There used to be a time when fiction shelves were full of Vampire stories. With Twilight and its sparkly-skinned romance angle being the peak, we’ve seen a lot of attempts to re-invent the classic Dracula story to meet modern day society. This has usually led to me rolling my eyes whenever vampire stories are mentioned, however Woman, Eating is a really refreshing take on a saturated genre.

The novella focuses on Lydia, who is half-human, half-vampire as she tries to navigate life without her mother’s guidance. I liked the way that the vampire-ism worked, an aching hunger with the blood she drinks transferring some of the characteristics and emotions of the thing she has eaten. I also liked Lydia’s obsession with ‘eat with me’ style YouTube videos, looking at people eating food she could never eat or enjoy herself. I also liked the inclusion of the slimy boss at the gallery and the exploitation of the ‘interns’ that worked there which really helped to make the book stand out in the here and now.

I do wish there was a little more ‘meat’ to the book though, if you’ll excuse the pun. I would have loved to have found out more about other vampires, for example, or more about the history of how her mother was turned. A lot of the book is focussed on a love story between her and a boy who has a partner and doesn’t seem to be very interesting which was a shame. Lydia spends a lot of time almost dying from hunger and I found her lack of self-preservation to be a little unrealistic. I would have loved the book to be a bit longer (it’s sitting on about 250 pages at the moment), and have more backstory, some grittier content and maybe a more defined plot. This feels very much like a first draft in its current state.

Overall, Woman, Eating is a great first draft at a story – but I’d love it to be worked on more to create something really special. Thank you to NetGalley & Little Brown Book UK – Virago for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Not your average vampire novel - this is such a refreshing take on themes of art, food, identity, love and connection. I raced through this sharp, beautifully written novel.

I found this book a wee bit too gruesome in describing the food Lydia ate. There was far too much blood (and yes I know it’s a vampire book). The overall story about a daughter and mother relationships was written beautifully and dealing with the issues of elderly parents with Alzheimer’s kept me reading on. Overall I did enjoy the book but don’t think I will be able to eat black pudding again.

I. Absolutely. Loved this.
I read it in one day (not a single sitting, tho I think I could have) and I was constantly excited by the plot, the use of language, the characters. I should say now that on a more precise scale I'm unsure if my rating would be a 5 or a 4.5 - I kind of wanted it to culminate in something more in-your-face. It has a great ending, and one that I think lets me reflect on it as a more complete and better story than a louder ending, but a story like this makes you wonder how dark they're willing to get. I loved the descriptions of food, and felt like I could visualise the characters, settings and emotions, which is very rare for me. There are some loose ends (the luggage, for one) but I'm not really bothered by them.

One small thing, if this is for proofs - I felt there should have been a line in it mentioning that she was going to sleep in her room despite not being allowed to. I was a bit confused by that rule being given at the beginning and then her just wordlessly breaking it and seeming to move in, unsure what 'studio' meant in that capacity.

“I feel like giving up, lying down on this wall and closing my eyes and just doing nothing – not bothering to try to fit into the human world, not bothering to make friends and art, not bothering to source blood and feed myself.”


Woman, Eating is a great example of a good concept being let down by a rather lacklustre execution…it lacked bite (ba dum tss).

“I realised that demon is a subjective term, and the splitting of my identity between devil and god, between impure and pure, was something that my mum did to me rather than the reality of my existence.”


Woman, Eating is yet another addition to what I have come to think of as the ‘sad, strange, miserable young women’ subgenre. Kohda however does try to spice things up a bit by bringing into the mix vampirism: Lydia, our narrator, is in fact a vampire.

