WOMAN, EATING
Claire Kohda
Hachette
By FEBY IDRUS
Claire Kohda’s debut novel Woman, Eating combines the ennui of the average 20-something millennial with the tropes of the vampire novel, as Lydia, a young Londoner and arts graduate, learns to navigate young adulthood while juggling the irrepressible urge to drink the blood of the nice boy upstairs.
The premise is a cracker, but do not go into this novel expecting a plot. Kohda leans heavily into Lydia’s artful listlessness (there are multiple scenes of a famished Lydia lying on the floor, just thinking).
![](https://www.odt.co.nz/sites/default/files/story/2022/12/9780349015620.jpg)
But these themes are not deeply explored, giving this novel a lightweight, mostly ephemeral feel.
A love-it-or-hate-it novel, and definitely an acquired taste for some.