How to Be Eaten - Maria Adelman

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Admittedly, the fairytale retelling premise of "How to Be Eaten" is hard to resist. In this story, the lives of 5 women converge as they come together in a trauma small group in modern-day New York City. From tales of imprisonment to kidnapping to a near-deadly encounter with a giant wolf, these ladies have been through the ringer.

Week after week, each woman tells her harrowing truth and processes her trauma, many for the first time. Some of the characters are very direct references to classic fairytales, while others weren't as obvious and kept me guessing--but unfortunately, not in a good way.

Overall, "How to be Eaten" was clunky, strange, and not nearly as imaginative as I'd hoped it would be. There was an emotional element missing in this for me from the very first woman's story, and I found that any semblance of empathy or other emotion I felt while reading this was totally and immediately eclipsed by Adelmann's weird, out-of-left-field graphic descriptions and narrations. 

I'm a reader that loves, even craves, weird books from time to time. I can suspend believe, go along with a strange narrative, and I really did love the idea of a classic fairytale retelling here. Ultimately, this story was just too strange and lacked the cohesion and depth I needed to settle into it and truly enjoy it. 


Rating: 2.5 Stars
Publication Details: Out Now, Little Brown & Company

Huge thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing my review copy!


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