Reviews with content warning for Self harm - Woman, Eating

Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda

16 reviews

legs_n_chins's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.0

There’s this interesting feeling I have of feeling fulfilled by how deeply I related to the story, but also feeling abruptly cut off because the resolution felt very underdone. Being mixed race myself, so much of Lydia’s thoughts and feelings and internal conflicts resonated with me: wanting desperately to connect to the side of her identity that she felt very isolated from, feeling removed from other people because of her identity, feeling like it had to be one or the other and never both. But something just didn’t fit right about the conclusion of these feelings, maybe because it felt sort of oddly sudden.

I definitely recognize all the pieces throughout the story that add up to Lyd’s ultimate resolution. Experiencing food through YouTube videos of other people cooking and eating, the sexual encounter, moments of purely feminine fear and discomfort; it’s a definite clear through line that Kohda communicates very well. But I guess it just felt odd to me that she finds some measure of peace immediately after attempting to completely annihilate one side of herself. It just feels like there was more work to do in the aftermath. Her mental state was very unhealthy and there’s so much emphasis on the lingering effects of her childhood; I think it’s not so much that her resolution felt out of nowhere and more just that it felt suddenly very easy. To me, anyway, as someone who’s come to a happy place in understanding my own identity, but still deals with a lot of the ripple effects of how conflicted I’ve felt throughout my life. I understand the story had to come to an end at some point, and this conclusion is likely stronger because it doesn’t deal with the ongoing process that is living with acceptance and maintaining that feeling, but I just felt it was abrupt,

Allllllllllll of that aside, I really enjoyed Kohda’s writing. While at times it did seem to meander through Lyd’s inner monologue, it was still entertaining to read and relevant to the topic. It lent more personality to Lyd and gave us a better sense of her voice and character. So even in the places I thought were a little overwritten, it was more like a character choice than a lack of ability to self-edit. I also liked the how Kohda managed to balance very straightforward word choice with a sort of lyrical style that really fit into this world of art that she was building. I’ll admit I’m kind of dense about art, so I don’t know if all of the metaphors made through the art totally clicked for me, but I did like what Kohda was saying through the lens of art as a profession and art as a commercial material. I do wish we’d gotten more background on what Lyd had wanted to do while in art school and more about the pieces she’d made and what had compelled her, but I recognize that wasn’t the real central point for her character. It just felt like it could’ve given her more of another dimension (not that she was two dimensional in any way, just that it would’ve been nice to see more).

I really liked the other characters, what little we did see of them. Despite their rather brief inclusions, aside from Ben, the other artists really felt well thought out and fully realized. They were warm the way a good character can feel and they fit right in their surroundings and in Lyd’s story. I had hoped Lyd and Shakti might have more interaction, especially as she seemed like an important piece to the line of Lyd being forced to reconcile feminine experiences as a human, but it didn’t feel like anything was really left out in that case. Just due to the timeline of the story, it makes much more sense that the interaction there was left more surface level.

And on that note, I also liked how Kohda handled those moment of feminine fear and discomfort. Being sexualized, being preyed upon. They’re authentic experiences that are shared among far too many women, but they’re not escalated to feeling like exploitation just to get a point across. The point is made just fine through very short, seemingly brief, encounters. Lyd can’t help but linger on them, feel shame about them, etc. And I think that makes it all the better for commenting on the human condition and relating it to Lyd’s character struggles: any level of predation is scary and upsetting. And it’s an unfortunate human experience forced upon women and female presenting people.

Overall, everything came together so well in this book. It was a really impactful read for me and, happily, in a style I really love. I love a good, meaty character narrative and this definitely fit the bill. For how short it is, it covers a lot of ground and I think that’s a great testament to Kohda’s skill. I just wish the conclusion didn’t leave me feeling a bit empty.

Content Warnings

hedsek's review against another edition

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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!

Content Warnings

partly_stars's review against another edition

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3.75

You could say... she ate

Really good at portraying internal turmoil, self hatered and generational trauma (and self hatered of the mother projected on the child)z and philosophising about your place in the world (as a vampire)

It's kinda hilarious how marketingnof this book avoided saying vampires (i guess to avoid being lumped in with the urbam fantasy ya vampire trends lol). I liked how it was explored in tye cross section with colonial violence (in what Lydia's mom said and how she was likely turned by someone preying on her and how that cycle of violence was turned into inward hatered)

Should come with a massive ED trigger warnig. Like yeah its about blood and stuff but i think the mindset could coincide. Especially the descriptions of Lydia basically starving herself (of blood bc vampire but yea)

Content Warnings