Status
Checked out
Collections
Publication
Scribner (2021), 320 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. Humor (Fiction.) HTML:Named a Best Book of the Year by Entertainment Weekly, Vogue, Time, Esquire, BookPage, and more This darkly hilarious and "delicious new novel that ravishes with sex and food" (The Boston Globe) from the acclaimed author of The Pisces and So Sad Today is a "precise blend of desire, discomfort, spirituality, and existential ache" (BuzzFeed). Rachel is twenty-four, a lapsed Jew who has made calorie restriction her religion. By day, she maintains an illusion of existential control, through obsessive food rituals, while working as an underling at a Los Angeles talent management agency. At night, she pedals nowhere on the elliptical machine. Rachel is content to carry on subsisting�??until her therapist encourages her to take a ninety-day communication detox from her mother, who raised her in the tradition of calorie counting. Rachel soon meets Miriam, a zaftig young Orthodox Jewish woman who works at her favorite frozen yogurt shop and is intent upon feeding her. Rachel is suddenly and powerfully entranced by Miriam�??by her sundaes and her body, her faith and her family�??and as the two grow closer, Rachel embarks on a journey marked by mirrors, mysticism, mothers, milk, and honey. "A ruthless, laugh-out-loud examination of life under the tyranny of diet culture" (Glamour) Broder tells a tale of appetites: physical hunger, sexual desire, spiritual longing, and the ways that we compartmentalize these so often interdependent instincts. Milk Fed is "riotously funny and perfectly profane" (Refinery 29) from "a wild, wicked mind" (Los Angeles Ti… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member akblanchard
Author Melissa Broder explores the three-way intersection of food, sex and love in this comic novel. Narrator Rachel's restrictive eating disorder has defined her adult life, but she finally eases up on her compulsive calorie counting when she meets Miriam, the zaftig daughter of an Orthodox Jewish
This novel is sharply written, funny, and filled with wise observations about women, daughterhood, and food, even if the sex scenes get a little redundant. Recommended.
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family. Their lesbian relationship, which is described in graphic detail, frees Rachel to embrace herself, her body, and even her soul. This novel is sharply written, funny, and filled with wise observations about women, daughterhood, and food, even if the sex scenes get a little redundant. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member froxgirl
This is a unique, semi-serious/semi-tragic romp through a love affair based on frozen yogurt and in the breaking of religious boundaries. Rachel is 24 and living with an extremely exacting eating disorder to keep herself thin and immune to her mother's constant criticism and her comparisons to the
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"really thin" women of LA. At a yogurt shop for her tiny daily indulgence, she meets Miriam, an Orthodox Jewish daughter of the owner, who is lusciously fat (her self-description) and just gaw-guss to Rachel. They fall in love over kosher Chinese food and even weather an introduction to Miriam's large family, until the matriarch sniffs out Rachel's erotic attraction to Miriam. Rachel keeps eating and she and Miriam enjoy their erotic encounters to the benefit of both women. Both the sex and the food are voluptuously described, and there's a hilarious undercurrent (Rachel does standup comedy on the side) that makes this novel great big oversized fun. Show Less
LibraryThing member spincerely
A good self help book in fictional form.
LibraryThing member shazjhb
Liked the stuff about food and mother. Even the religious stuff was great. Did not love the sexual aspects but that is the hot topic at the moment.
LibraryThing member bostonbibliophile
Definitely loved it but I am a fan of hers so there's that. If you've never read her, her books are very graphic and explicit both when it comes to sex and bodily functions as well as emotions. If you have read her, you know what to expect, and she delivers. It's not going to be for everyone. But
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if you liked the pisces you will probably like this too. Show Less
LibraryThing member sanyamakadi
By page 60 or so I realized I didn't like any of the characters. Our hero, Rachel, had an extremely unhealthy relationship with food, and everyone in her life. The love interest, Miriam, came on the scene by pressuring Rachel to eat when she clearly didn't want to. All the supporting characters
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were using people or being cruel or judgmental. Not the most fun way to escape into a book. The book also had a lot of sex, but most of it was not sexy, but weird, as Rachel had continuous sexual fantasies involving the mother-figures in her life, where they started out nurturing her, and ended up f*cking her. Ick. It finally did get sexy towards the end when Miriam and Rachel got together, but that didn't last or end well for either of them. Hard pass. Show Less
LibraryThing member booklove2
What can I say, this book with another book was only be $1 with combined shipping on ebay, so I went for it. This book isn't really for me - Rachel works at a talent agency in L.A., much of the book goes on and on about counting calories and her diet... then she goes on a binge, which is admittedly
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more fun for the reader. If you're interested in eating disorders, this might be an interesting book for you. But I thought Melissa Broder could at least do something more with these topics. I empathize, but I don't want to endlessly hear about food. It's a very Now book, so I'm not sure the shelf life of this book. And the point seemed to go past my head. I did love the golem bits. Show Less
LibraryThing member carolfoisset
This book was given to me - not quite sure what to make of it. I think of it other than it might have given me an eating disorder:)
Quick read, glad I read it, but probably won't recommend it to anyone else.
