A review by brnineworms
Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

“Do you think God would feed a body like yours?”

Woman, Eating reminds me of that standout quote from Nick Groom’s The Vampire: A New History: “Vampires are good to think with.” Here, vampirism serves as a jumping-off point for explorations of religious trauma, mixed heritage, colonial violence, and self-loathing and self-harm, particularly as it relates to disordered eating. This is a contemplative and introspective novel. The first person, present tense narration conveys Lydia’s reflections on her upbringing and ruminations on her identity and her place in the world. She’s lost. She’s lonely. I’ve seen others describe this as a “sad girl book” and I think that’s accurate, but the vampirism does lend those listless lists some flavour other entries to the genre lack.

I think Woman, Eating could have afforded to be more fucked up. True,

Lydia dispatches Gideon at the end of the book,

but I wanted more of that. More sensual revelling. And more consequences too. Aside from the protagonist, the characters are granted little interiority. Maybe it’s just that Lydia’s too stuck in her own head to exercise real empathy,

but I think it would have been interesting – expanding on those themes of colonialism and greed – to have her actually consider Anju’s feelings in a perverse sort of way, and feel good about taking something from her. As it stands, Anju is a non-character.

Lydia is the main character, Ben and Gideon are secondary, and the rest of the cast is just set dressing – fake plants hanging from the ceiling.

I like introspective novels so I don’t mind the lack of plot so much. I understand that isn’t to everyone’s taste, however. If the idea of an angsty artist vampire book appeals to you, check it out. It didn’t blow me away but I’ll give it a good four stars.

CONTENT WARNINGS: abuse, disordered eating, depression and self-loathing, self-harm, blood, death, violence, cheating, stalking, sexual harassment, racism, colonialism, dementia