It is set in a sweltering summer in New York in the basement of a rec center where the women come together for group therapy with Will, who mysteriously sought each of them out for the narrative therapy project. BOOKRIOT 'Adelmann’s debut is a darkly funny, thought-provoking take on what happens after happily ever after. Adelmann travels the well-worn paths of some of the most famous fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm with stylistic panache and 21st-century verve. Both a meditation on trauma and a sendup of. It’s also just a really entertaining read. 'Adelmann’s true subject is actually her audience, the great anonymous we who consumes the horrors of violent husbands, ravaging wolves, hungry witches, and made-for-TV love stories with such compulsive demand we never pause to think what might come after the happy ending.

What really brought them here? What secrets will they reveal? And is it too late for them to rescue each other?ĭark, edgy, and wickedly funny, this debut for fans of Carmen Maria Machado, Kristen Arnett, and Kelly Link takes our coziest, most beloved childhood stories, exposes them as anti-feminist nightmares, and transforms them into a new kind of myth for grown-up women. How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann is a unique perspective on the trauma and PTSD classic fairy tale characters face post incident. How To Be Eaten is an intriguing take on what it means to exist in the world as a woman in the 21st century and trauma in the digital age. Though the women start out wary of one another, judging each other’s stories, gradually they begin to realize that they may have more in common than they supposed. And Raina's love story will shock them all. Ashlee, the winner of a Bachelor-esque dating show, wonders if she really got her promised fairy tale ending. Gretel questions her memory of being held captive in a house made of candy. Ruby, once devoured by a wolf, now wears him as a coat. Bernice grapples with the fallout of dating a psychopathic, blue-bearded billionaire. In present-day New York City, five women meet in a basement support group to process their traumas. This darkly funny and provocative novel reimagines classic fairy tale characters as modern women in a support group for trauma.

How to be eaten by maria adelmann