Perfect for fans of modernized fairytales. Unlike many other books in the genre, this story isn’t simply a retelling with a twist; rather, it’s a sweeping look into the psyches and traumas of some of your favorite heroines ... Brings stunning new depth to oftentimes simplistically represented characters ... Shocking, surprisingly humorous, and heavily in tune with modern depictions of feminine trauma and the surprising bonds such experiences can create between wildly different personalities, How to Be Eaten is a richly imaginative read for those who like their fairytales on the darker side.
How to Be Eaten never quite lives up to its premise, making for a frustrating read ... There is a certain delight in seeing how Adelman transforms well-known fairy tales and fairy tale tropes into the modern world ... The conceit of bringing these women together in a weekly trauma support group means that each of the women tells her story through the course of one of the group’s meetings ... But without a compelling plot, none of the disparate elements ever quite jell together, making the book feel like an extended collection of short stories.
Adelmann shatters 'happily ever after,' showing how the women’s lives are haunted in the aftermath of their disturbing experiences, and brilliantly brings to light the historical exploitation and manipulation of female trauma in the media. With the current fascination with true crime and reality television, this powerful first novel holds up a mirror to the reader and challenges our perceptions of truth.
Darkly comedic ... How to Be Eaten requires some small suspensions of disbelief, which Adelmann expertly crafts to parallel the same suspensions required to truly believe the stories of each woman in this group ... Adelmann invites readers to think about the power of stories and storytelling, and the often fine line between making space for others' stories and making entertainment (and profit) out of the same. A sardonic, poignant novel that moves in unexpected directions across each and every page, How to Be Eaten is a whip-smart invitation to reimagine familiar fairy tales in a modern age.
Funny and poignant ... Revisionist fairy tales are nothing new, but Adelmann’s are elevated by accomplished prose and wry humor. It’s a fresh and inventive gem.
Adelmann travels the well-worn paths of some of the most famous fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm with stylistic panache and 21st-century verve. However, it's her nuanced consideration of our own culpability that makes this book unique. In the end, Adelmann’s true subject is actually her audience, the great anonymous we who consumes the horrors of violent husbands, ravaging wolves, hungry witches, and made-for-TV love stories with such compulsive demand we never pause to think what might come after the happy ending ... Both a meditation on trauma and a sendup of our society’s obsession with scripted reality, this book sings.
