Ok this might be my favorite read of the year. How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann is about a group of women who receive a mysterious email inviting them to take part in a group therapy session specifically focused on women who have been through a very public trauma. Each of the women, it turns out, are characters from our most famous fairy tales, with a modern twist. Bernice found out her blue-obsessed tech billionaire boyfriend is a serial killer, Ruby survived a wolf attack, Ashlee met her Prince Charming via a Bachelor-esque franchise, Gretel isn’t very forthcoming with her trauma though the clues are obvious, and Raina is a bit of a mystery too. The handsome Will leads the therapy sessions, encouraging each to tell their story on their own terms in hopes of healing. But Will has his own agenda, whether the women are interested in assisting it or not.
This book is a very fun representation of taking ownership of one’s story. Fairy tales have often been used to explore this theme, but the added element of modern media keeps it fresh. Ashlee/Cinderella is the only woman who is specifically a reality TV star, but how the media and the public construct and perceive each of these women’s stories is vital to the book and to Will’s story too. I suppose you could argue that true crime is another form of reality TV, and most of the women operate as true crime survivors.
The interpretation of the fairy tales are all interesting. Some stick pretty close to what you expect from the tales in regards to plot, but even those have unique interpretations (Bluebeard’s reasons and methods of killing his girlfriends; Ruby’s obsession with her wolf-fur coat, how time plays into Cinderella’s story, Hansel’s role in Gretel’s story). None of their stories wrap up neatly, whether it’s how the trauma of the event has informed the rest of their lives – or even the reliability of their own version of events (Gretel’s is the most fascinating from that point of view). Raina’s story ended up being my favorite but that’s all I’ll say because its reveal is as fun as the build-up.
