Customer Reviews

Omnivores

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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

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.

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.