PositiveAncilliary Review of BooksWoman, Eating interrogates some of the conventional paradigms of the ‘vampire’ trope by re-envisioning them from the vantage point of a mixed-heritage female vampire ... Through Lydia’s first-person narrative, we enter into her eternal and morbid interior world ... Instead of the supernatural happenings present in typical vampire tales, the atmospheric tension is built in this narrative by Lydia’s uncanny feelings of constant supervision from strangers, experiences which often result in racial and sexual violence ... For me, the most riveting part of the narrative is Lydia’s reinterpretation of famous artworks and artifacts of taxidermists, painters, sculpture artists and different myths and legends from all over the world in her search for self-representation ... Although Woman, Eating has some structural problems, such as repetitiveness and uneven pacing, the novel remains a powerful intersectional feminist re-envisioning of the fantastical space of vampires as one that has the subversive potential to bring forth radical change. It was certainly an interesting journey to follow Lydia’s coming-of-age story, with all its nuances and complexities. In Kohda’s enthralling debut, the unpredictable ending serves as a felicitous denouement to this strange and transgressive narrative of liminal identities.
