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All Flesh
Not yet published
Expected 28 Apr 26A wild, bomb-throwing teenage revenge plot that skewers the cults of consumerism and the body beautiful.
Ananda Devi's protagonist is tormented at school because of her weight, and haunted by the sister whom her father believes she devoured in the womb. This, she thinks, is how he accounts for her enormous she is not one but two.
Her father is gleefully devoted and plies her with increasingly indulgent feasts; at school her fellow students and even teachers seek to humiliate her with an almost demonic insistence; in the midst of all this she struggles to see who she is beyond the world’s perceptions of her and her size.
When she gets an unexpected, heady taste of the other pleasures of the body, she briefly feels the radiant possibility of another kind of life. But the great eye of the mob turns on her once more and she devises one drastic, final, self-destroying way to turn the tables on her persecutors and the whole unjust world.
In Hungering, Devi deploys keenly lyrical prose to stage a revenge plot with dark humor that tears apart the hypocrisies around how we talk about bodies, women, beauty, obsession, and consumption, and how society consumes, obsesses over, and vilifies the Other.
Ananda Devi's protagonist is tormented at school because of her weight, and haunted by the sister whom her father believes she devoured in the womb. This, she thinks, is how he accounts for her enormous she is not one but two.
Her father is gleefully devoted and plies her with increasingly indulgent feasts; at school her fellow students and even teachers seek to humiliate her with an almost demonic insistence; in the midst of all this she struggles to see who she is beyond the world’s perceptions of her and her size.
When she gets an unexpected, heady taste of the other pleasures of the body, she briefly feels the radiant possibility of another kind of life. But the great eye of the mob turns on her once more and she devises one drastic, final, self-destroying way to turn the tables on her persecutors and the whole unjust world.
In Hungering, Devi deploys keenly lyrical prose to stage a revenge plot with dark humor that tears apart the hypocrisies around how we talk about bodies, women, beauty, obsession, and consumption, and how society consumes, obsesses over, and vilifies the Other.
192 pages, Paperback
Expected publication April 28, 2026
6 people are currently reading
384 people want to read
About the author
Ananda Devi
52 books106 followersAnanda Devi is a Mauritian writer. Her novel, Eve de ses décombres, won the Prix des cinq continents de la Francophonie in 2006, as well as several other prizes. It was adapted for the cinema by Sharvan Anenden and Harrikrisna Anenden. In 2007, Devi received the Certificat d'Honneur Maurice Cagnon du Conseil International d'Études Francophones.[1] She has since won other literary prizes, including the Prix du Rayonnement de la langue et de la littérature française of the Académie française. During 2010 she was bestowed with Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
???? WHAT
I picked this book up on a whim as it sounded sort of strange (not an insult - I live for weird books lol), and it didnt let me down
It was certainly odd, but it was also a gorgeously written and heartbreaking story about what it's like to be a teenage girl living in a morbidly obese body. The inability to move around, the pain, alienation, and the desperate need to be desired in whatever way someone will have you - no matter how degrading - are the main themes of this book. I've never been obese, but I certainly relate to certain aspects of her struggle
It's also given me a deeper understanding and empathy for how difficult life actually is for morbidly obese people. It's not just the mental aspect that's hard, but also the physical. My body isn't the healthiest but I'm still able to do all my daily tasks without much discomfort. I'll think twice before complaining now, some others struggle to get around their house or even walk out of their bedroom door
I picked this book up on a whim as it sounded sort of strange (not an insult - I live for weird books lol), and it didnt let me down
It was certainly odd, but it was also a gorgeously written and heartbreaking story about what it's like to be a teenage girl living in a morbidly obese body. The inability to move around, the pain, alienation, and the desperate need to be desired in whatever way someone will have you - no matter how degrading - are the main themes of this book. I've never been obese, but I certainly relate to certain aspects of her struggle
It's also given me a deeper understanding and empathy for how difficult life actually is for morbidly obese people. It's not just the mental aspect that's hard, but also the physical. My body isn't the healthiest but I'm still able to do all my daily tasks without much discomfort. I'll think twice before complaining now, some others struggle to get around their house or even walk out of their bedroom door
July 30, 2022
4-4.5
That ending… INTENSE.
That ending… INTENSE.
