I'll start by saying this isn't really my type of book, and I'm definitely not the target audience. That being said, it is very well written and the story did keep my interest overall. It is a bit outrageous at times, but there are fairly universal themes at the heart of this novel. I definitely enjoyed it as much as I could for story that I had nothing in common with on its face.

In "Milk Fed," our 24yo protagonist, Rachel, is obsessed with her constant mathematical calculations of calories. She tiptoes daily around the edge of hunger. Tracking every piece of food gives her some illusion of control. And no thanks to her mother for part of her eating disorder and she's constantly reminding her that "thin is beautiful."

Rachel reveals that she "entered therapy hoping to alleviate the suffering related to both my food issues and my mother, but without having to make any actual changes in either area." Turns out, she was able to tackle both issues.

Thanks to her therapist, she goes a 90-day emotional detox from her overbearing, not-so-Jewish mother. This works for a while. And then Rachel meets--and falls for--Meriam, a very voluptuous Orthodox Jewish 20-something who's comfortable with her size. But not her sexuality. So the girls have this interesting transformation of sorts. One learns to love her body and the other learns to love women.

For about the first half of the book, I cried my eyes out with tears. Rachel is hilarious (and a one-night-a-week standup comic). There were several time I laughed out loud and I highlighted page after page of witty quips. Then things got soooooooper steamy, sexually speaking, and there was just too much detail about gorging on food. So I skimmed over a few sections in the second half. Warning: Food sensitivity triggers abound!

All in all, I love the writing, the short chapters and Rachel's wit. I'd give Milk Fed 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

Special thanks to Scribner for a digital copy of the book!

An interesting book they deftly handles female relationships and deals beautifully with Orthodox Judaism.

It’s still early in the year, but this is already a favorite of 2021! I thought the premise of the book was very unique and engaging. I enjoyed Broder’s sharp writing and weird sense of humor. This book is great for fans of My Year of Rest and Relaxation.

Milk seemed to be the theme this month as the second Belletrist book of this month also had milk in the title. The Pisces is on my Want to Read list and now I may be moving it up because I really enjoyed this next book by Melissa Broder.

This book follows a young woman who is struggling with obsessive calorie counting and her relationship with her mother. She starts to break free of these harmful patterns after meeting a woman at her favorite frozen yogurt store named Miriam.

There were so many layers to this book that made it so captivating. First, our narrator Rachel is a Reform Jew and Miriam is an Orthodox Jew. I really took delight in learning more about Jewish culture and traditions. I wish there would have been a little more expansion and explanation on some things though. Luckily I read this on my Kindle so I was able to easily look up a word I didn’t know, but I would have appreciated some more detail from the author as someone who is very unfamiliar with Jewish customs. I was grateful for the frank conversation about the conflict with Israel and Palestine, a topic I know exists but don’t know much about.

Another layer was Rachel’s intense mommy issues. They bleed into many facets of her life: her sexual fantasies, her self worth and need for validation, and her eating habits are of course all related to her complicated relationship with her mother. I loved how aware Rachel was of her issues. She reminded me of the narrator in My Year of Rest and Relaxation except I found Rachel much more likable. She knows she has issues, but she’s ok with continuing her bad habits since she’s not ready to fix them. I found her so hilarious in this way. She knows she needs to work on herself and therefore starts going to therapy, but isn’t actually desperate enough for it to work. Even when it came to her feelings for Miriam, I felt like she knew her infatuation was related to her own fears of her body image but kept that knowledge juuuuust under the surface.

I was a little surprised with how erotic it got, but it all made so much sense at the same time. Unlike some romance novels that just revolve around the detailed sex scenes, in this story they were not just for show and revealed so much about the character and her psyche. There were so many themes in this book it could have rivaled an AP Lit Great Gatsby lesson but they folded in so pleasantly that I didn’t find it over the top.

It’s not often I finish a book in a day but I just couldn’t put this one down. It read so easily and I was so invested in what was going to happen to Rachel I just had to keep reading. I definitely recommend this if you’re looking for a deep yet humorous book!

Milk Fed has been making the rounds in the weeks since it was published, and I can see why. This book is ~a lot~, but Melissa Broder is one of those talented writers who seems to have x-ray vision into the deepest parts of people, and a unique skill in bringing those things out with words.