Quick read, glad I read it, but probably won't recommend it to anyone else.
LibraryThing member PinkPurlandProse
Many thanks to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Canada and Melissa Border for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.
What did I just read??? I’m not sure, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t like it. Well, let me
And no, it wasn’t the sex. I’m fine reading hot and steamy sex scenes, but this was like being in a self absorbed, neurotic person’s head 24/7. There was no escape. I guess that’s the point. Rachel could never escape her own issues, but boy, I felt like I was sucked down this black hole of self indulgent, poor me psychosis where who do we blame but the mother, of course. Rachel is stuck in her life because her mommy wasn’t nice. She told her to not to get fat, lose weight and well, welcome to having a Jewish mother.
I didn’t enjoy the main character. Rachel seemed stuck throughout the whole novel so it became very repetitive. She is obsessive about counting her food calories, has body dysmorphia among other issues. She meets Miriam, an Orthodox jewish woman who works in a frozen yogurt shop. She becomes obsessed with how Miriam enjoys her food, then she becomes obsessed with Miriam. Obviously this is a relationship doomed to fail.
I couldn’t wait to finish this book. It was a slog to the end. The ending didn’t have any redeeming qualities. This one was definitely not for me.
What did I just read??? I’m not sure, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t like it. Well, let me
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say that it wasn’t for me. I was uncomfortable the whole way through. Not in the good uncomfortable, And no, it wasn’t the sex. I’m fine reading hot and steamy sex scenes, but this was like being in a self absorbed, neurotic person’s head 24/7. There was no escape. I guess that’s the point. Rachel could never escape her own issues, but boy, I felt like I was sucked down this black hole of self indulgent, poor me psychosis where who do we blame but the mother, of course. Rachel is stuck in her life because her mommy wasn’t nice. She told her to not to get fat, lose weight and well, welcome to having a Jewish mother.
I didn’t enjoy the main character. Rachel seemed stuck throughout the whole novel so it became very repetitive. She is obsessive about counting her food calories, has body dysmorphia among other issues. She meets Miriam, an Orthodox jewish woman who works in a frozen yogurt shop. She becomes obsessed with how Miriam enjoys her food, then she becomes obsessed with Miriam. Obviously this is a relationship doomed to fail.
I couldn’t wait to finish this book. It was a slog to the end. The ending didn’t have any redeeming qualities. This one was definitely not for me.
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LibraryThing member spiritedstardust
I love Melissas writing - it’s really addicting and easy to read.
However all of these novels that I have read contain things that just aren’t my cup of tea (in this one it was the mummy kinks).
I’ve also never found any of her characters likeable.
Therefore I’m rating just for writing.
However all of these novels that I have read contain things that just aren’t my cup of tea (in this one it was the mummy kinks).
I’ve also never found any of her characters likeable.
Therefore I’m rating just for writing.
LibraryThing member spiritedstardust
I love Melissas writing - it’s really addicting and easy to read.
However all of these novels that I have read contain things that just aren’t my cup of tea (in this one it was the mummy kinks).
I’ve also never found any of her characters likeable.
Therefore I’m rating just for writing
However all of these novels that I have read contain things that just aren’t my cup of tea (in this one it was the mummy kinks).
I’ve also never found any of her characters likeable.
Therefore I’m rating just for writing
LibraryThing member BibliophageOnCoffee
The type of book that you can only recommend to someone you know VERY well.
Awards
Lambda Literary Award (Finalist — 2022)
Publishing Triangle Awards (Finalist — Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction — 2022)
BookTube Prize (Octofinalist — Fiction — 2022)
ALA Over the Rainbow Book List (Selection — 2022)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2021
Physical description
320 p.; 8 inches
ISBN
1982142502 / 9781982142506