January 22, 2026
A no-holds-barred examination of society and its relationship with fatness from the perspective of a morbidly obese teenager--or, as the character herself would say, morbidly obese no longer describes her, she's simply morbid. Born as a 22 pound baby to a mother who flees not long after discovering the ravenous appetite of her daughter and a father who copes by referring to his daughter as two individual beings, the daughter in the flesh and the other who was eaten in the womb. Though her father is the only person in her life who treats her with kindness, who satisfies her every need to her own detriment, he is still never able to view her as she truly is.
Devi attempts to "blow the hypocrisies and prejudice of society to smithereens" by using this young girl's body, a body literally being force-fed to death, as a metaphor for society's infatuation with both thinness and overconsumption, a society that participates in so many forms of unhealthy excess but looks at indulging in an excess of food with hostility and cruelty. And at times, this is done successfully, but the more I've sat with this novel after finishing it a few weeks ago, the more I tend to agree with the Kirkus review when they categorize the novel as "disturbing throughout, ultimately in ways that undermine the author's core message". Devi is so over the top with the grotesque display of the narrator's hunger and overindulgence and goes to such exaggerated lengths to portray this young girl as something of a monster, as the Other that I think the novel sometimes has the opposite effect of what she intended.
Devi's writing is the strong point here, though the pace lagged for me in the first half as the inner narrative in the girl's becomes repetitive. But her pen is strong and sharp, I cannot fault the quality of her writing. I'll be interested to read more reviews from others as we get closer to its pub date. Shocking and provocative, it leaves the reader with a lot to ponder.
Devi attempts to "blow the hypocrisies and prejudice of society to smithereens" by using this young girl's body, a body literally being force-fed to death, as a metaphor for society's infatuation with both thinness and overconsumption, a society that participates in so many forms of unhealthy excess but looks at indulging in an excess of food with hostility and cruelty. And at times, this is done successfully, but the more I've sat with this novel after finishing it a few weeks ago, the more I tend to agree with the Kirkus review when they categorize the novel as "disturbing throughout, ultimately in ways that undermine the author's core message". Devi is so over the top with the grotesque display of the narrator's hunger and overindulgence and goes to such exaggerated lengths to portray this young girl as something of a monster, as the Other that I think the novel sometimes has the opposite effect of what she intended.
Devi's writing is the strong point here, though the pace lagged for me in the first half as the inner narrative in the girl's becomes repetitive. But her pen is strong and sharp, I cannot fault the quality of her writing. I'll be interested to read more reviews from others as we get closer to its pub date. Shocking and provocative, it leaves the reader with a lot to ponder.
Read
November 23, 2025With an ending worthy of a New French Extremism film (I’m looking at you, Marina de Van, especially Dans ma peau), the novel is clearly designed to shock and awe. While it certainly sent a shiver or two down my spine, it also put me in a reflective mood. I found myself wondering what kinds of signifiers we use to talk about embodied power relations and socio-political phenomena in our academic work and in art—and what sort of cultural labour those signifiers perform.
When we use an (extremely) fat body as a signifier for something other than itself, what does that practice reflect back onto such a body? Do we not, in some sense, misuse it? And with that misuse, do we not also violate it? I feel a similar unease when animals, plants, and other more-than-human or non-human entities are deployed as metaphors, symbols, or any other kind of linguistic material. What I’m trying to get at here goes far beyond the human body and its (often rather petty) identity claims.
I suppose I must have liked the novel quite a lot, given that it prompted all of this—so I can’t help but recommend it.
When we use an (extremely) fat body as a signifier for something other than itself, what does that practice reflect back onto such a body? Do we not, in some sense, misuse it? And with that misuse, do we not also violate it? I feel a similar unease when animals, plants, and other more-than-human or non-human entities are deployed as metaphors, symbols, or any other kind of linguistic material. What I’m trying to get at here goes far beyond the human body and its (often rather petty) identity claims.
I suppose I must have liked the novel quite a lot, given that it prompted all of this—so I can’t help but recommend it.
October 25, 2025
ARC for review. To be published April 28, 2026.
4 stars
Translated from the French by Jeffrey Zuckerman.
Haunting story of a morbidly obese teenage girl who is both defined and trapped by her weight. She was born a 22 pound baby. Her mother left, her father believes that she absorbed her twin in the womb and that she eats for two; he refers to her as “my girls.”
This was dark dark dark, but so well done. Recommended.
4 stars
Translated from the French by Jeffrey Zuckerman.
Haunting story of a morbidly obese teenage girl who is both defined and trapped by her weight. She was born a 22 pound baby. Her mother left, her father believes that she absorbed her twin in the womb and that she eats for two; he refers to her as “my girls.”
This was dark dark dark, but so well done. Recommended.
