I really like Melissa Broder's writing style and I love how she boldly puts somewhat taboo topics to page, sometimes to the point of discomfort. I think she wrote a very real and sympathetic character in Rachel, who has a crippling eating disorder (TWs everywhere, be warned) and semi-related mommy issues. I did reach a point where I started to feel like it was style over substance. I don't really balk at human body grossness and graphic sex scenes (I mean, check my reading history) but somewhere along the way I started to wish there were fewer sexual fantasy descriptions and more plot movement, especially because the ending felt pretty anticlimactic. I think this is a unique and honest and brazenly tender book that got me too invested in characters whose stories it couldn't deliver on.

Who knew that a story of a young woman with a food disorder (past and present) could be funny, heartbreaking, incredibly sexy, and a brave tale of just being human with all flaws bared? Along with great mix of "I can't believe you went there!" to "I'm so glad you went there..." in including us in the mind and days of Rachel, endlessly counting out her daily caloric intake; we witness her growing love of a zoftig woman, her involvement with a B television star, her acceptance of her own body and ultimately of herself through a series of binges, dreams and heart breaks. An honest telling of what the world of eating disorders are really like: calorie by calorie, crumb by crumb.

A wonderful, sensual book. I will definitely buy this for my library and read more books from Broder.

I loved the writing of this book. It was weirdly erotic and absolutely captivating. The portrayal of mother issues, figuring out sexuality, religion, and being ok with yourself was balanced so well. I felt that each of the main themes was balanced in here. I liked watching the relationship go forward and see the outcome. Rachael wasn't the most likable character however, I was still able to empathize with her and her unhappiness in life. I definitely will be recommending this book to people.

I really enjoyed this book, and I actually attended the virtual book launch event Melissa Broder did with Books Are Magic, which gave some great context to the book and characters.

Basically, this book follows Rachel, a non-religious Jewish woman obsessed with restricting her food intake, as she goes on a therapist-suggested 90 day detox from communicating with her problematic mother. During this time, she meets Miriam, an orthodox Jew, who helps to reignite her appetite — both for food and for sex — transforming her relationship with herself and her spirituality.

During her launch event, Broder talked about the inspiration of the book as “being alive and feeling uncomfortable with that,” while also trying to figure out spirituality, ie how to be a human among humans. In the beginning, Rachel doesn’t allow herself to feel any pleasure because she’s disconnected from her spirit and her sense of self. Only as she pushes against the certitudes she’s built her cage from is she able to feel alive again — this book is, at its core, an exploration of this theme.

If the boob on the cover didn’t hint at it enough, this book has a lot of sex, and usually that works against a book in my opinion, but this time I think the sex was instrumental to the plot and helped to illuminate the character’s development as the plot progressed. She goes from fantasizing about being mothered by a woman at her office, to fantasizing about dominating that woman, to having tender experiences with Miriam and more… whatever is going on in Rachel’s spirit is reflected in her sexual experiences. Broder is also really good at writing steamy scenes, so these parts of the book are really easy to get through.

As someone who has struggled with food issues and getting validation from not only my mother, but everyone around me, I really related to Rachel’s voice and character. She’s witty and self-deprecating enough to be funny and relatable without coming off as annoying. There were plenty of moments that made me chuckle, right alongside emotionally impactful revelations, creating a satisfying balance.

I think where this book lost a couple of minor points for me was in the reliance on overplayed archetypes like mother issues leading to finding mothers in other domineering women and using thin vs. fat as shorthand to immediately communicate the differences between Rachel and Miriam. But, like I said, these are minor complaints for an overall wonderful novel.

Broder seems to have a talent for putting often-indescribable inner turmoils into words and making them funny, yet meaningful. I’m definitely interested in reading her other novel, as well as her poetry collections. I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in literary fiction that’s okay with some steaminess in their stories.

Hunger in all its forms are at the forefront of Milk Fed. From physical hunger, to the hunger for attention, friendship, satisfaction, relationships, and most of all...love. Who knew that food could be so incredibly sexual?

