This was weird. This was captivating. I am still thinking about it. I would definitely put it under my “weird girl fic”. This was good. I think it’s worth the read if you enjoy this type of book.

Eliza Clark delivers a collection of speculative fiction short stories filled with her signature themes of feminine justice and the unsavory. While not every story worked for me, the ones that did were captivating and left me in awe of her creative craft.

Short story collections can be hit or miss for me, as I think they can be for many people. This one was a hit! While it has a similar darkness and exploration of the macabre to her novels, it was distinct from Eliza Clark's other books. Although her two other books BOY PARTS and PENANCE are quite dissimilar from each other. There's definitely a unique bite to her prose and the stories she tells, but everything she writes manages to surprise and enchant me in different ways. Although "enchant" may be too light and cheery of a word to ascribe to her writing.

My oft encountered issue with short stories is that by the time I'm engaged, the story as ended. That was not the case here. Each story throws you into the action and characters immediately, and it never took long for me to get on board. The collection is creepy, unsettling, gross, and beautiful in their own way.

I love love love Eliza Clark but I do not love short stories, and sadly even Eliza Clark couldn’t make me love them. I finished this book several weeks ago and none of the stories have stuck with me the way Boy Parts and Penance still stick with me. The short story format just always leaves me wanting more.

This book was incredible. There are some books that when reading them it feels like they were written just for you, this is one of those books. Each story was so different from others in the collection and the book as a whole felt refreshing and honest. Eliza Clark wrote and perfectly expanded on what feels like the strange thoughts you have but would never say out loud for one reason or another. I have only read one other book by Eliza Clark (Penance), but after reading this I will be sure to read her other works.

eliza clark does nastiness so, so well. biting, witty, and pretty gross, these short stories pack a solid punch. the body horror in most of these stories is just uncomfortable enough to appeal to those unfamiliar with the genre, but is still super pleasing to an aficionado of grotesquerie too.

she's always hungry was an excellent read. I loved the writing and it was propulsive. Great character study. I would read more from this author.

This smorgasbord of surreal, feminist, satirical goodness is top tier! I loved the blend of horror, speculative fiction and fantasy, all of which Eliza Clark writes amazingly well. The stories in this collection are all so satisfyingly unsettling that I could not pick a favorite. I highly recommend this visceral collection for anyone who appreciates a dark laugh and being grossed out.

Man this book had me hooked line and sinker! I don’t normally love short stories because they have to be incredibly powerful in a short amount of time. This was. All these stories had something different and I read this in under half an hour. So good

this was a fun, readable, interesting collection of stories, but i didn't find any particularly memorable or brilliant stories for my preferences.

Absolutely devoured this. Signature Eliza gore, this is such a good collection of messed up stories. In particular the acne story will not escape my brain! Will be recommending this to any and all lovers of horror and gore, and anyone trying to get into Eliza. I think she is a master of short stories, making them a great length!

Loved this creepy collection! Reads really well and lots of diverse stories, gave off a different vibe than boy parts which was nice.

Rating: 2.65 leaves out of 5
-Stories: 2.4/5
-Writing: 2.75/5
Genre: contemporary, horror, litfic, thriller
-contemporary: 4/5
-horror: .75/5
-litfic: 4/5
-thriller: 2/5
Type: Ebook
Worth?: Meh

Hated|Disliked|Meh|It Was Okay|Liked|Really Liked|Loved

Want to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book.

Greatly disappointed in the lack of horror. At least make it more than MAYBE 10% of the content. My top 3 stories out of all of them:

1st place: The Shadow Over Little Chitaly
-Was it scary? Not a chance in hell but I did love how out of the box the writing had been. I like the format Eliza used for writing this story and honestly this one could have been a scifi book in itself and would have done wonders in that category.

2nd place: Company Man
Maybe like 3% horror in this but I do like the fact the woman has to live with guilt for what she did.

3rd place: Hollow Bones
Closer to the horror aspect but also kinda icky. There is some gore aspect but I did LOVE the scifi in this one.

Honestly if Eliza wanted to give a try in scifi I would pick up that book quickly.

Eliza Clark does it again, this time with a collection of short stories leaning into speculative fiction like we haven't seen from her before, still maintaining signature undertones of feminine justice and the unsavory. In all honesty, not all of the stories quite worked for me, but even when they didn't I found myself still thinking, "How did she ever come up with this?" I mean to say, despite not all being my cup of tea, I remain impressed by the craft, nonetheless. The stories that hit, really hit and scratched that itch I'd been dying to get at as soon as I caught wind of Clark releasing another book.

