Reviews

Milk Fed, by Melissa Broder

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meghan_vdb's review

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emotional funny reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

avalydia's review

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2.0

Tapped out because this was just... way too weird for me. The eating rituals were described perfectly (honestly and sadly, I think most women can recognize some of their own eating-related habits/thoughts in those pages), but the sex stuff was just bizarre. And I'm not a prude or anything, I swear, I was reading Power Rangers smut in fifth grade! But let's just say there's a masturbation fantasy involving mommy/daughter nursing (it's even worse than THAT scene in the Lily Collins eating disorder film To the Bone) and I can't, I'm sorry, I know this girl has mommy issues but I didn't sign up for this.

I skipped ahead to see if things improved... and I'll just drop these spoiler-free quotes here (p. 210-211):

"We kissed slowly, making tiny smacking sounds."

"Then the space between her rolls became like pussies to me, and I thought, How incredible, she has so many pussies, so many places to explore."

"She reached down and put her hands on my chest, rubbing my sternum and clavicle, the way Ava Gardner might do to Clark Gable."

DNF at page 72.

carolynf's review

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3.0

I initially tagged this as romance but I'm changing my answer to "explicit fiction." In my mind romances have a predictable structure that was lacking in this book. The book is not about Rachel finding a happy ending with someone else. It is about her finding peace with her own body.

Rachel is in her mid 20s and has struggled with an eating disorder from an early age. Her mother is very fat-phobic, and Rachel is also sensitive to how disdainful society is toward fat people. Her eating pattern at the beginning of the book is to deprive herself in ways that are very hard to read about, and then if she breaks her self imposed limits by even a tiny bit she goes off the rails and binges in ways that are also very hard to eat about. I don't know if this is accurate to eating disorders or not. Rachel works with a therapist about both her eating issues and her mom issues, but what really breaks the pattern is her encounter with Miriam. Miriam is Orthodox Jewish (Rachel is a lapsed Reform Jew) and Miriam is also extremely fat.

Rachel's sexual fantasies and actual sexual experiences are featured prominently in this book. They are as I said very explicit. She enjoys sex and enjoys masturbating, in spite of loathing her body quite a bit.

Miriam's family are strong supporters of Israel while Rachel feels that the issue is not so clear cut. This could be seen as an Orthodox vs Reform point of view, just because the only viewpoints we get on the conflict with Palestine is from Rachael and from Miriam's family. It is a little jarring when the topic suddenly pops up, and I think another argument for this book to not be classified as Romance.

The end is abrupt to say the least. I was reading this as an ebook so I had no idea I was so close to the end of the book when it was suddenly just... over. I don't quite get how Rachel's experiences led to her suddenly having a completely different relationship with food and with her body. Still, it was a story unlike anything I've read before, and I was invested in her journey throughout.