Much hyped, I'll admit to not having even read a description of Milk Fed before I started and boy was I drawn right in. Lapsed-Jew Rachel is struggling with an eating disorder and a dysfunctional relationship with her mother across the country. Struggling in LA in a dead end job, her days are measured by the calories she eats and the calories she burns, obsessively counting and then constantly looking forward to her next meal...till she meets Miriam. Miriam, an overweight Orthodox Jewish woman who works in her family's yogurt shop changes Rachel's life, feeding her with not only food but in all the other ways she's so lacking and needing.

Not having read Broder's The Pisces, I didn't know what to expect with Milk Fed. Sharply witty, at some points laugh out loud funny, and at other points, I found myself crying. Rachel was the type of character you want to root for as she struggles in search of way more than her next meal.

“a tale of appetites: physical hunger, sexual desire, spiritual longing…”

thank you to scribner and netgalley. for my gifted copy of “milk fed” by melissa broder.

rachel is a lapsed jew with mommy issues whose new religion is calorie restriction. when instructed to detox from her mother for 90 days, she meets miriam, an orthodox jew who works at her favorite yogurt shop. what ensues is a deep dive into not only the girls’ relationship, but into a relationship with food, sex, and religion.

shamefully, this is my first time reading melissa broder, and i can’t help but wonder why i waited so long. she writes with such a quick-witted and intelligent voice, bringing the characters and scenes to life as if you are watching a tv series rather than reading a book. from describing the look and feel of pubic hair, to the taste of the food—and other things—rachel is shoving into her mouth, even the way miriam carefully eats wontons with chopsticks, i was fully immersed in this story from start to finish.

while i saw the importance of the vidid sex scenes and the sensory experience—and who doesn’t love a good, vidid sex scene?—i felt like the story became a bit too reliant on sex at some point. it seemed like it became less about the actual relationships rachel was fostering and more about the sex she was having.

ironically, by the end, i was left underserved and full of questions. i wanted to explore and understand more about rachel's relationship with her mother, about her illness in regard to food, and even about her experiences with religion.

despite some faults, “milk fed” was a witty, quick read that should not go unread, especially if you like melissa’s previous work. i know i will be reading her others that i missed out on.

Maybe it's just me, but I didn't care for this book at all. I didn't identify with the main character and didn't really care what happened.. I found the constant sexual talk to be monotonous and just not something I wanted to read. I struggled to finish, thinking maybe I would like it more as it went along. Nope.

Milk Fed is a beautifully written, riotously funny, but often touching story about Rachel, a lapsed Jewish girl who is struggling to find her identity. The book  covers some big issues, including, food obsession and body image, sexuality, religion and the huge impact a mother-daughter relationship can have on all of these. Melissa Broder has a wonderful turn of phrase which evokes both humour and poignancy at the same time. I highly recommend this book. Thanks to the author, Scribner Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

This will be my favorite read in 2021, mark my words. I identified so much with the protagonist that I read Milk Fed all the way through in one sitting. While I found myself cringing due to some shocking passages, Broder created such an accessible world for those who have struggled with eating disorders, family trauma, and unexpected love. Please see my review for more.

Melissa Broder's writing brilliance is undisputable. She writes about hard subjects (eating disorder, struggles with familial relationships, spirituality, sexual desire, and so much more) in a way that doesn't feel too heavy to read. I didn't walk away from this depressed as I have with books on similar subjects. I was a little disappointed in the ending because I felt like Rachel was "miraculously" over her eating disorder because of Miriam and I don't know how realistic that is.

From the first sentence of this book, I felt like our main character, Rachel, was so relatable. I was highlighting and writing down many memorable quotes in the beginning. Rachel is a reformed, non-practicing Jewish person, food is something she constantly fights, and her relationship with her family, is something that she struggles with. I was personally so entrenched from the beginning. However, the author does take a 180, when we meet Miriam.

Miriam, works at a frozen yogurt shop, and cannot quite understand why Rachel would never want any toppings on her yogurt. She is an Orthodox Jew, who has weight issues, but is entirely not consumed by them. Rachel and Miriam develop a relationship that borderlines on obsession in a comical way.

I loved Melissa Broder’s first novel Pisces, so much, I knew I would have get my hands on this book, and it did not disappoint. While this story is surreal, very sexual, and comical, Broder gives of us a story of woman who is trying to figure out her place in this world. Totally love this book so much.

