This book is a delight. It effortlessly mixes witty, natural dialogue with fundamental human emotions to create a group of characters that feel refreshingly real and relatable. All of the characters have a roundness to them, and the author has skillfully managed to maintain their likeability whilst not shying away from their flaws and mistakes.
I was lucky enough to attend a book launch with the author, and it allowed me to access a new depth to the novel. She is softly-spoken, yet completely eloquent. It was fascinating to hear that the origins of this novel always started as Tom's narration, even as one of the central focuses is on Ming's transition. She wanted to show that transitioning can be a universal experience, not just for the person transitioning, but for the people and relationships around them.
Another key aspect of the book is food. The way in which meals are described is so evocative and emotional. The author talked about how important food is in her Malaysian culture, and how it can often be a way of showing love. That is so present in the book, and I love the way different love languages, such as cooking for someone, are explored.
The novel's title, 'Bellies'. has such a deep meaning that runs throughout the book. One meaning, obviously, is the importance of food within these relationships. It also highlights the relationships that the characters have towards their bodies, and how this can change depending on their views of themselves. And finally, my favourite interpretation of the title is the idea of animals showing their bellies to people they feel comfortable with, as a display of vulnerability. The novel's central theme is how these relationships are strengthened, and sometimes challenged, by displays of vulnerability. But ultimately this is what makes us beautifully human.

It’s been a long time since a book made me well up but Bellies got me. This was such a beautiful, moving novel that I was gutted to finish. I’ve seen a lot of comparisons to Sally Rooney’s writing and whilst I hate to compare writers, Nicola Dinan nails characters worth investing in just like Rooney does. I’m so excited to read more of Dinan’s work.

I liked this a lot. Warm, empathetic writing , vivid descriptions ( especially of food) and two really well developed protagonists. It was impossible not to become invested in their story, their lives and their love.

The pace slowed a little bit mid book and at times I felt didn’t want to know how things would work out for Ming and Tom and wanted to make up my own ending for their story, a sign of great characters, I suppose! Original but also familiar and there’s some really tender and beautiful writing within. I look forward to reading more from this author.
Recommend.

really enjoyed this dive into a relationship and transition and the consequences of both. heartbreaking and real, would definitely recommend.

Bellies follows the story of Tom and Ming who meet at university and fall in love. It follows their relationship as the learn more about their identities and try to find their way in life. It’s a beautiful and at times heartbreaking story about love, loss, identity and coming to terms with your true self and learning to accept yourself and others,
I found the story a little slow to start with but once I got into it I was swept up in Tom and Ming’s relationship and their friendship group. This felt like a very realistic story with the characters going on a real journey, making mistakes and facing them in a believable way.

Bellies centres around Tom and Ming, who meet at a drag event at uni and have mutual friends in Rob, Sarah, Cass and Lisa. We follow the friends as they graduate, start work and grapple with relationships, gender identity and the intricacies of friendship.

An emotional LGBTQ+ read - tissues needed!

I don’t know what it was about 5his book but I could just not get into it. I thought after reading the synopsis that I would enjoy it however this just wasn’t for me!

Bellies tells the story of Ming and Tom, two queer people living through various struggles. At the beginning the book felt slow and I wasn’t sure what it was going to be about for the next 250 pages. However, after the first 1/3 of the book, I became really attached to the characters and I was very invested in their story.

I really enjoyed Nicola Dinan’s writing style and the pov switches as well as time jumps. It added more depth and structure to the book and made it more captivating.

I also appreciated that the main characters made mistakes but later owned up to them. Thanks to this the whole story felt real and brought some reflections. I also found the ending being, obviously, very sad, but also very believable and it felt just perfect for both of Ming and Tom.

Many thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley fir sending me the digital review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I thought Bellies was exquisitely written and with such an empathetic tone. It's about identity and belonging, confusion, love, heartache, acceptance. Something every person experiences. But in an increasingly polarised world, I think it's so important to have books like Bellies. Whilst it's simply a beautiful story on one hand, on the other it can unite and encourage understanding which the world really needs right now.

A love story that started at university, Tom and Ming seemed destined for happiness or were there early signs that all would not run smoothly.

Ming from a steaming Kuala Lumpa, homosexuality a no no, but a father and stepmother who accepted his choices.

Tom, typically English, supportive parents, who came out late, a failed heterosexual relationship the sign that was not who or what he wanted to be.

University passed in the usual blur of parties and friendships but Dinan had that way of injecting those little seeds of doubt to its reader and, to Ming and Tom that change was afoot. It was where the novel came to life, where Dinan’s ability to understand the thoughts and feelings of her characters shone through.

As Ming explored his sexuality Dinan had the uncanny ability to convey his need to cast off his masculinity, to embrace his femininity.

And what about Tom’s reactions his need to be supportive, to say the right things, to accept outweighed everything else. His own life appeared to take a backseat, his emotions remained in check in his intense desire ti do the right thing. Dinan brilliantly addressed Tom’s dwindling of physical attraction to Ming as she transitioned. Yes, he loved her, but that love changed, the sexual attraction fizzled and Tom lost his own identity.

You knew separation was inevitable as the two wrestled with their emotions, fought over everything, Alice together impossible. Tom blundered onwards his unhappiness laid bare, existing not living.

I felt Ming fared slightly better, New York, new friends, but still a sense of something unfinished, unsaid.there was maybe guilt that the relationship had soured, his fault as he pursued her own identity

A tragedy was the catalyst for reunion, words, new beginnings, Tom and Ming’s emotions and indeed mine positively wrung out out by Dinan’s clever and poignant narrative.

Although sad to leave Tom and Ming I felt Dinan had lifted the lid on a world I had little understanding of. I felt educated, entertained and utmost admiration for a novel of such beautiful and wonderful writing.

I would like to thank Doubleday UK for a copy of Bellies to read and review.

🍑 REVIEW 🍑

Bellies by Nicola Dinan

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Publishing Date: 29th June 2023 (today!!)

Ming and Tom meet at university, and are soon enamoured with each other, spending all their time together and planning their future. However, this is all thrown into confusion when Ming announces her intention to transition. Bellies follows the lives of both Ming and Tom as they navigate this change, along with everything else life throws their way.

For this one, the characters are everything. They are extremely detailed, and both extremely flawed in their own ways. Neither one knows how to handle this situation, but then again, who does, and who has the right to judge? While I found the premise extremely interesting and one I was looking forward to watch unravel, the execution just didn’t fit for me. I found some parts of the story weren’t fleshed out enough, while others were unnecessarily detailed. This could very easily be a me problem though as I’ve seen many 5⭐️ reviews that felt much more emotionally attached than I did. It could partially be down to me speed reading the second half to try and finish before the publication date. An interesting premise and one I can see many people enjoying, but not necessarily one for me unfortunately…

This is a complex character driven book based on a group of friends and focused on the relationship between Tom and Ming. The story follows them both before and after Ming transitions.

The book includes a lot of topics including friendship, love, metal health and is also devastating sad in parts.

I liked the flow and writing style of the book and loved the Asian inspired food descriptions and cultural references, I also liked the book being based in different cities and countries with London, New York and Malaysia included.

Rounded up 3.5

I really enjoyed this book, I think it deftly explored the complexity of human relationships, and especially when navigating the changing lives, bodies and personalities of the people we love and the difficulties that are involved in matching up your changing self and its needs with the ever-changing selves and needs of the people you love.

A truly beautiful novel full of heartache and joy. I haven't cried this much at a book in a long time.

❛ I feel like I've been drawing an outline of myself using negative space.❜

Bellies is a dual-narrative circumventing the ins and outs of a love inhabited by Tom and Ming who meet and fall graciously into a carefully complex relationship.

Change and transformation is a literal and incendiary theme for both characters. Dinan retracts and releases the fears, stigmas and freedoms of Ming transitioning, and Tom discovering who he wants to be, bouncing between the backdrops of New York, London, Malaysia and Europe; settings becoming time stamps of heartbreak and growth.

The last 100 pages of this book really pulled everything together. One of the most poignant and palpable aspects was how Dinan unpacked the veritable and robust verisimilitude of friendship; bonds that bend but never break. She gives a voice to the friends that pick up the pieces of a friendship group in conjunction with navigating the fallout of a breakup - seeing their friends in pain, being a pillar to each mutual, having to share their shoulders between two people who were once lovers. A special mention to Rob who has to be the most sensitively written character.

Nicola Dinan’s words - enmeshed with layered lives - has cast a literary net far and wide that will profoundly touch everyone who shows their ‘bellies’…

❛I read this thing once, about the self being a centre of narrative gravity. It means that rather than being an actual physical thing, the self is just a collection of narratives we tell about ourselves and each other.❜

Tom meets Ming on a drag night out while they are both in uni. Tom is kinda awkward and Ming is a charismatic playwright. They begin seeing each other and just as uni is finishing up they are tentatively planning a life together. After living with Tom's parents for a few months they decide to move to London and Ming confesses her decision to transition.

This was truly so excellent. On one level it is just very relatable because so many of us have had that 'is this what I want to be doing?' feeling after uni/school/as we enter our twenties. The friend group was such a shining star and the brightest part of it was Tom's friendship with Rob which was extremely tender. Ming and Tom make it so easy to root for them as a couple... at times. And then at other points you can see how they can't grow together, be together.

This was heart-wrenching, especially in ways I didn't expect, and I felt such warmth towards these characters. There's plot! There's vibes! What more could you ask for?

This book is gut-wrenchingly sad in the best kind of way. It explores complex relationships and even more complex emotions, and this character-led narrative is executed wonderfully by debut author Nicola Dinan.

It begins with a typical 'meet cute' at a university drag night, but shortly after graduation, Ming announces her intention to transition. Tom wants to support her, but as a gay man he knows that the more affirmed in her gender Ming is, the less he will be attracted to her. When I've described this book to friends, they have all understandably assumed it's an emotional wrecking ball. They're not wrong, but I couldn't recommend this particular emotional wrecking ball enough. It's a beautiful story, full of love and loss, and I can't wait to buy a hard copy so I can read it again and again.

This book is so good I have been banging on to everyone I know about it. I finished it in just one sitting, so tightly it grabbed hold of me. I was an emotional wreck by the end. Safe though. That's important.
So we start with a boy meets boy scenario - at uni - on a drag night. Tom meets Ming. They hit it off, their connection being instant, and strong. They couple up and the relationship blossoms. We also meet their friendship circle... an eclectic bunch!
But then Ming starts to change appearance. Become more on the feminine side. Physically, inwardly and outwardly too, until, eventually confesses that she wants to transition...
And so begins a heartbreaking and harrowing and beautiful story which I am not even going to try and say anything else about. Not just cos of spoilers...
Ming's journey was so powerful. And personal. And often brutally depicted with no punches pulled. Relationships laid bare. At times it was hard to read. But also Tom's story was eye-opening. And I so felt for him too... Equally the rest of the friendship group, and the families of all concerned.
I connected to all the characters, every one, and I was so so sad to have to leave them behind when the book finished. They sort of became my friendship circle for the duration. The family I didn't know I needed...
It's a beautiful book, one I feel privileged to have read, and one I will re-read when I buy me a physical copy once it has been published. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Thought this was similar to a sally Rooney book but with gays.
I really enjoyed reading about the relationship of Ming and Tom but then Ming decides to transition. Will they stay together or not?
And there’s lots of other characters, their friends and family and life happening that keeps it all very interesting. I would definitely read another Nicola Dinan book.

Bellies is a fantastic novel. Ming and Tom meet in university and connect instantly, we follow their relationship with each other, their friends and themselves following graduation and their twenties.

Dinan writes chapters following two distinct and well drawn characters of Tom, who is thoughtful, smart, careful, and Ming who is creative, biting and really funny!! The novel is tender and rich - themes, loveable characters, pop culture references (what more could you ask for?)

The first half of the novel was more to my tastes, as the writing was more subtle and focused on the characters and the dynamics between them. The second half feels a bit more plot heavy, which will be to some people’s taste more than mine.

This book is going to be so so successful and I will certainly be recommending it. Also the cover is 10/10!!

Pick up this book up if: you are a fan of stories about relationships - think Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.