WOMAN, EATING by Claire Kohda
★ ★ ★ ★ .75
“…food is a part of life that most humans can control. They give food a lot of power—food can make a person more beautiful, or less beautiful; it can improve or damage skin; it can make a person's body more attractive, help make hair and nails stronger; it can heal you, or slowly kill you. There's also clean food and dirty food; if you eat clean, the message is that you are a clean and pure person; if you eat dirty, then the message is that you are dirty and impure. If you lose control in your life, you can find control in your food. This video by Mina has the feeling of an educational video. Lots of them take that tone, as though their message is: if you eat like me, you will become me.”
TITLE—Woman, Eating: A Literary Vampire Novel
AUTHOR—Claire Kohda
PUBLISHED—2022
PUBLISHER—HarperVia (HarperCollins)
AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR—Jane Lui
AUDIOBOOK PUBLISHER—HarperAudio
GENRE—literary horror fiction
SETTING—London
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—vampires, toxic/abusive mother-daughter relationship, artist communities, internalized sanguivoriphobia, misogyny & violence against women, monstrosity, art museum, philosophy of art, ethics of creation, puppets, inherited guilt/trauma, a sick parent in hospice, ethics of food consumption, food scarcity, multiracial identity, Baba Yaga, soulloss, colonialism & art collectors, capitalism, origins & upbringing, love & connection, food as spiritual nourishment & cultural identity, the living & the dead, stories & memory
“The skin on a neck appears to me as different from the skin anywhere else on a body… It is too blank compared with skin everywhere else, as though it is asking to have marks made on it, like very expensive calligraphy paper, or cold-pressed Fabriano. Often, I wonder whether the urge I have to make art is the same as the urge to consume and destroy the blankness of a human neck.”
Summary:
This is unlike any vampire story I’ve read before. Usually vampires are strong, invulnerable, powerful, rich, & fairly well-connected to other vampires just like them. Now imagine a vampire, turned as a baby, & brought up by her vampire mother (who was herself turned only after she had already lived 40+ years as a human) & who has raised her half-human, half-vampire daughter on an aspiritual doctrine of internalized sanguivoriphobic sentiments & beliefs that they are beings who are not only already dead but not worthy of life. But now said daughter (an artist) is determined to see who she is, who she can be, without her mother’s overbearing self-hatred & self-punishment.
My thoughts:
I thought this book was incredibly fascinating & while I did love Jane Lui’s reading, I did end up pausing the audiobook to go & reread each chapter myself since I found I was able to follow a lot of the deeper philosophical interior monologues of the MC that way.
The audiobook narrator, Lui, really did a fantastic job at bringing to life (pardon the pun) Lyd’s (the MC vampire character) extreme vulnerability which is about the most unexpected character trait to come across in a vampire. I found Lyd immensely relatable—her anxieties about relationships & her career as an artist, her food insecurity, her relationship with her abusive mother, her grief & (lack of) connection to her deceased father (who was also an artist), & especially her sense of self. Lyd is constantly conflicted about her desire for companionship & community, her need to protect others from herself, & fears about being accepted for who she is—for all of who she is.
There were so many other themes & topics, some briefly, some deeply touched on throughout the book that I feel like I could reread this a couple of times before I picked up on everything Kohda was doing in this novel. I was especially intrigued by how she dealt with the theme of food as spiritual nourishment & cultural identity & how that translated into her multiracial (Malay & Japanese) half-vampire, half-human character’s identity.
I’m still not sure about the ending though, tbh. I’m going to reserve passing judgment on the ending until I reread it at least once more later. Maybe I can find a bookclub or buddy reader who will want to do this one for #SpookySeason? 👀
Oh but the horror elements! vibes! & visuals! were very on point. Honestly this would make such a beautiful & intense film. It could almost be like a silent artsy type film too… idk I feel like I can see it really clearly but it’s hard to explain… just go read it & I think you’ll get it. 😉
I would recommend this book to readers who love literary horror &/or the vampire trope. Sad girl vampire! That’s what this is. It’s perfect. 😆 This book is best read on audiobook I am honestly absolutely obsessed with Jane Lui’s voice & I think it’s so important to get the sense of the MC that she portrays.
Final note: Make sure you read the author’s note about the cover design too. 🤌🏻
“…and then I say to the body, ‘Thank you.’ I almost say the whole grace my mum and I said to pigs. But I don't; instead I just listen to my voice ringing out in the silence and it is beautiful.”
★ ★ ★ ★ .75
CW // hematophagy (pig, duck, human), abusive parent, sexual harassment
Season: Winter
Music pairing: “Creep”, by Macy Gray; “You’re Dead”, by Norma Tanega
Further Reading—
“Aubergines,” in NAMESAKE by NS Nuseibeh
THIRST by Marina Yuszczuk (2024)
A CERTAIN HUNGER by Chelsea G Summers (2021)
BOY SNOW BIRD by Helen Oyeyemi (2013)
LOTE by Shola von Reinhold (2020)
Read my review for LOTE here.
INTIMACIES by Katie Kitamura (2021)
WHAT IS NOT YOURS IS NOT YOURS by Helen Oyeyemi (2015)
especially the puppet ones
MASTERS OF DEATH by Olivie Blake (2018)
ALONE WITH YOU IN THE ETHER by Olivie Blake (2020)
Review coming soon!
FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley (1818)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney, 1996)—specifically the dynamic between Quasimodo & Claude Frollo
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