November 13, 2025
DNF @ 20%
January 4, 2021
3,5/5. Un livre très perturbant, qui secoue, qui interroge. Une fin horrible mais incroyablement forte. C'est quelque chose d'attaquer l'année avec un tel récit !
January 22, 2018
On dit que l’anorexie est la faim du père. La boulimie serait-elle la faim de la mère ?
La jeune fille qui est l’héroïne de ce roman, et qui n’a pas de prénom (tiens ?), est née obèse. Songez, un poupon de 10 kilos… Sa mère américaine au physique de star les quitte vite, elle et son père.
Son père qui est persuadé qu’elles sont deux, qui fait à manger pour deux, qui leur parle au pluriel.
La jeune fille nous décrit les humiliations verbales qu’elle subit, les regards blessants et vengeurs des professeurs, les photos volées et postées.
Puis un jour, elle ne peut plus quitter son lit et sa chambre.
L’auteure nous décrit cette irrépressible faim que rien ne rassasie dans notre société basée sur l’image et le contrôle (de soi, de son corps).
J’ai aimé suivre cette jeune fille à l’obésité morbide, ses réflexions sur ceux qui l’entoure, y compris son pauvre père. Car si son corps n’est pas dans la norme, son cerveau, lui aussi, sait s’affranchir de la norme. Mais que veut-elle, au juste ?
J’ai aimé que la jeune femme rencontre l’amour sous le regard bienveillant de son père.
Même si la fin m’a horrifiée, il ne pouvait y en avoir d’autre.
Une lecture qui m’a poursuivi une fois le livre refermé.
Un roman qui interroge sans discriminer, ce que j’apprécie toujours.
L’image que je retiendrai :
Celle du rouleau de tissu que réserve pour elle la couturière pour pouvoir la vêtir.
Quelques citations :
« Les individus des autres espèces se sacrifient pour la survie du plus grand nombre ; nous, nous ferons tout pour survivre, au prix du plus grand nombre. » (p.32)
« A la conversation que toutes les mères doivent un jour avoir avec leur fille adolescente : tu dois apprendre à aimer ton corps » (p.79)
« … comment ni les parents ni l’école n’ont su inculquer des principes fondamentaux à cette génération d’exhibitionnistes. (…) Ce que l’on appelle les phénomènes viraux sont nos nouvelles divinités : ils savent capter nos passions éphémères. » (p.138)
« L’image ne pardonne pas. » (p.141)
« Pauvre père. Il ne mesure pas l’étendue du monde virtuel. On ne peut pas en sortir. Il est éternel. Il est partout. infini. Il n’y a pas d’outil possible puisqu’il est hors du temps et de l’espace. Nous avons inventé l’enfer. » (p.144)
« Dès que les commentaires publics ont été autorisés, le monde s’est lâché. Le pire est remonté à la surface comme une écume nauséabonde. Pourquoi n’est-ce pas le meilleur de nous qui en est ressorti ?Les voix bienveillantes, les voix mesurées, les voix raisonnables ? Elles ont été étouffées par les autres. Ce qu’on entend, c’est la cacophonie de notre époque, celle de nos âmes, celle de nos consciences. » (p.153)
La jeune fille qui est l’héroïne de ce roman, et qui n’a pas de prénom (tiens ?), est née obèse. Songez, un poupon de 10 kilos… Sa mère américaine au physique de star les quitte vite, elle et son père.
Son père qui est persuadé qu’elles sont deux, qui fait à manger pour deux, qui leur parle au pluriel.
La jeune fille nous décrit les humiliations verbales qu’elle subit, les regards blessants et vengeurs des professeurs, les photos volées et postées.
Puis un jour, elle ne peut plus quitter son lit et sa chambre.
L’auteure nous décrit cette irrépressible faim que rien ne rassasie dans notre société basée sur l’image et le contrôle (de soi, de son corps).
J’ai aimé suivre cette jeune fille à l’obésité morbide, ses réflexions sur ceux qui l’entoure, y compris son pauvre père. Car si son corps n’est pas dans la norme, son cerveau, lui aussi, sait s’affranchir de la norme. Mais que veut-elle, au juste ?
J’ai aimé que la jeune femme rencontre l’amour sous le regard bienveillant de son père.
Même si la fin m’a horrifiée, il ne pouvait y en avoir d’autre.
Une lecture qui m’a poursuivi une fois le livre refermé.
Un roman qui interroge sans discriminer, ce que j’apprécie toujours.