Lydia is not doing so well. Her mother is a Malaysian/British vampire, her father was a human. Lydia grew up with her mother and knows very little about her father (other than that he was Japanese and a famous artist). Her mother hates what they are and has tried to instil this same self-hatred into Lydia. But now her mother is in a hospice and no longer remembers who and what they are.
Lydia, alone for the first time in her life, moves into a studio space for young artists in London and begins working as an intern at an art gallery. In addition to navigating these new spaces and circumstances, Lydia has her hunger to preoccupy her. For some reason, she can’t find a way to get any pig blood and as the days go by she becomes increasingly hungry. She develops a sort of crush on Ben, a fellow artist in her building, but she isn’t sure whether it's because she’s starved (and wants him as a snack) or whether it’s something more genuine. She can’t seem to bring herself to produce any more art and at the gallery is either mistreated or ignored. Worse still, the director of the gallery, Gideon, is also giving her some serious creepy predatory vibes.
Lydia is fascinated by human food and spends a lot of her time watching mukbangs, reading food recipes, and wondering how different food tastes. She reflects on her nature, if she has any of her father’s humanity or whether her mother is right and they are monsters. Her vampirism, which leads her to be obsessed with and averse towards human food, does read like a metaphor for an eating disorder. And the vampire trope does indeed lend itself to exploring alienation, as well as things such as EDs.

In an interview, Anne Rice described ‘the vampire’ as being ‘outside of life’, thus ‘the greatest metaphor for the outsider in all of us’. And Lydia struggles with her otherness, interrogating her own monstrosity and humanity. Additionally, Lydia is experiencing the fears and doubts that many people in their 20s do: what do you want to do with your life? What kind of job do you want? Where do you want to live? Are the things you want even an option to you? Lydia’s mixed ethnic heritage further exacerbates her sense of being ‘other’. Kohda addresses the kind of stereotypes and assumptions people make about those of whom are of East Asian descent. For example, a fellow artist in her building, and coincidentally Ben’s girlfriend, points out that because she’s Japanese people assume her work is ‘delicate’ (even when it is anything but). I would have actually liked more conversation on art than what we were given but still there are some thoughtful asides on modern art.

Lydia spends most of her narrative in a state of misery. Her self-hatred and hunger occupy her every thought…until she finds something (or something) to eat.
This was a relatable if depressing read. While a lot of other books from this ‘disconnected young women’ literary trend are characterized by a wry sense of humor, Lydia’s narration is devoid of any lightness. Her narration is unrelentingly miserable. This made her interior monologue, which makes up the majority of the novel, a bit of a chore to read through. Her navel-gazing was dreary and I often found myself losing interest in her introspections. The narrative felt oppressive, which in some ways does mirror Lydia’s lonely existence but it also makes her story repetitive. There were only three recognizable side characters, the others being little more than names on a page, and they all felt vague. Lydia’s mother was perhaps the most interesting figure but she mostly appears in flashbacks where she is preaching about their monstrosity and the danger of being discovered. Ben was a generic boy who came across as an only half-formed character. The gallery director…I appreciated how the author is able to articulate that specific type of unease (of an older man, possibly your colleague or superior, being ‘off’ towards you) that I am sure many young women (sadly) know. But then the role he plays was somewhat forgettable? He is there, to begin with, and then fades into the background only to appear at the very end.

The storyline lacked focus. It meandered without any clear direction. And this can work if your narrator is engaging or compelling enough but Lydia wasn’t. She was potable but pitying a character has never made me feel inclined to ‘read’ on to find out what happens to them.
Still, the author’s prose was fairly solid and certain passages even reminded of Hilary Leichter and Sayaka Murata (very matter of fact yet incredibly peculiar, especially when it comes to the 'body' or bodily functions: “My mum’s brain, which sits in a body just metres away from me now, must contain the memory of eating whole meals, of the feel of her body processing those meals, of tasting different flavours.” ).
The way vampirism operates in this world is not clear-cut and I think that really suited this type of story. I did question whether pig blood would be truly so hard to get ahold of and why Lydia didn't try to get ahold of some other source of food sooner...

This novel did not make for a satisfying meal. I never felt quite sure whether I liked what I was being offered and then once it was over I found that I was still hungry. While I liked certain elements and the central idea, the story, plotline, and characters were different shades of average. More than once I found myself thinking that Lydia's story would have been better suited to a shorter format (as opposed to a full-length novel). Still, even if this novel failed to leave a mark on me I look forward to whatever Kohda writes next).

So disappointing... I read the first section, about 80 pages, 36% and nothing seems to have happened: Lyd has moved into a studio apartment, tried to get pig's blood to drink, and watched an awful lots of YouTube and social videos.... and that's kind of it. Oh, and she's smuggled a puppet home from her internship. There's no hook for me, not even an inkling of story or plot, and the writing and observations just aren't strong enough to stand alone.
Love the premise but I wanted more focus, and something for the writing to hang on.