Rachel’s life is defined by her eating disorder and body dysmorphia. But she’s hungry in more ways than one — she’s also got an intense and free sexual appetite, and her perspectives on food, freedom, and desire twist and turn around each other. Then she meets Miriam, a closeted Orthodox Jewish woman whose family and affection centers food — essentially, the reverse of Rachel’s cage and freedom. And Rachel’s sense of self begins to slowly, but not comfortably, change.

A word of warning: If you have food-related triggers or sensitivity to these topics, tread carefully or skip this one — Rachel talks about her disordered eating habits in detail and with reverence. The sexual content is also explicit and very descriptive. But as you can imagine, for those who are prepared for that kind of content, the two entwine to create the kind of writing that really, really does something beyond words.

I have not read Broder’s first novel, and I hear that one is even more intense. I’m not sure that one will be for me, but can see, here, exactly why and how she makes an impact.

Control, woman who lives by it and one who defies it. Rachel thinks she has her life under control. Her calories her intake, her emotions. Miriam lives her life in the light, curious, giving, unapologetic. Miriam needs to nourish and Rachel is in need of nourishment of the heart and soul. It’s a lively testament to a spirit reborn in a life deserving of renewal.

Trigger warning, not a content warning, but a huge trigger warning for disordered eating. If you have a history with disordered eating I strongly suggest you reflect on your strengths and supports before you read this book. Please consider this when recommending this title.

Rachel is a woman driven by her cravings, in a desperate attempt to fill the voids in her life. These cravings are so primal that it makes sense we don't get a deeper than superficial look at her life. Her infatuation with food leads her to pick "reward" foods like treats instead of nourishment. Her relationships are shallow, focusing on sex, and the rewards of the physical instead of emotional. I thought we were getting somewhere with god. I would have loved a George Carlin-esque god and Rachel conversation.

Overall, an interesting, but cringy read.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a breath of fresh air. The author's unique writing style made this a book that I read in one sitting. There are parts of the mother-daughter dynamic that are relatable. Overall, this is a great read!

I didn't love this but I didn't hate it. Not safe for audio listening at work or with little ones around. #netgallery

Rachel is a 24-year-old lapsed Jew who fills every second of her day with obsessive calorie counting. The story starts as she begins a therapist-recommended detox from her overbearing mother who fuels her disordered eating. Rachel frequently treats herself to a precise portion of forzen yogurt (sans toppings!!!); Miriam is a practicing Orthodox Jew who works in the froyo shop.

Miriam, a foil to Rachel, is fat but has a far healthier relationship with food and a more joyful life in general. The women develop a friendship (and more) that opens Rachel up to the vulnerability she's been so artfully avoiding - Miriam introduces her to a supportive world where food, faith and family provide sustenance and strength. But still, Rachel doesn't quite fit in.

Milk Fed is a story about rejection and self-acceptance, the journey from self-loathing to finding peace. It's messy at times, but always very honest and very real. This book will be hard to read if you struggle or have struggled with disordered eating/diet culture/body dysmorphia. I know I have, and reading Rachel's toxic internal monologue shook me in a way I'm not quite able to put into words. For me, eye opening in a good way.
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This book also touches on queer love and practicing Judaism in present day Los Angeles. Homophobia rears its ugly head in Milk Fed, and this is probably the most sexually explicit book I've ever rated 5 stars on Goodreads.

This was one that I keep going back and forth on. I enjoyed Broder's style of writing a lot but I was unsure how I felt about the story itself. The main character Rachel isn't particularly likable but you do feel for her in terms of rejection, depression, etc. I thought the story was interesting regarding her relationship with her mom and Miriam but I did struggle with so much of it centering on what felt like a not wholly necessary explanation of her eating disorder.

I absolutely loved this book!! One of the funniest, weirdest, most interesting books I have read recently.

The characters might be unlikeable at times but that did not stop me from devouring and loving this book! I would recommend widely with the preface of LOTS of trigger warnings. This is a read in one sitting book that I loved very very much!

This unusual book’s protagonist is Rachel, a single twenty-something living in LA, working for a talent agency, and navigating her way through life. Even though her family live thousands of miles away, Rachel’s mother has distinct control over her eating habits - evidently, this is significant and impacts hugely on how Rachel lived her life.

