Having My Mouse Moment With Woman, Eating
If you loved the vibes of Only Lovers Left Alive, you'll love this book.
The guy from Kora is standing outside the building in the sun.
Recently, my friends and I had a discussion about whether the Count from Sesame Street is a vampire. Apparently, he has never been identified as one on air and there is a Sesame Street internal style guide that says he is “not a vampire”. But at the same time, in the Wired autocomplete video, the Count does say he is a vampire. So is my first ever reference for vampires a vampire or not?
Unlike Sesame Street, however, in Woman, Eating, there is no question of what Lydia is. She is a vampire and she desperately needs to eat.
Shortly after Lydia admits her ailing mother—also a vampire and the woman who turned her—to a nursing home, she runs away to London to begin her life anew. But having never lived on her own, she immediately runs into dire trouble when she’s unable to source for animal blood to eat. While starving, she must juggle her unpaid internship at a prestigious art gallery where no one cares for her and her blossoming feelings for her neighbours.
Woman, Eating was recommended to me via our lovely friends over at TikTok and I was immediately drawn to it when I read Lydia was half-Japanese, half-Malaysian vampire. For those of you who live in South-East Asia, you’ll immediately see why her heritage is so interesting.
But sadly, both Lydia and us don’t really get to see much of her heritage. It is revealed that Lydia’s father died when she was relatively young so she doesn’t have many memories of him; instead she was largely brought up by her mother.
Despite having been the one to turn her, Lydia’s mother actively detests their vampiric nature. The two of them never feed on human blood, instead they only drink pig’s blood as it is “dirty” like them. (Lydia does push back on this later in life when she eventually learns pigs are not naturally dirty).
And it’s through these little anecdotes that you learn more about Lydia and her innermost world. There’s a lot of reading between the lines to be done for Woman, Eating before you can see the links between our main character’s relationship with her heritage, parents, life as a vampire, art, food and more.
I can see us, reflected wonkily in the foil. My face, on a crease, is twisted and demonic.
To me, Claire Kohda’s novel is less about vampires and more a coming-of-age story about generational trauma. It isn’t until Lydia is able to deal with her relationship with her mother then is she able to feed herself in all senses of the world. Before that, we see Lydia stumble through adulthood, having been purposefully isolated from the world and her identity.
However, Kohda’s restraint in letting us into Lydia’s world can be frustrating at times. There were times it was a bit jarring to see Lydia’s arc moving forward, especially when just a few seconds ago she was worrying about wasting away. I found myself going back and rereading the previous lines a number of times just to pick up on the nuances that I had missed. And when we got closer to the end, readers might run the risk of getting lost in the weeds especially if you’re a bit of a fast reader like me.
But ultimately, the final payoff is delicious in so many ways and having slept on it, Lydia’s emotional journey is beautiful. I think younger readers from the South-East Asian diaspora in particular can appreciate this book and find a bit of themselves in Lydia.
There really is something for everyone in Woman, Eating. If you’re a fan of The Book Eaters, if you ever wanted a scarier version of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, indulge in Kohda’s novel, best appreciated with a bowl of udon or pandan cake.
Rating: 4/5
Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda was released April 2022 and published by Virago Press.
Have you seen "Books on Gif"'s review today. What is going on with vampires and London?? I know be that both books are about something other than vampires.