A review by hbrxnnxmxn
Mother for Dinner by Shalom Auslander

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This was not the cannibalism book I was expecting - in the best way possible. Despite having consumed a lot of this type of content (no pun intended) I’ve not seen it be used in this way. It was so fascinating to see a whole cultural identity be built around cannibalism, and it lended itself very well to explore tradition, familial expectations, religion, cultural identity, complex relationships with history - and how those all tie into personal identity and navigating the world. Each of the siblings explore this in different ways and with different results, which creates a thorough exploration on topics. Parts were a bit iffy (Mudd’s belief among them) but intentionally so. It would be remiss if a book so heavily focused on identity didn’t also include the ways privilege/oppression inform beliefs on others identities. So much to think about in this one!