I found this unsatisfying, which is, given the premise, ironic. The protagonist's habit of watching 'What I Eat in a Day' Youtube videos feels like a solid analogy for my reading experience; twitchings of curiosity and interest, but mostly frustration at the passivity, the impossibility of feeling or smelling or touching or eating any of it, the arbitrary-feeling window of time in someone else's life where things happen mostly in the cuts & edits, the smooth, impenetrable surface, interface, of the screen/text, the reliance on imagination to make something out of any of it.

I wish this had been more about puppets, or colonialism, or carnality, or pleasure, or the protagonist's mother, and really dug its teeth in! Or that it was a short story.

This is one of those novels that you can’t help but devour quickly. It makes you hungry to read more because you’re waiting for the starving vampire at its heart to end its fast.

Lyd is of mixed heritage – she has a Japanese father and a half-Malaysian mother, and, though she appears human and can wander outside in the day time if she’s thoroughly covered up and wearing sunglasses and sunscreen, she is a vampire. A vampire whose vampire mother lost her mind when she lost her vampire teeth. Lyd has put her mother in a home – even though said mother only looks like she’s in her mid-forties – so that she can pursue her life as an artist. But her mother was in charge of keeping her fed and Lyd doesn’t know how to find pig’s blood in the city…

As you would expect from a vampire novel, a series of power dynamics are explored. The workings of the art world, capitalism, idealism, feminism, self-expression and identity all churn away under a surface of one hungry young girl just trying to make her way in the world. There is a love-interest and an older man, naturally.

Who are the real monsters? Well, read the book and find out.

I enjoyed the references to Baba Yaga, the Russian witch of fairy-tale fame who has a house with chicken legs and the fact that the home her mother is in is called Crimson Orchard (well, that’s just a matter of time!…). Kohda also took on the vampire myth and gave it some interesting twists.

Irreverent, funny and filled with early twenties angst, Woman, Eating is a great fun read that comes out in March this year.

I enjoyed this very different take on a vampire novel. It made a refreshing change from the young sparkly vampire tales I have read, it was a lot darker and quite thought provoking. I liked the main character and the pace of the book was fine. I thought the writer had managed to take a well known genre and turn it on it's head. I felt sympathy for the struggle the main character was going through and the book felt quite sad in places., a good book that may not suit everyone but a book that I will remember.

Women, Eating tells the story of Lydia, a young woman who after putting her mother into a residential home, is living alone for the first time in her life. It’s the first time she has had to get her own food, look after herself and have a life that isn’t centred around her overwhelming and complicated mother. She also has a prestigious internship at an art gallery that could open doors for her into the art world which would change her life. Oh, and Lydia is a vampire.

Kodak’s version of the vampire is really interesting as she adapts the genre to create a mythology of her own. Despite the abundance of vampires in pop culture, her version is very distinctive and innovative in several ways rather than derivative or referential. The ways Kodak used food as a way to deconstruct the alienation Lydia feels not only from humanity but from her culture by way of her identity as the daughter of a Malaysian mother and Japanese father. This was done in a really powerful way which worked effectively to enhance her character.

At times Lydia did feel a bit too flawless, almost a little Mary Sue like but what made up for it for me was the ways Kodak made her own mythology unreliable. Everything Lydia knows about herself comes from her mother who is clearly unreliable and subjective, allowing by default a narrator that isn’t definitive regardless. I didn’t always like Lydia but by the end of the book I realised you don’t have to (even though it feels like you are supposed to) to appreciate the very clever things the book is trying to do,

Definitely worth reading if you are interested in vampire stories, the art world and stories focused on introspection and identity.

3.5 for me. I really liked the writing style and introspection, and the many observations on food and eating. Lydia is extremely naive in a way. Many observations about culture and interactions. I don't mind the lack of explanation for vampirism related things because that isn't the focus of this book.

But the novel seemed to end quite abruptly, just as I thought it was building towards a fresh layer in the story. I would say it felt more like women's fiction that litfic, which isnt meant as derogatory but more a comment on how it has been marketed atm. Lydia's turn was interesting but Im regretful we won't see her in her new life.

