How To Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann
This darkly funny and provocative novel reimagines classic fairy tale characters as modern women in a support group for trauma.
In present-day New York City, five women meet in a basement support group to process their traumas. Bernice grapples with the fallout of dating a psychopathic, blue-bearded billionaire. Ruby, once devoured by a wolf, now wears him as a coat. Gretel questions her memory of being held captive in a house made of candy. Ashlee, the winner of a Bachelor-esque dating show, wonders if she really got her promised fairy tale ending. And Raina’s love story will shock them all.
Though the women start out wary of one another, judging each other’s stories, gradually they begin to realize that they may have more in common than they supposed . . . What really brought them here? What secrets will they reveal? And is it too late for them to rescue each other?
Dark, edgy, and wickedly funny, this debut for fans of Carmen Maria Machado, Kristen Arnett, and Kelly Link takes our coziest, most beloved childhood stories, exposes them as anti-feminist nightmares, and transforms them into a new kind of myth for grown-up women.
The official summary of this book lured me in with two descriptions: “darkly funny” and “reimagined fairy tale characters”
DONE and DONE…I didn’t even have to read much more to know this book would be RIGHT UP my literary alley.
This was a modern day, kinda fucked up spin on old school fairy tales we know and love, such as Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood.
There is a dark spin on the tales with just a touch of familiarity…..this ain’t no Disney bedtime storybook version, yall.
There is dark humor, deep emotion and it’s all laced with strong messages and metaphors for the world women live in each and every day.
This time we are hearing everything from the victim’s perspective….how the story everyone knows and the real life trauma they went thru don’t always match up…and how what happened following was anything but a happily ever after.
It provides an interesting and unique dive into how people handle–and DON’T handle–the pain and traumas they have experienced… also examines the voyeurism of crime victims and how damaging being thrust in the judgemental public eye can be to healing.
The evilness and heaviness of patriarchy and gender role expectations placed on women in our society are REALLY examined and peel backed and dissected in these pages….if you are a woman, you will DEFINITELY relate to some of the bullshit called out in these ladies’ stories.
Like how so many of society’s given expectations of women are contradictory of each other:
Be quiet and gentle and demure ……but not TOO quiet because you need to stand up for yourself if needed….but don’t be TOO assertive because then you’re considered a big bitch.
Be pretty and pleasing to look at to be accepted…..but not TOO pretty or you are considered vain and conceited.
Be modest and don’t show too much of your body or you’re just “asking” for bad things to happen to you…..but not TOO modest because then you’re considered a boring prude who is ashamed of her body.
It is ENRAGING because what ever we do, we can’t win.
Even when horrible things happen to women that have NOTHING to do with them, they are still met with shame and blame:
“You should have been more careful” “You shouldn’t have worn that”
We have a whole mess of “rules” for women that are all about upholding the damn patriarchy and geared toward victim blaming as a way to keep women oppressed and silent and submissive.
FUCKING BULLSHIT.
This wasn’t really what I would call a “pleasant” read….but MAN, WAS IT GOOD.
It was SO attention grabbing and I could NOT put it down!
ESPECIALLY in the middle of the book….things get SUPER DUPER weird for one brief chapter (I want to say what it was soooooooooo bad because you’d be like 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱 but I can NOT ruin the moment for you!).
At that point I was like “WTF IS HAPPENING HERE???” and I could not wait to find out.
Craziness is you don’t REALLY find out until the last few pages of the book!
And you’re just like 🤬🤯🤬🤯🤬🤯🤬🤯
Such a good book…but not a good “right before bed” read for 2 reasons:
#1 Some of the stories shared by the women are very hard to read—they are raw and honest and do not hold anything back. Some shit gets real weird and real awful…it can get into your head a bit and may also be triggering for some who have experienced similar events.
#2 Like I mentioned earlier, it is SO SO SO SO hard to stop reading! The writing is BEYOND fantastic and the characters are all so distinct and feel SO real. I felt super attached to the characters and invested in what was happening with them…I just wanted to know they’d be ok and what would happen to them next. You can’t turn away from this story OR put it down. This is DEFINITELY a “just one more chapter” type of book.
This is an impressive and imaginative work of fiction. Giving it ALL the thumbs up plus one 👍👍👍