Thank you NetGalley and Scribner for an Advanced Reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rachel lives alone in LA, works at a boutique talent agency, and focuses pretty much only on counting calories and exercising, fighting against a consuming fear that she will be anything less than skinny, and that her mother's approval will thus slip away.
Everything changes for Rachel when her frozen yogurt routine is thrown into a tailspin by a beautiful, voluptuous, and good-natured yogurt maker named Miriam who encourages Rachel to get some toppings, toppings that she cannot possibly know the calorie count of.
With her whole life now out of control, Rachel begins to indulge her desires, including her intense sexual longing for Miriam, who happens to be an Orthodox Jew.
Will this all end in horror for Rachel?
This extremely raunchy book was ultimately uplifting, life-affirming, had nothing extraneous, and I loved it.

Milk Fed started out really strong, with the focus on Rachel’s eating disorder (mainly very restrictive calorie counting) and her efforts to deal with how her mother raised her to be afraid of eating “too much”. The emphasis on being slim as being of major importance rang true to me, having had my own struggles with weight over the years, albeit not nearly as extreme as Rachel’s. However, as the story veered more into a focus on a budding lesbian relationship with an overweight young woman who works at Rachel’s favorite frozen yogurt shop, I lost a bit of interest. Miriam is not only overweight, but (gasp!) she enjoys eating! She is also a “modern Orthodox” Jew and Rachel is a lapsed Jew who doesn’t know all that much about Judaism. I enjoyed the portrait of Miriam’s large family as a welcoming haven for Rachel, who never felt that warmth in her own family. (We don’t hear anything about Rachel having any brothers or sisters and her parents are divorced.)

I wasn’t sure how to rate this book. I really thought I was going to love it, but then it kind of went off the rails for me. So, 3 stars, as a compromise.

Warning: In addition to frank discussions of eating disorders, there is a lot of graphic description of sex, both realized and fantasized, both female-female and female-male. If that’s not to your taste, steer clear of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

The protagonist of Milk Fed, Rachel, is a morose woman in her late-twenties, idiosyncratic in kind of terrible ways, obsessed with her body and weight, suffering from maternal issues that haunt her on the daily. She's Jewish but not really, aimless and lonely, working a job she doesn't care about. Her life has meaning solely through her strict regimen of low-calorie muffin tops, protein bars, and one exact serving of frozen yogurt at Yo!Good doled out by a fastidious Orthodox boy. From a young age, Rachel's mom instilled in her the importance of being skinny as a stick, chastising her for even dreaming of honey, forcing eating disorders upon her. Rachel's messed up attitudes towards her mom and other women drive this story.

One day, Rachel shows up to Yo!Good for her daily calorie-restricted treat, and finds a new person there - a fat Orthodox young woman named Miriam. Miriam is everything. Miriam does not stop at the top line of the cup when Rachel tells her to. She starts with adding sprinkles to the yogurt, and slowly gets Rachel to try mix-ins, then Chinese food, then candy, then all the delights you could imagine from the Jewish deli.

There is a lot of sex - gratuitously and viscerally described - in this book. There are also a lot of toxic views around food and body image here, as advertised.

Fans of Ottessa Moshfegh will probably love the latest from Melissa Broder. I see a lot of overlap in their characters and writing, and it was ultimately these styles that made me not love the book. As a reader, you feel so detached from Rachel - you feel like you really don't know her, as if she doesn't make decisions for herself, as if her body is just an animated object acting mindlessly. I never felt a connection to her, even in her moments of vulnerability. I wasn't rooting for her, despite wanting to. I was disappointed at the lack of resolution at the end of the book as well - there are a few salient plot points that don't get tied up or really addressed by the conclusion. Maybe this is a reflection on how life happens - things don't tie up perfectly - but it's a book, and sometimes you just want that.

Maybe one day I'll be more in the mood or more appreciative of stories about lonely, broken, lost women, but today wasn't that day for me. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC via Netgalley!

CW: Very disordered eating, body shaming, explicit sexual content, emotionally abusive relationship with a parent, self-harm, fatphobia, mental illness

Rachel is a twenty-something working in Los Angeles, adjacent to the entertainment industry by day and a stand up comedian by night. Her fraught relationship with her controlling mother and her long struggle with body image and disordered eating have consumed her life for many years, but have also allowed her to control and limit the scope of her life in ways that are comforting to her.

