i (mostly) get why a lot of ppl rated this lowly, but the sensuality + eroticism of food mixed with the often contradictory messages and ethics of the various women really worked for me! is it a little too long? yeah. is it very on-the-nose with its messaging? sure. there's a lot of times where the main character is very plainly spelling out her own musings on how the various women in the story are dealing with societal pressure + the unfairness of it all. but that didn't irk me as much in this book as it has in others, possibly because the way the character works on her own sense-of-self, with a big part of that untangling expectations of women and the country she lives in, made it feel more real.

there isn't anything truly radical in this book, but seeing how even in 2024 people will lose their minds when a person is accepting of or even desiring weight gain, it does feel a little subversive that the main character in this novel continues to seek out food (with lots of butter!) even when everyone around her is getting on her for her weight. i will say that ppl's weights are discussed a lot (complete with specific numbers brought up many times) and there is a lot of fatphobia bandied about, so if that's something that's triggering then ppl should sit it out.