A review by sakeriver
Starvation Mode by Elissa Washuta

Mostly, this book made me angry. Or rather let me say, I just finished the book, and I am angry. I’m angry at men, both thoughtless men and manipulative men. I’m angry about the male gaze. I’m angry at body norms and advertisers and all kinds of things. But I don’t know if this is right. Washuta shows you things in this book, but then immediately undercuts the easy interpretation. Does my anger here allow for her agency? I don’t know, but I suspect that this reaction is placing her in some kind of a victim role, and it’s more complicated than that. She makes it more complicated than that, she insists on it in the last two parts of the book.

On a craft level, I think this book is interesting. Well-made and challenging. Lyrical in spots, blunt in others. I liked it.

But, man, I’m still angry.