Omnivores [Import] [Paperback]

Lydia Millet (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Virago Press Ltd; New Ed edition (1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1860494323
• ISBN-13: 978-1860494321
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,114,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She is the future of writing, January 23, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Omnivores: A Novel (Hardcover)

Omnivore is the most impressive first novel I've read in a long time. I'm eagerly awaiting Ms. Millet's next work

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best damned fiction available in a country of fiction, September 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Omnivores: A Novel (Hardcover)

Lydia Millet succeeds where everyone but James Joyce fails. She creates a language of dichotomous touchstones known to some, feared by most, swallowed, digested, and converted to the very lives of others. Nothing comes close to Millet's diffraction of neo-americana.

If you are going to read one book this year, read this one, then dial 911.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not at all enjoyable, October 29, 2001

By 

Angela Richardson (Windsor, Ontario) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Omnivores: A Novel (Hardcover)

I'm not a fan of showy, surreal novels, and this is surely one.

Estee Kraft is raised by her delusional father, who stages cockfights for family picnic entertainment, and her bedridden mother, who is obsessed with all things Betty (Grable, Boop, etc.). A lot of unusual and upsetting things happen, until eventually, Estee finds herself pregnant by the would-be real estate mogul her father has determined she should marry. The baby is born a cannibal, who eats every living thing in his sight line. Bizarre enough for you?

I read this entire book (thankfully, it's quite short) with a feeling of revulsion, though I can't quite pinpoint why. It was somehow just very unpleasant. I will admit to having some level of curiosity to see how the whole debacle would end. (Predictably weird.) There are hints throughout that Estee may be delusional herself, and there are lots of ties to the whole "eating everything" theme (see the book's title), but I really didn't care a lick. Not recommended at all.