Genre Fiction
![Claire Kohda - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B094RG79GK.jpg)
Woman, Eating: A Literary Vampire Novel
An IndieNext Pick! A Best Book of 2022 in Harper's Bazaar, Daily Mail, Glamour, and Thrillist!
Most Anticipated of 2022 in The Millions, Ms. Magazine, LitHub
A young, mixed-race vampire must find a way to balance her deep-seated desire to live amongst humans with her incessant hunger in this stunning debut novel from a writer-to-watch.
Lydia is hungry. She's always wanted to try Japanese food. Sashimi, ramen, onigiri with sour plum stuffed inside - the food her Japanese father liked to eat. And then there is bubble tea and iced-coffee, ice cream and cake, and foraged herbs and plants, and the vegetables grown by the other young artists at the London studio space she is secretly squatting in. But, Lydia can't eat any of these things. Her body doesn't work like those of other people. The only thing she can digest is blood, and it turns out that sourcing fresh pigs' blood in London - where she is living away from her vampire mother for the first time - is much more difficult than she'd anticipated.
Then there are the humans - the other artists at the studio space, the people at the gallery she interns at, the strange men that follow her after dark, and Ben, a boyish, goofy-grinned artist she is developing feelings for. Lydia knows that they are her natural prey, but she can't bring herself to feed on them. In her windowless studio, where she paints and studies the work of other artists, binge-watches Buffy the Vampire Slayer and videos of people eating food on YouTube and Instagram, Lydia considers her place in the world. She has many of the things humans wish for - perpetual youth, near-invulnerability, immortality – but she is miserable; she is lonely; and she is hungry - always hungry.
As Lydia develops as a woman and an artist, she will learn that she must reconcile the conflicts within her - between her demon and human sides, her mixed ethnic heritage, and her relationship with food, and, in turn, humans - if she is to find a way to exist in the world. Before any of this, however, she must eat.
"Absolutely brilliant – tragic, funny, eccentric and so perfectly suited to this particularly weird time. Claire Kohda takes the vampire trope and makes it her own in a way that feels fresh and original. Serious issues of race, disability, misogyny, body image, sexual abuse are handled with subtlety, insight, and a lightness of touch. The spell this novel casts is so complete I feel utterly, and happily, bitten." -- Ruth Ozeki, Booker-shortlisted author of A Tale for the Time Being
Most Anticipated of 2022 in The Millions, Ms. Magazine, LitHub
A young, mixed-race vampire must find a way to balance her deep-seated desire to live amongst humans with her incessant hunger in this stunning debut novel from a writer-to-watch.
Lydia is hungry. She's always wanted to try Japanese food. Sashimi, ramen, onigiri with sour plum stuffed inside - the food her Japanese father liked to eat. And then there is bubble tea and iced-coffee, ice cream and cake, and foraged herbs and plants, and the vegetables grown by the other young artists at the London studio space she is secretly squatting in. But, Lydia can't eat any of these things. Her body doesn't work like those of other people. The only thing she can digest is blood, and it turns out that sourcing fresh pigs' blood in London - where she is living away from her vampire mother for the first time - is much more difficult than she'd anticipated.
Then there are the humans - the other artists at the studio space, the people at the gallery she interns at, the strange men that follow her after dark, and Ben, a boyish, goofy-grinned artist she is developing feelings for. Lydia knows that they are her natural prey, but she can't bring herself to feed on them. In her windowless studio, where she paints and studies the work of other artists, binge-watches Buffy the Vampire Slayer and videos of people eating food on YouTube and Instagram, Lydia considers her place in the world. She has many of the things humans wish for - perpetual youth, near-invulnerability, immortality – but she is miserable; she is lonely; and she is hungry - always hungry.
As Lydia develops as a woman and an artist, she will learn that she must reconcile the conflicts within her - between her demon and human sides, her mixed ethnic heritage, and her relationship with food, and, in turn, humans - if she is to find a way to exist in the world. Before any of this, however, she must eat.
"Absolutely brilliant – tragic, funny, eccentric and so perfectly suited to this particularly weird time. Claire Kohda takes the vampire trope and makes it her own in a way that feels fresh and original. Serious issues of race, disability, misogyny, body image, sexual abuse are handled with subtlety, insight, and a lightness of touch. The spell this novel casts is so complete I feel utterly, and happily, bitten." -- Ruth Ozeki, Booker-shortlisted author of A Tale for the Time Being
Editorial Reviews
"One of the most original vampire novels in ages, Claire Kohda's Woman, Eatingfollows Lydia, a British, Japanese and Malaysian vampire struggling to survive. . . . Kohda has given Lydia a host of great vampire qualities, such as excellent night vision and an ability to experience the entire life of a creature by drinking its blood. But it's Kohda's exploration of Lydia's inner world, the pain and longing she feels as an outsider, that makes Woman, Eating such a delicious novel."