L’image que je retiendrai :
Celle du rouleau de tissu que réserve pour elle la couturière pour pouvoir la vêtir.
Quelques citations :
« Les individus des autres espèces se sacrifient pour la survie du plus grand nombre ; nous, nous ferons tout pour survivre, au prix du plus grand nombre. » (p.32)
« A la conversation que toutes les mères doivent un jour avoir avec leur fille adolescente : tu dois apprendre à aimer ton corps » (p.79)
« … comment ni les parents ni l’école n’ont su inculquer des principes fondamentaux à cette génération d’exhibitionnistes. (…) Ce que l’on appelle les phénomènes viraux sont nos nouvelles divinités : ils savent capter nos passions éphémères. » (p.138)
« L’image ne pardonne pas. » (p.141)
« Pauvre père. Il ne mesure pas l’étendue du monde virtuel. On ne peut pas en sortir. Il est éternel. Il est partout. infini. Il n’y a pas d’outil possible puisqu’il est hors du temps et de l’espace. Nous avons inventé l’enfer. » (p.144)
« Dès que les commentaires publics ont été autorisés, le monde s’est lâché. Le pire est remonté à la surface comme une écume nauséabonde. Pourquoi n’est-ce pas le meilleur de nous qui en est ressorti ?Les voix bienveillantes, les voix mesurées, les voix raisonnables ? Elles ont été étouffées par les autres. Ce qu’on entend, c’est la cacophonie de notre époque, celle de nos âmes, celle de nos consciences. » (p.153)
October 8, 2025
4.5
OH fuck.
This was genius. Disgusting and horrifying. Gross in the best way I can say this.
The book's a great psycological body horror like representation of such a huge hate towards different complexions that can't fit "perfectly" inside what others see good. Dilemas with food and a perfect fucked up plot.
(Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC.)
OH fuck.
This was genius. Disgusting and horrifying. Gross in the best way I can say this.
The book's a great psycological body horror like representation of such a huge hate towards different complexions that can't fit "perfectly" inside what others see good. Dilemas with food and a perfect fucked up plot.
(Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC.)
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I'm the pinnacle of your excesses. The one who will burst to prove to men lucky enough to be born under better circumstances that food is their modern god. When did we cease to eat merely to survive? When did we come across the flavors and substances that have become our obsession and our doom? When did our world begin to revolve around consumption? Epicureanism as euthanasia! What we most keenly, most violently desire is what poisons us.
All Flesh (2026) is Jeffrey Zuckerman's translation of Manger l’autre (2018) by the Neustadt Prize winning author Ananda Devi, the third of the translator/author's books I've read after Eve out of Her Ruins (2006 tr. 2016) and The Living Days (2013 tr. 2019).
The novel is narrated by a young woman, 16 when the novel end, looking back on her life since birth. She was born a (near) world record size at 22 pounds, and has had an insatiable appetite for food ever since, continuing to grow to monstrous (at least in the eyes of almost all others) size. Her exhausted mother abandoned her while still an infant, although her father, an architect but also an author of cook books, looked after her with devotion, feeding her gourment cuisine, while maintaining an illusion that he actually has two daughters, the second a twin she devoured in the womb, feeding her two separate meals:
He was my shield and my bulwark, fending off glares, never shying away from the scowls that landed on us, but rather confronting them with a calm defiance as if to say: Have the courage to look me in the eye instead of darting yours like a snake’s at my daughter to try to grasp what she is; don’t bother trying, she’ll always be too big for your small mind, she’s more wonderful, more incredible than you could ever be, she’s so far beyond your narrow understanding of things, you who bend to even the silliest rules imposed by other people, who would get surgery just to have a porn star’s boobs, a Venus Callipyge’s ass, a plumper pussy, a pair of lips like that pussy—turn upside down and you’ll see the sordid face of your hard-won beauty, while my daughter has it all and she doesn’t have to embrace the knife! That’s what my father’s eyes said, my knight in armor too shining for such vulgarities, and my heart breaks at the sight of him defying stares and snickers, taking all the body blows of those judgments, and I’m so proud that we’re together, that we’re such a perfect, unlikely pairing, and that he understands it so intuitively, so instinctively, so “maternally,” that he’s the one who made me and that I’m part of him.
But sometimes I think that I’m a part of him the way a tumor is a part of a body: a growth that will be his undoing.
The novel does not spare us the lavicious details of the narrator's obesity, which from aged 14 renders her house-bound, and in the novel's later pages she finds love, and sexual fulfilment with a carpenter who initially comes to the house, along with medics and firefighters, to rescue her when she gets wedged in the bathroom doorway.
