. She is a comedian and works in Hollywood for an acting agency or something (not relevant lol). She’s a recovering binge eater and anorexic and still lives by the calorie, obsessively tracking everything she eats, eating in secluded corners out of shame. She meets Miriam, an Orthodox Jew who insists on feeding her. Rachel gives in to her impulse to binge on food and lust, becoming borderline obsessed with Miriam but calling it love. They form kind of a friendship, have a tumultuous affair, and things fall apart.
My favourite parts of this book were the examinations of Rachel’s Jewish identity and the subplot involving a golem of herself and a dreamed Rabbi.
This book was objectively good but not to my taste. I like my books a little less objectifying, a little less Freudian, and a little less weird.
Intellectually, I know that this book is an artful examination of eating disorders, religious identity and modern womanhood. However, so much of it was so gross that I couldn’t expend the energy examining and unpacking the themes; I just had to power through the visceral descriptions of mildly incestuous and fetishy sex fantasies (and eventual actual sex scenes). Rachel’s relationship with Miriam
This book follows our narrator, twenty-something-year-old Reform Jew Rachel, as she struggles with her relationship with her mother and body. She is a comedian and works in Hollywood for an acting agency or something (not relevant lol). She’s a recovering binge eater and anorexic and still lives by the calorie, obsessively tracking everything she eats, eating in secluded corners out of shame. She meets Miriam, an Orthodox Jew who insists on feeding her. Rachel gives in to her impulse to binge on food and lust, becoming borderline obsessed with Miriam but calling it love. They form kind of a friendship, have a tumultuous affair, and things fall apart.
My favourite parts of this book were the examinations of Rachel’s Jewish identity and the subplot involving a golem of herself and a dreamed Rabbi.
This book was objectively good but not to my taste. I like my books a little less objectifying, a little less Freudian, and a little less weird.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder and Sexual content
Minor: Antisemitism and Incest