- New York Times Book Review
"Absolutely brilliant – tragic, funny, eccentric and so perfectly suited to this particularly weird time. Claire Kohda takes the vampire trope and makes it her own in a way that feels fresh and original. Serious issues of race, disability, misogyny, body image, sexual abuse are handled with subtlety, insight, and a lightness of touch, and the novel is ridiculously suspenseful! I was on the edge of my seat, just waiting for Lyd to bite someone, and in the end, I felt utterly and happily bitten." - Ruth Ozeki, author of A Tale for the Time Being
"The most unusual, original and strikingly contemporary vampire novel to come along in years." - The Guardian
"Unsettling, sensual, subversive, Woman, Eating turns the vampire trope on its head with its startlingly original female protagonist, caught between two worlds. It is a profound meditation on alienation and appetite, and what it means to be a young woman who experiences life at an acute level of intensity and awareness. Claire Kohda's prose is biting, yet lush and gorgeous. I was uncomfortably smitten." - Lisa Harding, author of Jenna Book Club Pick Bright Burning Things
"We've seen sexy vampires, scary vampires and psychic vampires, but never one quite like the one in this ambitious debut....With wit and a poet's eye, Kohda examines cravings, desire and emptiness."
- New York Times
"The chief trait that Lydia, the protagonist of this artful vampire novel, shares with monsters of old is hunger. . . . As Lydia encounters new people, including a pleasant artist turned property manager, and a new boss, a man with more influence than decency, she comes to understand what it is to become something 'that is neither demon nor human.'"
- New Yorker<...
- New York Times Book Review
"Absolutely brilliant – tragic, funny, eccentric and so perfectly suited to this particularly weird time. Claire Kohda takes the vampire trope and makes it her own in a way that feels fresh and original. Serious issues of race, disability, misogyny, body image, sexual abuse are handled with subtlety, insight, and a lightness of touch, and the novel is ridiculously suspenseful! I was on the edge of my seat, just waiting for Lyd to bite someone, and in the end, I felt utterly and happily bitten." - Ruth Ozeki, author of A Tale for the Time Being
"The most unusual, original and strikingly contemporary vampire novel to come along in years." - The Guardian
"Unsettling, sensual, subversive, Woman, Eating turns the vampire trope on its head with its startlingly original female protagonist, caught between two worlds. It is a profound meditation on alienation and appetite, and what it means to be a young woman who experiences life at an acute level of intensity and awareness. Claire Kohda's prose is biting, yet lush and gorgeous. I was uncomfortably smitten." - Lisa Harding, author of Jenna Book Club Pick Bright Burning Things
"We've seen sexy vampires, scary vampires and psychic vampires, but never one quite like the one in this ambitious debut....With wit and a poet's eye, Kohda examines cravings, desire and emptiness."
- New York Times
"The chief trait that Lydia, the protagonist of this artful vampire novel, shares with monsters of old is hunger. . . . As Lydia encounters new people, including a pleasant artist turned property manager, and a new boss, a man with more influence than decency, she comes to understand what it is to become something 'that is neither demon nor human.'"
- New Yorker<...
Readers Top Reviews
DaveBLLady Lavend
Read it! This book took me by surprise with how good it was. It captured so much about humanity and what it’s like to be a woman. Just really fugging good.
ErinDaveBLLady La
By turns funny, poignant, and wistful, this novel really plumbs the depth of its potential.
Marc WeukerErikaD
As an avid fan of vampire books The Quick I found Woman, Eating a very boring novel about a teenage girl obsessed with her mother. She lives a dull, lonely life that has little to do with the usual horror and violence in many vampire novels. More like a growing up story with little excitement. Not a genre book which should not have Vampire in the title!
openmypagesElektr
Hmm... not sure about this one. Lydia is a vampire who is obsessed with the idea of eating human food. She is half Japanese and half Malaysian, living in London and wanting so desperately to belong to the human race. She struggles relating to others and finds herself questioning how her mother raised her and how to help her mother cope with the coming end of her life. She very easily raises those around her onto a pedestal and then watches as they fall. It's well written and interesting but there isn't really a plot so much as a meandering self analysis from a twenty something artist trying to find meaning and joy in her bleak life. I did love the unusual interpretation of vampire, especially experiencing key moments in a life when drinking their blood. The incorporation of Baba Yaga was clever as were Lyd's view on art and the vampire. Not sure who to recommend this one too, it's much more women's lit than horror or sci-fi.
Lynn S. Jefferson
If you are thinking this is a book with vampire action throughout, then you will be highly disappointed. If you are looking for a piece of literary art that happens to have a vampire in it, then this book is perfect for you. Claire Kohda made a piece of art in the form of a book. Her writing style in this book is very descriptive. She writes in a way which brings you into the story as if you are actually there seeing every detail and watching everything play out. With it being so descriptive, it makes for a really slow read, which to me, also makes it a form of art. I am looking forward to reading another book from her, and interested to see if it will be written in the same writing style.