In an account that includes literary motifs, such as Macbeth's speech after the death of his wife, a key theme, although not explicitly cited, is Margaret Wolfe Hungerford's "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". The narrator is housebound not just practically but to avoid the cruelty of others, and only in her brief relationship with the carpenter does she start to see, through his eyes, the beauty of her condition, before pictures he has taken are exposed and go viral:
The eye had never stopped tracking me, as it tracks us all, tracks you as well. It surveils, it sees, and it never forgives. But it doesn’t just look; it nurtures fear, suspicion, paranoia, hatred. It feeds you puke and poison. It transforms you. Tomorrow, you won’t see your loved ones the same way. Tomorrow, what was once a remote fear will become an imminent danger.
The 'eye' here being a term for social media, in a novel that otherwise is not strong on
- time - although translated and read in 2026, rather than the original 2018, the references to bariatric surgery, dismissed by her father as too dangerous (or does he prefer to preserve her depencency on him) would be expected to be juxtaposed with consideration of GLP-1 medicines.
- or place. It's not the US, as that's where her mother flees, but otherwise unspecified. The novel is mainly confined, as is she, to the narrator's bedroom and bathroom, although there's an slightly out-of-place vignette when she makes a trip to the airport, her first outside for some months, for an abortive overseas holiday and experiences a world suddenly divided into militia-patrolled slums and walled-in luxury dwellings.
Related to that, one thing I will acknowledge in my appraisal of this novel is calling out my own disappointment about it moving away from a Mauritian setting, which isn't really a fair judgement, as Jeffrey Zuckerman highlighted in an article in World Literature Today after Devi won the Neustadt Prize.
That said, this was not a novel Devi herself highlighted in her Neustadt Prize Lecture, and I'd suggest this is not the best starting point to explore her work. In particular it doesn't seem clear if it wants to celebrate a variety of bodily forms (versus the unreal standards of beauty imposed by society and social media on women's bodies in particular), or rather to revel in grotesquery.
Thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for the ARC.
All Flesh (2026) is Jeffrey Zuckerman's translation of Manger l’autre (2018) by the Neustadt Prize winning author Ananda Devi, the third of the translator/author's books I've read after Eve out of Her Ruins (2006 tr. 2016) and The Living Days (2013 tr. 2019).
The novel is narrated by a young woman, 16 when the novel end, looking back on her life since birth. She was born a (near) world record size at 22 pounds, and has had an insatiable appetite for food ever since, continuing to grow to monstrous (at least in the eyes of almost all others) size. Her exhausted mother abandoned her while still an infant, although her father, an architect but also an author of cook books, looked after her with devotion, feeding her gourment cuisine, while maintaining an illusion that he actually has two daughters, the second a twin she devoured in the womb, feeding her two separate meals:
He was my shield and my bulwark, fending off glares, never shying away from the scowls that landed on us, but rather confronting them with a calm defiance as if to say: Have the courage to look me in the eye instead of darting yours like a snake’s at my daughter to try to grasp what she is; don’t bother trying, she’ll always be too big for your small mind, she’s more wonderful, more incredible than you could ever be, she’s so far beyond your narrow understanding of things, you who bend to even the silliest rules imposed by other people, who would get surgery just to have a porn star’s boobs, a Venus Callipyge’s ass, a plumper pussy, a pair of lips like that pussy—turn upside down and you’ll see the sordid face of your hard-won beauty, while my daughter has it all and she doesn’t have to embrace the knife! That’s what my father’s eyes said, my knight in armor too shining for such vulgarities, and my heart breaks at the sight of him defying stares and snickers, taking all the body blows of those judgments, and I’m so proud that we’re together, that we’re such a perfect, unlikely pairing, and that he understands it so intuitively, so instinctively, so “maternally,” that he’s the one who made me and that I’m part of him.
But sometimes I think that I’m a part of him the way a tumor is a part of a body: a growth that will be his undoing.
The novel does not spare us the lavicious details of the narrator's obesity, which from aged 14 renders her house-bound, and in the novel's later pages she finds love, and sexual fulfilment with a carpenter who initially comes to the house, along with medics and firefighters, to rescue her when she gets wedged in the bathroom doorway.
