A review by rpmirabella
Eat Only When You're Hungry by Lindsay Hunter

3.0

I like Lindsay Hunter's writing. She creates deeply flawed humans in this novel, but I found it hard to care about them. We begin the novel with a certain understanding of Greg, and gradually many of his issues are revealed to us, but I never felt connected to the issues. I wanted to know more about his issues with food. They are part of the novel, but I expected more focus, more confrontation. There are some very brutal and sad moments in flashback, where we see the TERRIBLE relationship he has with his son, and I found those compelling. It's kind of brilliant how this novel exposes how sometimes parents want relationships from their children that they did not actually earn. Still, I had trouble with the execution here. I felt that much of the novel dragged, despite its very short length. There are long paragraphs of description, and long moments that do not seem meaningful. I've heard great things about Hunter's short fiction, and I bet I'll like it better.