Calorie-counting to the extreme is a key part of Rachel’s everyday life - as is frozen yogurt! It’s when she’s at Yo!Good that she meets Miriam, whose family own the store, and she is someone who takes a shine to Rachel. Their backgrounds are quite different, although both are Jewish and have similar experiences.

The relationship that develops between Rachel and Miriam is full-on and fairly explicit, so if reading about female intimacy isn’t for you, you might not enjoy this book.. Rachel is a lesbian but Miriam, despite liking Rachel very much, struggles massively - and eventually it’s familial pressures that drive the girls apart.

At times, ‘Milk Fed’ is very funny; there’s also a certain amount of pathos, from the controlling nature of both girls’ parents, albeit in different ways, to what happens to Rachel at the end. However, at its core is food - in all its wonderfulness. Broder’s sensory details are sublime and show how significant food is to life, whether for good or for bad.

I just reading this book this weekend. If it were not for pandemic stress, I would have torn through it much more quickly. There is just so much to unpack in this novel. Rachel's obsession with food and calorie restriction -- it's all about what we want, what we can't get, and what we want but will not allow ourselves to have. Simply brilliant. I have to add the dialogue, both actual and interior, is top notch. Yes, I guess I will agree with other reviewers in that Miriam could have been developed a little more, but again, how well do we know other people. The Pisces has long been on my neverending TBR list. This book makes me want to get to it sooner than later.

Published by Scribner on February 2, 2021

Milk Fed begins as a light novel about a woman struggling with an eating disorder. It becomes heavier and darker as it transforms into an exploration of sexual and religious identity. Add the eating issue and the novel is about self-acceptance in the face of societal or parental judgment.

Rachel works for a talent agency. She also performs one evening a week at a comedy club. In her dreams she receives wisdom from a rabbi. In her waking hours she sees a therapist to address her mother issues.

To her mother’s displeasure, Rachel indulged her sweet tooth as a young girl and got chubby. At sixteen, she compensated by eating too little and nearly becoming anorexic. Eventually she saw a nutritionist who balanced her so that she ate the right amount of healthy food. Now she counts calories obsessively. She also thinks about food (particularly sweets) obsessively. And she frets about her mother obsessively. Her therapist wants her to detox from her relationship with her mother because it is “emotionally unsafe.” That’s easier said than done.

Also to her mother’s displeasure, Rachel is either bisexual or a lesbian. She’s never had a sexual relationship with either gender that was completely satisfying. Early in the novel, Rachel develops a friendship with Miriam, who works in a yogurt shop. She’s not sure whether Miriam shares her interest in a physical relationship, but she allows Miriam to feed her decadent yogurt sundaes and high-calorie Chinese food. Rachel also consumes Shabbat meals at the home of Miriam’s parents. She thus experiences the pleasure of flavor but the frustration of weight gain, mixed with the pleasure of friendship and the fear of trying to move that friendship to a more intimate level.

Miriam is not by nature averse to having sex with a woman, but she resists her desire because her Orthodox parents will be less than pleased at her choice of partners. The relationship does eventually change. The later chapters are rather graphic in their description of that change, which I report not so much as a warning as an endorsement for readers who might enjoy graphic titillation. But Rachel eventually gets it on with a male client in violation of her employment agreement. That scene also leaves little to the imagination.

Sexual uncertainty might be a lesser conflict in the Rachel/Miriam relationship than religion. Rachel enjoys the time she spends with Miriam’s family, which seems more accepting of her than her own mother, but she also feels the need to avoid their judgment. She does not share their uncritical embrace of Israel and the occupation. When Rachel politely suggests that Palestinians might have legitimate grievances, Rachel’s mother reacts with knee-jerk hostility, accusing Rachel of self-hatred and betrayal. Rachel wonders what it means “to love a version of something that might not really exist — not as you saw it. Does this negate the love?” While she asks that question about Israel, it might also be asked about Rachel’s love of Miriam, a love that must be kept secret to avoid the judgment of Miriam’s mother.