In an account that includes literary motifs, such as Macbeth's speech after the death of his wife, a key theme, although not explicitly cited, is Margaret Wolfe Hungerford's "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". The narrator is housebound not just practically but to avoid the cruelty of others, and only in her brief relationship with the carpenter does she start to see, through his eyes, the beauty of her condition, before pictures he has taken are exposed and go viral:
The eye had never stopped tracking me, as it tracks us all, tracks you as well. It surveils, it sees, and it never forgives. But it doesn’t just look; it nurtures fear, suspicion, paranoia, hatred. It feeds you puke and poison. It transforms you. Tomorrow, you won’t see your loved ones the same way. Tomorrow, what was once a remote fear will become an imminent danger.
The 'eye' here being a term for social media, in a novel that otherwise is not strong on
- time - although translated and read in 2026, rather than the original 2018, the references to bariatric surgery, dismissed by her father as too dangerous (or does he prefer to preserve her depencency on him) would be expected to be juxtaposed with consideration of GLP-1 medicines.
- or place. It's not the US, as that's where her mother flees, but otherwise unspecified. The novel is mainly confined, as is she, to the narrator's bedroom and bathroom, although there's an slightly out-of-place vignette when she makes a trip to the airport, her first outside for some months, for an abortive overseas holiday and experiences a world suddenly divided into militia-patrolled slums and walled-in luxury dwellings.
Related to that, one thing I will acknowledge in my appraisal of this novel is calling out my own disappointment about it moving away from a Mauritian setting, which isn't really a fair judgement, as Jeffrey Zuckerman highlighted in an article in World Literature Today after Devi won the Neustadt Prize.
Over the years that I’ve known her, I’ve seen Ananda lauded, variously, as a Mauritian writer, an Indian Ocean writer, an African writer, a francophone writer, a feminist writer, a woman writer. Those labels have always bothered me: I would always think, “Can’t she just, very simply, be a great writer? A writer of great patience, a writer who shifts from language to language, a writer of darkness and beauty? Can’t she simply be Ananda Devi?
And now, with the Neustadt Prize, she is.
That said, this was not a novel Devi herself highlighted in her Neustadt Prize Lecture, and I'd suggest this is not the best starting point to explore her work. In particular it doesn't seem clear if it wants to celebrate a variety of bodily forms (versus the unreal standards of beauty imposed by society and social media on women's bodies in particular), or rather to revel in grotesquery.
Thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for the ARC.
September 25, 2025
Such a unique, genius, hilarious and interesting book about the double standards of women’s bodies, excessive consumption, and beauty. This was relatable on so many levels. The way it’s written is so poetically beautiful and the narrator is absolutely fascinating. At times I gasped, others I laughed, and others I shook my head in agreement. I’ve never read a book quite like this one but I am SO GLAD I did.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
August 10, 2022
Un récit perturbant tellement il est criant de vérité et d'émotions sincères. Tour à tour, je me suis demandé si l'autrice avait soit :
- vécu elle-même le harcèlement scolaire
- vécu elle-même l'obésité
- été grossophobe ou harceleuse
- détesté devenir mère
Car ici la barrière entre la fiction et la réalité est assez infime, quiconque ayant malheureusement expérimenté le mauvais regard des autres ainsi que le sien propre pourra considérer ce roman comme un témoignage plutôt qu'une fiction.
Une expérience littéraire presque nécessaire à lire, qu'on soit dans un "camp" ou dans l'autre qui apportera autant de réconfort que de malaise.
- vécu elle-même le harcèlement scolaire
- vécu elle-même l'obésité
- été grossophobe ou harceleuse
- détesté devenir mère
Car ici la barrière entre la fiction et la réalité est assez infime, quiconque ayant malheureusement expérimenté le mauvais regard des autres ainsi que le sien propre pourra considérer ce roman comme un témoignage plutôt qu'une fiction.
Une expérience littéraire presque nécessaire à lire, qu'on soit dans un "camp" ou dans l'autre qui apportera autant de réconfort que de malaise.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
thanks to netgalley and FSG for the arc! (3.5 ★)
and this one goes out to all the father’s daughters with a all-encompassing, consuming, rapturous hunger for more. i need to fill the deep dark void inside me with something, you know!
a delightfully fucked up novel and i ate it up, pun fully intended.
all flesh tells the story of our unnamed main character as she reckons with her hunger. it’s gets intense and weird and viciously uncomfortable and i relished it. that’s all i can give you plot-wise, you have to go in blind.
