Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda

48 reviews

mahtzahgay's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

1.75

Original rating was 2.75 stars, but I made a statement at the beginning that if the book didn't live up to the review on the blurb ("What Stoker did for the vampire at the end of the nineteenth century, Claire Kohda does for it in our era" – TLS) I would on principle remove a full star from the final rating. Ergo, this book is a solid 1.75 stars.

I really wanted to like Woman, Eating. I was hoping for a fresh take on the vampire genre, and one that would rid it of the embarrassing modern legacy of contemporary vampiric romance and YA trash that, peace and love, spat on both the allure and legacy of the vampire that Camilla and Dracula started.

And listen. It's certainly not the worst book I've read, and by far it is not the worst vampire book I've read. I did, however, grow very tired of the trite and overused playbook of modern-take-on-a-genre-or-literary-classic that makes an attempt at mild social commentary, but ultimately leaves much to be desired within the realm of anything harsher than a "maybe colonialism bad 🧐 Are men who are misogynys and sex pests the REAL monsters 🤯🤯🤯". Like, girl, put some cunt into your undertones & overtones, and be just a touch bolder. Especially if you're going to plaster your book with reviews that praise your 'profoundness' and 'blistering' 'thought-provoking' work. The only 'blistering' part of this entire experience was from my eyes rolling out of their sockets from the over-used and uninspired mommy-daughter issues trope.

It's better than Twilight. That's not a hard bar to pass, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape

bengami's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

I adored this book, the lower rating is for multiple parts where the main character would tell not show, which was my biggest grief with this book. But I loved the exploration of vampirism & immortal loneliness, it read as an uncomfortable & bloody coming of age/a thought experiment on what vampires would actually be like, and the mother-daughter dynamic was well-executed and beautiful. If you feel like you are losing interest in part two, continue to part three, that’s when I really started enjoying the book.   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Colonisation

trashpossum's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Eating disorder, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

hedsek's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The pacing is a bit odd, but I really enjoyed it! For most of the book it's a lot of boredom and inaction and at the end stuff gets more fast-paced (which could have been a bit longer maybe but still really cool). Interesting read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder and Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Murder, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

darlingkirstein's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

i wanted to like this a lot more, but it kinda felt like it was meandering aimlessly. i really enjoyed sections where lydia was introspective and reflecting on her relationship with her mother and her identity, but even this eventually grew a little tiresome and i felt the book dragged. i expected more from the actual "eating" part of the title, so that was disappointing when there wasn't much eating done at all. personally, didn't love the writing style — at least when she was describing actions, it felt choppy and repetitive, but the writing was much stronger when we stayed inside lydia's head. overall, an interesting read that's a little weighed down by a lackluster "plot"/story (no plot to begin with).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Eating disorder, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Racial slurs and Lesbophobia

askirmishofwit's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I appreciated what this one did and the fact that, for something so weird, it was also very funny. It's just not for the faint of heart re: body horror and is a pretty depressing read given you're in the head of a starving (physically and emotionally) young woman/vampire as she fights against hunger that she's been told is her human and demon sides fighting to take over from each other. Ultimately, all of it reads like a pretty well-crafted extended metaphor of a character dealing with self-loathing, emotional abuse/manipulation by a parent, sexual harassment, ennui and dissatisfaction, body dysphoria and disordered eating, but wrap it all up in a book seemingly about vampirism that doesn't shy away from some body horror and, frankly, too explicit of a description of a dead duck. But it's just very ~literary fiction~ about the whole thing, IYKWIM.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

hbic's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Blood

Moderate: Eating disorder, Terminal illness, Dementia, and Death of parent

porshainielsen's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5. Homegirl did in fact not eat very many men!! I was I was expecting more of a revenge plot and got more of a lost girl in her twenties (samesies) I wanted to know more about Lydia’s vampirism; the getting drunk off cows milk was confusing to me and fever dream esc. Also, the dog does NOT die; I was very concerned when the cutest pug entered the plot line but we chillin. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism

Moderate: Eating disorder and Death of parent

vee_the_tree's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Dementia, Grief, Murder, and Sexual harassment

peggy_racham's review against another edition

4.75

"I'm not really sure what I am anymore, whether I'm a monster or whether I'm just a woman, or both."

Ah good vampire books. The parallel the Mc draws between being non white and being a vampire are chiefs kiss. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail