Book Review: "Milk Fed" by Melissa Broder
“Milk Fed” by Melissa Broder
Synopsis: Rachel is twenty-four, a lapsed Jew who has made calorie restriction her religion. By day, she maintains an illusion of existential control, by way of obsessive food rituals, while working as an underling at a Los Angeles talent management agency. At night, she pedals nowhere on the elliptical machine. Rachel is content to carry on subsisting--until her therapist encourages her to take a ninety-day communication detox from her mother, who raised her in the tradition of calorie counting.
Early in the detox, Rachel meets Miriam, a zaftig young Orthodox Jewish woman who works at her favorite frozen yogurt shop and is intent upon feeding her. Rachel is suddenly and powerfully entranced by Miriam--by her sundaes and her body, her faith and her family--and as the two grow closer, Rachel embarks on a journey marked by mirrors, mysticism, mothers, milk, and honey.
Pairing superlative emotional insight with unabashed vivid fantasy, Broder tells a tale of appetites: physical hunger, sexual desire, spiritual longing, and the ways that we as humans can compartmentalize these so often interdependent instincts. Milk Fed is a tender and riotously funny meditation on love, certitude, and the question of what we are all being fed, from one of our major writers on the psyche--both sacred and profane
Rating (out of 5): 4
Review: Whew, this one is spicy! This novel is, at various intervals, sexy, hilarious, disgusting, heartrending, and deeply relatable. Rachel, whose food obsessions reminded me uncomfortably of my own at my absolute worst, lives a life of obsessive self-shrinking, shying away from outward wanting of any kind: food, career aspirations, a differentiated relationship with her mother on her own terms.
When Rachel’s therapist suggests a 90-day detox from her mother, she begins an experience of rebellion against her own rules and those of her mother. Intoxicated by Miriam, an Orthodox Jewish yogurt shop employee who engages in very little restriction, caloric or otherwise, Rachel embarks on an adventure.
It’s easy to see that Rachel and Miriam’s entanglement is doomed to end, and not likely without consequences for Miriam. But Rachel learns so much from Miriam’s carefree, naive, almost simple existence, that the reader can see this relationship as plausible for either. It’s a relief for us to see Rachel become less obsessively self-referential in her internal monologues.
There are parts of this novel that I didn’t love: I won’t yuck anyone’s yum, but some of the sexual fantasies were just not my speed (and I don’t mean this because they involve two women). Rachel also seems cured of her decades-long eating disorder after a brief period of free-for-all eating, which seemed optimistic to such an extent that I found it almost offensive. In its whole, though, this is a great read for revisiting our days of self-discovery, with its catastrophic failures and small but measured successes.
TL;DR: A completely unique read about an unlikely romance leading to self-realization. A truly funny and often relatable book, I recommend this to anyone who can handle blushing on the subway from the numerous sex scenes.
If you liked this; try:
“Tampa” by Alissa Nutting (Bookshop | Kindle)
“My Year of Rest and Relaxation” by Ottessa Moshfegh (Bookshop | Kindle)
“When Katie Met Cassidy” by Camille Perri (Bookshop | Kindle)
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