Omnivores: A Novel [Hardcover]

Lydia Millet (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1996

In a wickedly satirical study of the manners and mores of contemporary America, teenager Este+a7e Kraft, a dutiful daughter, struggles to satisfy--or escape--the males in her life: her megalomaniacal father, her real-estate salesman common-law husband, and her toddler son. A first novel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Millet's feisty but sometimes awkward debut tells of a young girl's coming-of-age in an extremely dystopian version of modern America. The Candide-like protagonist, Estee Kraft, spends her childhood as a prisoner of a bedridden mother and psychopathic father, who forces her to assist him in a variety of murderous "experiments," beginning with moths and culminating with his abduction of an elderly woman. Eventually "rescued" on her 18th birthday by an amoral young real estate agent, Estee moves to L.A., which she finds every bit as threatening and incomprehensible as her family home. As the couple eventually head to Florida and Estee gives birth to a monstrous baby (15 pounds at birth, he eats wasps, birds and boxes of Playtex), the story loses its force due to a lack of focus and the cartoonish behavior of its insufficiently realized characters. Though Millet's wit is occasionally biting and her prose at times quite shrewd, the novel fails to build in the manner of effective satire, becoming instead a series of set pieces and gags that only occasionally catch fire.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This first novel is a satirical poke in the nose of American society in general and men in particular. Estee Kraft is held hostage on her father's estate (which he has declared a sovereign nation). There she performs experiments on moths at her father's bidding until her 18th birthday. At her birthday party Kraft gives his daughter, complete with a dowry, to a Yuppie real estate salesman named Pete. Estee goes to Los Angeles with Pete as an expedient means of escaping her father but finds herself in a new kind of trap there. Estee proves she is a survivor. By the time her cannibal son William is born, Estee knows she must escape the omnivorous men in her life before they devour her. Well written but odd, this experimental work is recommended for academic libraries.?Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Educ. Lib., Watch Hill
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 220 pages
• Publisher: Workman Pub Co; 1st edition (May 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565120892
• ISBN-13: 978-1565120891
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,267,315 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.