it is about consumption, about the desire of flesh, the absolute cruelty of the world, and the raw animalistic nature of hunger that usurps your misery, a hunger that transcends being. the prose is so vividly descriptive, sparing no detail, reminiscent of “bestiary” by k-ming chang (a book i love love love) but less crude and more relish, is the only way i can describe it. when receiving this arc, i had no idea it was a translated work, when finding that out after starting the book, i was even more excited because one thing i love more than a fucked up novel is a TRANSLATED fucked up novel! (bora chung, sayaka murata, the list goes on) the language in this is so evocative, kudos to the translator but it made me wonder just how hard it must hit in its original french, (and truly this book had to be peak for me to considering learning french. the only language i have zero respect for)
i truly don’t know how what to say in this review. both a critique on the fatphobic society ritualistically obsessed with thinness and a deep story of misery. with such a absolute incredible grasp of language like the writing in this is absolutely stellar in such a provocative manner holy shit dude. i literally have nothing to say. i couldn’t have predicted that ending and yet nothing else makes more sense than what happened. Holy Shit.
and this one goes out to all the father’s daughters with a all-encompassing, consuming, rapturous hunger for more. i need to fill the deep dark void inside me with something, you know!
a delightfully fucked up novel and i ate it up, pun fully intended.
all flesh tells the story of our unnamed main character as she reckons with her hunger. it’s gets intense and weird and viciously uncomfortable and i relished it. that’s all i can give you plot-wise, you have to go in blind.
it is about consumption, about the desire of flesh, the absolute cruelty of the world, and the raw animalistic nature of hunger that usurps your misery, a hunger that transcends being. the prose is so vividly descriptive, sparing no detail, reminiscent of “bestiary” by k-ming chang (a book i love love love) but less crude and more relish, is the only way i can describe it. when receiving this arc, i had no idea it was a translated work, when finding that out after starting the book, i was even more excited because one thing i love more than a fucked up novel is a TRANSLATED fucked up novel! (bora chung, sayaka murata, the list goes on) the language in this is so evocative, kudos to the translator but it made me wonder just how hard it must hit in its original french, (and truly this book had to be peak for me to considering learning french. the only language i have zero respect for)
i truly don’t know how what to say in this review. both a critique on the fatphobic society ritualistically obsessed with thinness and a deep story of misery. with such a absolute incredible grasp of language like the writing in this is absolutely stellar in such a provocative manner holy shit dude. i literally have nothing to say. i couldn’t have predicted that ending and yet nothing else makes more sense than what happened. Holy Shit.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for the ARC.
4.25
This was wild, in the best possible way.
Our unnamed narrator consumes her twin in the womb, and is born 22 pounds and unable to stop feeding. Her mother, abandons her, overwhelmed, whereas her father is delighted by her size and looks on her as his twin girls.
As she gets older her father cooks delicious food and she continues to eat and grow until she is, as a teenager, mostly bed-bound.
The story took some unexpected turns, and the ending was a what-am-I-reading kind of moment. I liked the twisted revenge narrative, and the commentary on societal beauty standards. The prose was interestingly poetic, and I loved the way it flowed.
This book is one that I'll probably be thinking about for a while.
4.25
This was wild, in the best possible way.
Our unnamed narrator consumes her twin in the womb, and is born 22 pounds and unable to stop feeding. Her mother, abandons her, overwhelmed, whereas her father is delighted by her size and looks on her as his twin girls.
As she gets older her father cooks delicious food and she continues to eat and grow until she is, as a teenager, mostly bed-bound.
The story took some unexpected turns, and the ending was a what-am-I-reading kind of moment. I liked the twisted revenge narrative, and the commentary on societal beauty standards. The prose was interestingly poetic, and I loved the way it flowed.
This book is one that I'll probably be thinking about for a while.
November 7, 2022
Tout le vocabulaire de l'obésité, de la démesure et de l'orgie s'empare de ce court roman. C'est puissant et souvent, dérangeant. Une histoire très contemporaine qui choque et bouleverse, mais qui remet aussi en question notre humanité.
September 1, 2024
Je ne m'attendais pas à cette fin...
March 1, 2022
a very special experience.
December 1, 2018
J'étais donc persuadée de tomber dans le mille avec cette lecture mais dès les premières pages, la noirceur que dégage ce livre m'a glacé le sang. du début à la fin, nous nous retrouvons face à de l'autoflagellation. le personnage principal ne se fait que des reproches et encore des reproches, sur son corps, sa personnalité, la vie… C'en est à devenir dépressif… ! C'est certainement voulu par l'auteur mais je pense qu'un peu de positif aurait fait du bien à ce roman.