I remain a loyal fan.

Eliza Clark serves us with a plethora of short stories in 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘈𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘏𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺. She has cooked us (pun intended) stories of multiple genres. We have contemporary, dystopian, horror and sci-fi.

All the 11 stories centre around the main theme - hunger. I love how the title of the book aptly describes all the eleven stories. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘈𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘏𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺 with the 'she' representing the female characters in each story. Each of the character suffers from hunger; we have someone who is hungry for food, another who hungers for love, beauty, attention and power.

I absolutely adore Eliza Clark, and these stories certainly showcase her signature blend of uniqueness, grotesqueness, and often dark humor. I have read 𝘉𝘰𝘺 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 and 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 before, and her writing is just impeccably beautiful.

It is really hard to rate an anthology as some stories come out strong; some weak. That being said, some stories are my favourite such as 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘈𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘏𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺, 𝘉𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘈 𝘉𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭 and 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘯.

I usually steer clear from short stories but this collection completely wowed me! However, do read the TWs as this might not be for everyone. Among some of the TWs are cannibalism, r*pe, bodily harm, recreational drug use, parasitic infestation to lose weight, graphic details of body-horror.

Overall, I enjoyed this so much and I highly recommend this to everyone. Fans of Clark's will absolutely love this. Those who have never read Eliza Clark's works before might find yourselves a convert after reading this. Just don't read it after your meals. 😉

Thank you so much Harper Perennial for this copy!

Wow Eliza Clark never fails to surprise me. I loved Penance and these short stories are also so good. I love how Clark explores different aspects and dimensions of ‘hunger’ in these stories. The stories are spooky and thought-provoking.

She's Always Hungry 🔪🩸

I love a good short story collection, especially ones that are weird. This collection promised just that. Some stories really did hit the mark for me, but overall, I’d say it was just okay.

The book offers 11 stories in only 135 pages, which felt a bit cramped. Most stories span about 12-16 pages, and honestly, that's a pretty tight space to establish a whole world, set up a situation, and delve into it.

While many of the stories did eventually come together, I often found myself disoriented at the beginning of each one. The author jumps between different universes and worlds in the seperate stories, which requires you to reset and pay close attention every time, making it difficult to read them all in one go.

So, I’d suggest reading these stories as bite-sized treats between other books, giving each one the space to unfold and sink in rather than rushing from one to the next.

One element I really enjoyed was the theme of hunger woven through the collection in so many unusual forms. Each story explores hunger differently: there’s traditional yearning, consumption in various forms—even cannibalism—and some very strange appetites that exist in other worlds, among creatures and people alike. This unifying thread of “hunger” added a fascinating, eerie cohesion to the diversity of stories.

my favourite stories were:
🧜‍♀️ She's Always Hungry
🦴 Hollow Bones
🌵 Extinction Event
💊 Nightstalkers

I loved this author’s last book but I don’t think short stories work for me in general. Some of these were a little out there and I couldn’t finish them and the ones I did finish didn’t wow me as much as I would have liked. I struggle with rating short story collections because of this. I look forward to this author’s next novel.

I loved Eliza Clark's last book, Penance, and was very excited to receive an early copy of this collection of short stories. I was impressed how different these stories are than Penance, and what a wild ride they were. All the stories are some level of unsettling and creepy. The range within this collection is quite wide -- multiple genres and a variety of tones. Several stories are speculative fiction/sci-fi and I was not expecting that but enjoyed what Eliza Clark created in a short amount of time.

In "Build a Body Like Mine" the main character encounters one if my worst nightmares, having a parasite. It was incredibly unsetting and a good commentary on diet culture.

Many of the stories contain very disturbing imagery — especially in "She’s Always Hungry." It made me very glad I don’t eat fish!

My favorite story was probably "The Shadow Over Little Chitaly" it was hilarious and creative. I got totally invested and would read a full novel of that! 

The story that was the creepiest for me was "The King" - very unsettling and some very intense imagery.

Many of these stories are pretty dark, and not for the faint of heart -- read content warnings if there are specific subjects you want to avoid.

I cannot wait to read more by Eliza Clark!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

While unique, this short story collection was a miss for me. Granted this was my first dive into Eliza Clark’s work, I just did not connect with any of the stories like I had hoped.