Milk Fed: A Novel

Well written study over women’s bodies and the pressure from the media to adhere to its standards. Narrates obsessions and desire in the most descriptive yet seductive ways. Desire is desire from the most banal desire to real human ones, they’re valid and when not satiated some issues may arise. I was not expecting the book to be what it was but I enjoyed it, specially when it explores sexuality and religion, compromises and womanhood.

A dizzying, dark comedy about queer love in the age of pretentiousness and eating disorders. The main character was sad, but a hoot, even in the deepest depths of her despair, and the way in which numerous issues were challenged in the story—from mother-daughter relationships to the state of Israel and Palestinian occupation—were done in intriguing ways.The sex was a bit goofy. Some parts a little repetitive and slow. But, otherwise, it’s an effective novel I’d recommend to anyone interested in a short and entertaining read. I’m glad I finally got around to giving this one a go!

Rachel, our first-person narrator, has trouble finding a happy medium. She has an unhealthy fixation on calorie-counting, partly thanks to her body-shaming mother, but when she does throw caution to the wind, she over-indulges in a big way. Her sexual fantasies are equally over the top, especially after she meets plus-sized frozen yogurt scooper Miriam. In fact, Rachel’s sexual appetite for a large woman is entwined with her food consumption of cakes, donuts, bread, you name it, when she lapses into an eating binge. I get that Rachel has some mental health issues, for which she sees a therapist who insists that she put all contact with her mother on pause. However, Rachel makes some unwise decisions. One problem I had with the book was at least one inconsistency in Rachel’s food mania. Why does she have to go to Bed, Bath & Beyond to find a scale to weigh herself? OK, I don’t profess to know anything about eating disorders, but if she were obsessed with her weight, wouldn’t she own a bathroom scale? Does this have to do with the fact that she sees herself as a much heavier woman than she actually is, and the scale would force her to face the truth? Sometimes I want to get to the end of a novel to find out what happens, and sometimes I want to finish so that I can move on to something else. This book falls into the latter category.

I just finished and my heart aches. But, like anything good, it’s worth the ache to have to have an experience. I don’t think you have to be Jewish, queer, with a tough relationship with food and your mother to love this book, but if you are, it will speak directly to the oldest and most tender parts of you.

Yes, that’s a tig old bitty on the front. Not a donut. 🤦🏼‍♀️This is the February pick for our #spinesandwines bookclub and I can already tell our zoom discussion is going to be GOOD.Our main character, Rachel has got some serious mom issues and because of this she engages in severely disordered eating. While visiting a froyo place to get a teeny tiny low-cal snack, she meets a worker there named Miriam who is gorgeous, plus-size, and completely comfortable in her own skin. Once Miriam makes a custom froyo sundae for Rachel, everything starts to change.Whew y’all, this book! So much to unpack. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so thoroughly lodged in a character’s head before. Broder gives Rachel to us, warts and all. My heart would hurt so hard for her while simultaneously cringing at her internal dialogue. The language in this book is so luscious and sensual and intimate and where’s my thesaurus? Broder can make me so physically uncomfortable and I love that.Once they become closer, Miriam introduces Rachel to finding pleasure through food instead of restricting it. The more food Rachel consumes, the greater her sexual desire grows and vice versa. By the end she doesn’t have the healthiest relationship with either. Also, you will straight up need a church fan for several amorous scenes in this book.As someone who has a heightened radar for fat-phobic/fetish-y talk, this book definitely made me uncomfortable at times. I’ve seen several reviews praising the book for celebrating diverse body types, but at times it seems like Rachel fetishes bigger bodies. So heads up - if you have issues around eating, body image, dysmorphia, etc. there are some major triggers.I enjoyed all the different dichotomies in this book too: restricted eating and bingeing, atheism and Judaism, withholding attention and showering affection, judgment and accepting. You can get whiplash quick from them.This book isn’t for everyone, but it’s def one that’ll get stuck in your head.

This book was frustrating. The writing is good but the story line is hot garbage. Body positivity combined with homosexuality. The author makes a valiant effort to make obesity sound sexy but I couldn’t make the leap. Good erotic scenes but then a fat roll description would dry me right up.

So it's been over a month since I've read this book and I still don't know exactly how I feel about it. I'm fat, but I don't have any weird food things so it wasn't triggering for me. My wife read it first and found it very upsetting. So when I was reading it and would laugh out loud at some of the parts, that were admittedly funny, she was confused. But, when I recounted the bits that I found funny, she admitted they were but couldn't see it while she was submerged in the fatphobia of the book.The parts I found most upsetting were the parts that made it pretty clear that either the author has never actually had sex with a woman or that the author just hates women's bodies period. More than once was a woman's pussy described as "fishy". A word that a queer woman would never use to describe a vagina, unless she had some very serious internalized misogyny.I didn't like this book, even though parts were funny. But, I didn't hate it either. I think mostly I just feel sorry for the writer.

I liked the book due to show what really happens with someone with eating disorder. The main character is full of issues like anyone of us. Also, the romance between Rachel and Miriam maybe could dislikes some people because depicted the intimacy of a plus size women. Actually I really enjoyed it.

The book did have some scratches on it when it came but they were barely noticeable. In terms of the book itself, it is amazing. Just know that it talks about sensitive topics like eating disorders and sexuality. The concept and the way the book is written is so real. I myself struggle with eating and I was able to recognize myself through the writing which was really eye-opening. I really did enjoy reading this book since it's "modern" without being cringey. I feel like books nowadays try too hard to be relatable which ruins the experience, but this book was perfectly "readable". I would totally recommend reading it even if you aren't much of a reader because neither am I.

Beau livre

this might be my new favourite book of all time. there is something about broder's writing that really scratches an itch in my brain.milk fed is oozing and bubbling over with bodily fluids, spiritual and familial yearning and sweet, mystical milk. it follows antiheroine rachel, a 24-year-old lapsed jew who is committed to a solitary existence of psychological self-torture revolving around extreme calorie restriction, exercise, bingeing and rituals. physically, rachel spends her days working at a hollywood talent agency and her evenings as a stand-up comedian before coming home to her empty apartment. mentally, though, she is totally ruled by her eating disorder, which she follows like a religion.early in a therapist-advised communication detox from her toxic, weight-obsessed mother, rachel meets miriam, an orthodox jewish woman who works in her favourite frozen yoghurt shop. miriam's love language is to feed and rachel is physically and emotionally starved. the pair fall in almost-love amidst a rocky whirlwind of chinese food, shabbat festivities and volcanic ice cream sundaes, and slowly, rachel's relationship with food begins to change for the better.broder has married evocative personal insight with stimulating full-colour fantasy to accomplish this story of restriction and indulgence in everything we long for and fear, which is in equal parts devastating, funny, sexy and so very real.

A little confronting at times if you have 'mother issues' but a brilliant read!