Monday, November 28, 2022

Jewish Book Month: LGBTQ Rep

 


Milk Fed, by Melissa Broder. 2021, Scribner.

Milk Fed is the second novel by Melissa Broder, late of The Pisces and the essay collection So Sad Today. It is about a young woman named Rachel, a lesbian with eating disorders and a bad relationship with her mother, who falls for Miriam, a young Orthodox woman who relishes her food but can't quite return Rachel's sexual appetites.

I loved this book the way I loved Broder's other books, for its extreme candor when it comes to women and bodies and sex and this time, food. Rachel meets Miriam at a frozen yogurt bar and is immediately smitten both with Miriam's creativity and relaxed attitude towards food and with her sensual body. Being with Miriam is feast for Rachel, but Miriam hesitates when it comes to fully engaging with Rachel sexually.

The book is raw and explicit when it comes to both Rachel's emotions and her physical and sexual hungers. If you've read Melissa Broder before you know what to expect. I found it to be a moving and intense love story, about the two women and about Rachel's struggle to find balance and acceptance in all areas of her life.

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