I really enjoyed this unusual, engaging book, that raises interesting questions and carries you along.

Weird + rather wonderful : Identity, living with shadow, connection, art + blood

Lydia, like her mother, is a vampire, though neither were born so, both being turned. Lyd was turned by her own mother, as a tiny baby. However, nothing is as simple as it might seem. Is it ever? Lydia’s mother, now living in a care facility, had, all her life, fought against her sanguinary infection. She denied her vampiric state, and passed this denial on to her daughter. Mother and daughter subsisted on pig blood bought from a butcher, hiding their food, their nature, all their lives

There are many themes lurking within this story. The relationship between vampire mother and vampire daughter is as complex and knotty, so it seems, as this can be for many. Part of Lyd’s journey is around what she has fought against in her own nature, her shadow side, which her mother denotes as ‘the demon’. Mother and daughter feel a split between what is human, and what is demonic. Added to the complexity of finding and owning identity is a dimension of ethnicity and culture. Lyd’s dead father, fully human, was Japanese. She longs to embrace all aspects of that inheritance.

Because Lyd (and her mother) are obsessed with what they can and must eat, and what they can’t and wish they could eat, this is also a story about food, obsession, denial, control.

Vampires, according to legend, are immortal, revived by the blood of another. Immortality, the universal desire for this in some form or other, gives another major theme. Most of us respond to this drumbeat by passing on our genetic ‘immortality’ – the urge to procreate, But, stamping identity upon history – fame beyond death, may be another route. Art can be seen as a way of cheating individual mortality. And Lydia is an artist.

Coming to London, as part of her necessary journey away from the umbilical link to her mother, Lyd rents space within an artists collective rental building. She is also an intern at a prestigious gallery

Kohda has created a completely tangible, realistic, other way of living within present day London. She writes beautifully and thought provokingly. This is a world away from Gothic horror.

In fact, Lyd in many ways seems the most ‘human’ being within the book. Knowledge, self reflection, awareness of her own shadow, renders this vampire far more sensitive to the sufferings of others than many of those she moves among.

At times, the art debates seemed to fight with narrative drive a little too much, so that the novel itself sailed a little close to appearing as a device to discourse theories about ‘pure art’ and art becoming the servant of commerce, hence my loss of final star

I was pleased I read this, offered as an ARC, and will certainly want to read more by Kohda

Kohda's novel presents a different take on the vampiric myth and delves into what it means to be human and to be the Other concurrently, whilst exploring bith the importance of hunger and of eating and the link between food and identity, be it personal and cultural.

🍲Woman, eating🍲

🍣by Claire Kohda🍣

🍎Spoiler free review🍎

Lydia is hungry. She's always wanted to try sashimi, ramen, onigiri with sour plum stuffed inside - the food her Japanese father liked to eat. And then there is bubble tea and the vegetables grown by the other young artists at the London studio space she is secretly squatting in. But Lydia can't eat any of this. The only thing she can digest is blood, and it turns out that sourcing fresh pigs' blood in London - where she is living away from her vampire mother for the first time - is much more difficult than she'd anticipated.

Then there are the humans: the people at the gallery she interns at, the strange men who follow her after dark, and Ben, a goofy-grinned artist she is developing feelings for. Lydia knows that they are her natural prey, but she can't bring herself to feed on them.

If Lydia is to find a way to exist in the world, she must reconcile the conflicts within her - between her demon and human sides, her mixed ethnic heritage, and her relationship with food, and, in turn, humans. Before any of this, however, she must eat.

🍎🍎🍎

Woman, eating is not your average vampire novel. Lydia, turned as a baby by her vampire mother, is to trying to live on her own for the first time. Her mother raised her with no understanding of what she is, and taught her to believe that she is evil, and undeserving of anything good.

This book was really low key and subtle, but tackles a lot of different issues. Various trigger warnings here but a strong one is for features of disordered eating. Lydia thinks about food obsessively, but denies herself in an attempt to starve her demon half.

This was an interesting take on vampire mythology, and I enjoyed Lydia’s journey to discovering herself.

If you enjoy vampire stories that are outside the norm, and a contemporary setting, you will probably like this one!