Her therapist suggests she “detox” from her mother and cut all communication for ninety days, which sets into motion a series of events, including meeting Miriam, the Orthodox Jewish women who makes her low-calorie frozen yogurt and whose fat body fascinates Rachel and turns her on. Being out from under her mother’s control and her relationship with Miriam, who takes joy in eating, Rachel starts to let herself enjoy indulging in food. Her relationship with Miriam develops as well, as Rachel’s attraction to her is reciprocated. Judaism and the different experiences that Rachel and Miriam have had as Reform and Orthodox, respectively, are central to the narrative, which is refreshing.

I’m still thinking about this book and turning it over in my head. What it says about women and food, about bodies, about our relationships with our mothers and all the ways they can damage us when we just want to be fed. Milk Fed made me deeply uncomfortable at many points. Once she’s not longer being controlled by her mother, Rachel is set free to explore her sexuality and live inside her body, and she sure does. This book is explicit and graphic in many ways, about sexuality, about bodies, about disordered eating, and you’re inside the head of someone whose ideas about themselves are so caught up in her relationship with her mother, it’s hard for it not to take a real Freudian turn. But at its core, this is a story about hunger—hunger for food, freedom, love, belonging, themes that are universal. It’s funny, difficult, sexy, uncomfortable, sad, and introspective all at once. I don’t think this is for everyone, but it’s a thoughtful, quirky little book that I think will sit with you for a while.

Melissa Broder had a way with language that is captivating. She’s also not afraid to make her readers uncomfortable.

In her most recent book Milk Fed, Broder grapples with themes of sexuality, hunger, want, and faith. What does it mean to be sated? How can one be physically full when one is emotionally empty?

Is a fascinating look into Judaism and hunger. And yet, it’s not exactly a pleasant book. This doesn’t mean it’s not a good book. It is a complex book that will elicit a visceral reaction.

TW: strong warning for individuals with ED or history of ED

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

TRIGGER WARNING: disordered eating, body dysmorphia, homophobia

This was a wild ride of a novel with an interiority that bordered on too invasive. Following 24 year old Rachel, a woman who has an eating disorder, Milk Fed explores a young woman forging her path and allowing desire to overtake her while still battling the struggles of her past. Rachel is at the beginning of a 90-day communication detox from her mother, the woman largely responsible for Rachel's complex, damaging relationship with food when she meets Miriam, an Orthodox-Jewish woman who relishes a good meal. As Rachel discovers passion and attraction, she also re-engages with eating to savor rather than punish. However, the damage her mother and years of self-loathing have caused does not subside easily.

Broder's writing feels as if we're reading Rachel's unfiltered, unapologetic thoughts. The novel in no way glorifies disordered eating and I think could be quite triggering for readers who struggle with food and their body image. The descriptions of bodies often relate to food, as if sexual experiences feed Rachel's hunger in ways that food never could. This book is queer, it is erotic, and it will undoubtedly be polarizing. I thought the writing was superb and I would recommend this to readers of Luster by Raven Lelani, Supper Club by Lara Williams, or Want Lynn Steger Strong.

My only complaint is that the ending felt abrupt.

Fantastic Sapphic love story. Broder's writing is sharp, smart and sensual. I couldn't put it down!

You know how sometimes humor isn't funny but rather seems like a pathetic attempt to cover up abject misery? That is how this book hit me. I found no humor in it. Instead I found a sad and desperate woman grasping at things she isn't even sure of. Okay, so maybe she isn't a total grown up yet, being in her mid-20s, and we can chalk it all up to still trying to find herself? Maybe there was just too much wrong and I couldn't find the humor in it. Maybe it seemed like even the author didn't know what to do with her character and filled up the empty space first with calorie counts and then with sex. A lot of sex. Or just a lot of talking about sex. I can't think of a time I have heard/read the word "pussy" more than in this book. It wasn't erotic. It felt blatant and dirty. The end result was a read that was far from "scathingly funny, wildly erotic, and fiercely imaginative." Maybe I am just the wrong audience?