Hello everyone!
I am back with another book review, today it is Supper Club by Lara Williams. Thanks so much to Penguin Random House Canada for sending me a copy of this book for an honest review, as always, all opinions are my own.
**TRIGGER WARNINGS: Trigger warnings for rape/sexual assault, eating disorders/body shaming, and self-harm. I won't be discussing these in the review, but please proceed to the book with caution.**
This book follows Roberta, a young woman who has spent her life trying to not take up space. Not be the loud out, the outgoing one, the one who eats whatever she wants, no matter what the people around her think. During college, she developed a love for cooking but now in her late twenties, is working at a fashion magazine. One day, she meets her new co-worker, Stevie, an artist and whirlwind who convinces her to find her passion. As a way to assert herself in the world, Roberta, with the help of Stevie, starts the Supper Club, an intimate, invitation-only event where women can come together and take up space. They can be care-free and wild, they can gorge themselves without remorse. As the Club's go on, Roberta confronts the demons of her past and learns who she truly is.
When I started this book, I really knew very little about it (if you've been around for a while you know I like to jump into books knowing next-to-nothing about them). I knew there was some sort of dinner party theme and that it had a feminist flair - two things that hooked me right away. I didn't know, however, that this book would be so brilliantly and viscerally written. I devoured (no pun intended ;)) every page of this book. I was obsessed, I couldn't stop reading it and when I wasn't reading it, I couldn't stop thinking about it.
I know this book won't be for everyone, there are some parts that could have been developed a bit more and some aspects that could have been taken out - it's not a perfect book - but I still really loved it. I was so immersed in the story and the character's lives. No, they aren't perfect, but I felt like I was a part of that imperfection.
Overall, this book is visceral, it's emotional, and it will devour you unless you devour it first.