Released on March 24th, 2022.

Thanks to @netgalley and @littlebrownbookgroup_uk for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Woman, Eating is a very clever novel. Beautifully written in crystal-clear prose, Kohda’s sly take on the well-worn vampire trope digs into classic coming-of-age questions around the journey to agency and independence, offering a feminist, post-MeToo spin to the usual vampiric metaphors around sexual power plays and ‘hunger’ in all forms.

Protagonist Lyd's own attempts to discover what it might cost to satisfy her desire to be her 'true' self is beautifully mirrored in the artists and acquaintances she comes into contact with - all of whom are all themselves wrestling with the degree to which they're willing to 'sell their souls' for the success they crave. Smart, funny, tender and brutal – highly recommend.

Thanks to NetGallery for the advanced readers copy.

Vampires have crossed over from YA to Literary Fiction and I'm excited. At the heart of Woman, Eating is an aspiring artist (and vampire) named Lydia who moves out of her home for the first time where her mum has kept a careful watch over her. Wondering whether "passing" as a human like her mum wants her to is really living, Lydia starts experimenting with food and her lifestyle to find out for herself. Kohda covers themes of misogyny, food, and what it means to be a human (or not) in this funny and easy to read novel. Her exploration of race is particularly interesting: she juxtaposes it with the persecution the MC could face were she to reveal her Vampirehood.

Considering some of the hefty topics discussed, Woman, Eating is quite a lighthearted novel which is very refreshing. At the same time, it left me wanting more - I think I could have read a whole book based on the MC's mother. If you're looking for something a bit different, Woman, Eating is definitely worth a read. I will be sure to keep eye on Claire Kohda but not only for her writing but she's also a professional musician!

A strange and interesting take on the vampire trope, but ultimately more of a metaphor on the place food has in our society, not just for nutrition, but also emotionally and mentally.

Via Lydia, who is a newly emancipated (from a controlling mother) art student, as well as bearing the physical challenge of vampirism, the author explores gender and body issues, sexual abuse, identity, disability and love. Even though the subject matter is quite heavy, Woman, Eating is amusing in spots, especially where Lydia balks at social norms. Kohda's writing is clear and light, but I thought she lingered over-much on the failed romantic angle, and there was a touch too much millennial angst. If the novel was shorter, I think it would have packed more punch.

Overall, it is a quick and entertaining read, with a good dissection on how food is an integral part of our relationships, social engagement, cultural identity and, ultimately, our sense of self - in developed countries, due, one assumes, to overabundance, food has taken on a disproportionate importance in people's lives - we are fixated on cookery programmes, diets of various kinds, food intolerances and food-related ethical debates; this just explores these issues via the exaggerated needs of someone who can only get sustenance through blood.

Woman, eating is not, therefore, anything close to your normal vampire book, and if this is your thing, I would recommend Matt Haig's The Radleys for a more quirky and fun (yet quite serious) approach to the practicalities of living as a real vampire.

My thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read this first book, from a debut author we will no doubt hear a lot of.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley of an ARC of this book.
This is ultimately a book about hunger and acceptance. We meet Lydia, a vampire, striking out on her own after living with her Mum her whole life and exploring what it means to be to be independent. She is caught between worlds and feels that she doesn't know how to fit in, despite being a vampire there is something very relatable about her. Lydia struggles with her identity as a half vampire, half human, half Japanese, half British, female contending with imposter syndrome as she tries to establish herself in the art world, following in the footsteps of her famous, deceased father. She also has to contend with her Mother's 'illness' and beliefs which essentially have resulted in self harm and abuse of Lydia her whole life. As Lydia grapples with these conflicting ideas of who she should be and who she is, she starves herself as she tries to force herself into a certain mould, only when she truly accepts who she is can she start to feel fulfilled.
I really enjoyed this different take on a vampire novel. The image of a vampire sitting there watching videos of people eating, the idea that drinking the blood of an animal or person enables you to experience their life, and the various Buffy references.

A kind of coming of age story for a young artist... with a side of her being a vampire, which was both a really unique take, and made almost no sense (her mother, a self-loathing vampire, gave birth and she grew up?)
Certainly a new take on vampires; thankfully not shiny, but not sure it’ll catch on.