Despite the novel’s exploration of self-image, sexuality, intolerance, and parental judgment, the story doesn’t bear an oppressive weight. This is journey of discovery. Rachel learns about herself by tasting the forbidden flavors of chocolate and sex. She lets down her barriers and becomes less uptight, less fearful of her desires. She doesn’t know if this new feeling is “surrender, freedom, or a total delusion that was ultimately going to hurt me.” It is certainly not without consequences, but experiencing consequences is a necessary condition of growth. The period of Rachel’s life that we see in Milk Fed is one of difficult change, but the Rachel who emerges is more confident and less fearful of the choices she will need to confront in the future.

RECOMMENDED

It pains me to write this review, especially since I loved Broder's The Pisces.

"A scathingly funny, wildly erotic, and fiercely imaginative story about food, sex, and god" - such misleading claims. I wasn't amused in the least. The sex, which was over-the-top descriptive, was outright off-putting, and there was nothing imaginative, with the exception of a lot of Freudian incestuous masturbatory weird dreaming and fantasizing.

The main character and narrator of this short novel is Rachel, a twenty-four-year-old lapsed Jew, who works in a talent agency in Hollywood. She's not that keen on the job or her colleagues.
Rachel is obsessed with food, how many calories she eats, how often. She also exercises obsessively. She suffers from body dysmorphia and has an overbearing mother.
Out of nowhere, Rachel develops a crush on Miriam, an obese Orthodox Jew young woman, who works in the yoghurt place Rachel frequents for lunch.
The two develop a friendship and sexual relationship. I thought Miriam was under-developed and mostly there as a sex object. In the second half, there's a lot of lesbian sex. It was repetitive and way too descriptive, which felt like a filler.

The ending was anti-climatic as well.

Worst of all, the writing was simplistic and flat. This is no literary masterpiece, if anything, it felt like a first draft. Truthfully, I found almost no redeeming qualities to this novel, unless being a quick read counts for much.

I held off reading Melissa Broder’s first novel, The Pisces, because of all the mixed reviews. People were saying it was weird, but beautifully written. I received an e-arc of her follow-up, Milk Fed, and although I can see the same brand of “weirdness” in this one, it was, indeed, beautifully written while being cohesive and engaging.

*TW for eating disorders, body dysmorphia*

Milk Fed follows Rachel, a 24-year old lapsed Jew who works in a talent agency in Los Angeles. Due to her mom’s restrictive calorie counting, Rachel has developed obsessive food rituals to prevent herself from gaining weight. After her therapist recommends a ninety-day communication detox from her mother as a way to break away from disordered eating, Rachel meets Miriam, an Orthodox Jewish woman working at her favorite froyo shop. Attracted to Miriam, Rachel is pulled into Miriam’s world of faith, family, food as the two spend more time together.

As we spend the novel within Rachel’s head, I felt like Broder did a great job unpacking all of her impulses, desires, and thoughts, no matter how embarrassing or cruel they were. Rachel’s religion is also a big part of the novel, and it was interesting to see how this book connected one’s loss of faith to loss of family/identity, and Rachel’s attempts to regain control of her life through food while turning to Jewish folktales to justify decisions made in the later half of the book. What I can see maybe turning people off was that the descriptions of food or peoples’ bodies were described so sensually, it was almost overkill during certain parts. I also felt like while the ending was what I expected to happen, I felt like the book wrapped up really quickly given how the rest of the book was paced.

Thank you again to Simon & Schuster for providing this arc. I definitely want to read The Pisces now and see how Broder’s writing has changed and evolved.

Milk Fed throws two things at you: eating and sex. I’m not someone who has ever had an eating disorder, or an unhealthy relationship with food, and I found Rachel’s obsession with food and eating (or lack there of) to be exhausting. Which I believe was the point. ⁣
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Broder does not shy from talking about sex. She easily writes about sex like she does about food. She has a very frank way of describing absolutely everything which I really like. You’re most likely going to find yourself in one or two camps: 1) find her depiction of female sex and desire empowering or 2) find her depiction of female sex and desire unnecessary and gratuitous.⁣
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So where does that leave me?⁣
Honestly, I’m still trying to figure that out. I absolutely loved each individual element. I loved reading about Rachel’s relationship with her mother, her relationship with being Jewish, and especially her relationship with Miriam. I was interested in how she viewed food, the golem element, and her relationship with her therapist and even her coworkers. But what I’m still trying to figure out is did I love it all together? I DO NOT KNOW!⁣
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This isn’t a book I’d recommend to everyone but there is definitely an audience for it.