A review by gvstyris
Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda

dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

There always seems to be something that suffers or dies as a result of any form of food consumption.

Man, I'm really bummed. There are so many reasons I wanted to love this book. On a superficial level, the title and original cover design are epic, and subtly characterise our protagonist as empowered and mildly menacing. I also absolutely lived for the audiobook narration (full credit to Katie Leung, who voices Caitlyn in Arcane <3) and the premise itself. As well as juxtaposing vampirism with Lydia's mixed-Anglo-Japanese-Malaysian identity, Kohda uses Lydia's vampirical inability to eat as an analogy for an eating disorder. A really cool idea, and I'm so so sad that it didn't work for me.

For one thing, the characters were relatively flat...which, given that this novel is lacking in plot/world-building, was a fatal flaw. Lydia herself gave me unbearable second-hand embarrassment at times, particularly because of her poor social skills and uncomfortable interactions with Ben. I understand this was a deliberate choice to demonstrate Lydia's forced social isolation, but I ultimately struggled to root for her in a way that hindered my enjoyment of the novel. I feel similarly, if not worse, about Ben, who lacks development and consequentially comes across as a white man with a fetish for East Asian women...

I would've loved to see many parts of this novel explored in more depth, especially the relationship between Lydia's parents. I also made the critical mistake of reading this alongside The Bell Jar -- the two novels have similar atmospheres, and it was impossible to not compare them.

Ultimately, Kohda's visceral food imagery was the highlight for me. As someone who's very much not a foodie, I related to aspects of Lydia's relationship with food and loved seeing how her mother's beliefs and self-hatred influenced her own. It's clear that Kohda has a lot of care for her subject matter, which will definitely stick with me, so I'm glad I gave it a read regardless.
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