4/5 stars
How to Be Eaten, by Maria Adelmann (2022)
I don't always love a fairytale re-telling, but this one is done especially well. Set in modern-day New York City, but with a touch of the fantastical, this book explores what happens to fairytale characters years later, after their grand adventures are over.
Five women have answered an ad for a support group for those who need to work through a past trauma. They meet in a basement, sit in a circle, and begin, one by one, to share their stories, encouraged by the facilitator and group leader, Will.
Bernice, the widow of Bluebeard, goes first. Ashton is a billionaire tech mogul, and serial womanizer, who builds a mansion across the street from Bernice's family's humble home in the Hamptons. His beard is, in fact, blue (dyed) as is basically everything else in his life and home. It's his signature color. When Bernice meets him at a party at his house, she's smitten, despite her sister's warnings. If you know the story of Bluebeard, you know what happens... and now, Bernice is haunted by her dead serial-killer husband's previous girlfriends. Like, literally haunted. Like, they talk to her all day and night.
Ruby, or "Lil Red," aka Little Red Riding Hood, was indeed consumed by a wolf when she was on her way to her grandmother's house - a sexual predator who seduced, then ate her. Thankfully someone came along with an axe and cut her out. Now she wears the wolf's skin as a coat. A coat she never removes, even though it is the height of a sticky NYC summer. She also never showers, is loud and boisterous, always late, usually crass, and extremely promiscuous.
Ashlee is the only non-fairytale character, except in how she represents the modern-day "happily ever after." She's the winner of a Bachelor-like tv show called The One. She got the man, but has been vilified by the press. She's not totally sure why she answered the ad, but she keeps coming back to the meetings week after week.
Gretel, of Hansel & Gretel fame, has never recovered from her ordeal in the forest. Her brother has thrived by denying the truth of what happened. And anyway, the witch was nice to him. She was fattening him up. Gretel, on the other hand, was starved, or made to eat only candy, such that she's had a lifetime of dental bills, struggles with anorexia, and can't maintain any healthy relationships.
Raina is the last to share her story. The author is cagey about doling out what her story is based on... so, I won't spoil it. But of course, like the others, she has trauma that she is trying to learn and heal from.
In between each woman's story, Will has a couple of pages where he describes going back to his office, how he's feeling, and what he's learning. We find out his motivations aren't quite what they seem from the get-go.
I really enjoyed how Adelmann transported these women into modern times, keeping some of the mystery and magic even though we think we know their stories already. We hear each story from the woman's perspective - the person who was made famous, but who did not reap the benefits of that fame, and has never been afforded the chance to tell her own version of events. The five women start out as deeply critical of each other, but soon find commonalities and compassion.
Fairytales often vilify or mollify female characters - they're the wicked stepmother or the naive mermaid, the witch in the woods or the destitute maiden. Whether they get the happy ending or not, the stories are not generally told from their point of view. In How to Be Eaten, these tales are reconsidered and transformed into something more supportive and empowering.
UP NEXT: Fourteen Days: A Collaborative Novel, edited by Margaret Atwood & Douglas Preston
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