Le harcèlement scolaire, la haine sur les réseaux sociaux sont bien traités, on ressent très bien son désarroi face au harcèlement qu'elle subit au quotidien. Mais cela développe en elle une haine inconsidérée sur les personnes de corpulence « normale ». Les jugements corporels m'ont énormément dérangés, qu'une personne soit maigre ou ronde, les jugements ne sont pas les bienvenus, cela va dans les deux sens…
Le seul point positif est le style d'écriture de l'auteur, je l'ai trouvé très bien écrit, certains paragraphes sont très beaux. Mais encore une fois, le côté glacial est perturbant. Je n'avais qu'une seule envie : fermer ce livre avant de finir complètement déprimée… !
Pour résumé, ce n'est pas un livre que je vous recommanderai… les différents messages que cherche à faire passer l'auteur sont très bons mais cela n'a pas du tout fonctionné sur moi, bien au contraire, cette lecture m'a agacée…
Le harcèlement scolaire, la haine sur les réseaux sociaux sont bien traités, on ressent très bien son désarroi face au harcèlement qu'elle subit au quotidien. Mais cela développe en elle une haine inconsidérée sur les personnes de corpulence « normale ». Les jugements corporels m'ont énormément dérangés, qu'une personne soit maigre ou ronde, les jugements ne sont pas les bienvenus, cela va dans les deux sens…
Le seul point positif est le style d'écriture de l'auteur, je l'ai trouvé très bien écrit, certains paragraphes sont très beaux. Mais encore une fois, le côté glacial est perturbant. Je n'avais qu'une seule envie : fermer ce livre avant de finir complètement déprimée… !
Pour résumé, ce n'est pas un livre que je vous recommanderai… les différents messages que cherche à faire passer l'auteur sont très bons mais cela n'a pas du tout fonctionné sur moi, bien au contraire, cette lecture m'a agacée…
November 16, 2025
Actual rating: 3.75
Honestly, this is one of the grossest and rawest books I've ever read — in a good way. The discomfort I've felt during all of it stayed with me for a while after finishing it.
It's not just that the story is gruesome and psychologically heavy, it's also Devi's writing. She masterfully delves into the psyche of this teenage girl whose body is the centre of everything, while also tackling other societal issues besides the morbose interest of people for others' bodies and the constant need to judge the body. Moreover, the prose is wonderfully poetic and grotesque at the same time, making the story and the description both appealing and appalling, like when you're watching something horrid and yet you can't look away.
The introduction of René twists the story in an unexpected way, making it darker and lighter at the same time - but light, I mean it brings a small light to the life of this young woman. And yet, the final twist reverses it back to even darker shades.
My rating isn't higher mainly because I think that some part to be a bit repetitive, thus I lost a bit of interest at times. Still, this was a great read!
Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!
Honestly, this is one of the grossest and rawest books I've ever read — in a good way. The discomfort I've felt during all of it stayed with me for a while after finishing it.
It's not just that the story is gruesome and psychologically heavy, it's also Devi's writing. She masterfully delves into the psyche of this teenage girl whose body is the centre of everything, while also tackling other societal issues besides the morbose interest of people for others' bodies and the constant need to judge the body. Moreover, the prose is wonderfully poetic and grotesque at the same time, making the story and the description both appealing and appalling, like when you're watching something horrid and yet you can't look away.
The introduction of René twists the story in an unexpected way, making it darker and lighter at the same time - but light, I mean it brings a small light to the life of this young woman. And yet, the final twist reverses it back to even darker shades.
My rating isn't higher mainly because I think that some part to be a bit repetitive, thus I lost a bit of interest at times. Still, this was a great read!
Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I’ll be honest: I’m not entirely sure where to begin with this book. I finished it a couple of days ago and it’s been rattling around in my head ever since—so much so that I haven’t really been able to pick up anything else.
All Flesh by Ananda Devi is a downright horrifying, coal-black examination of beauty and culture. The humour is obsidian: sharp, mirthless, and cruel to a disquieting degree. Despite Devi’s breathtaking way with words, this is a deeply uncomfortable read, one that offers little relief to the reader.
And yet, All Flesh is also an extraordinarily well-crafted novel. It moves slowly and relentlessly towards its final page, branding itself onto the reader’s mind and refusing to let go for days afterwards.
For that alone, I can’t give it anything less than four stars.
Did I actually enjoy it, though? I’m still not sure. When I finished, part of me wanted to throw my Kindle across the room in revulsion; the other part wanted to stand and applaud.
It’s been a good long while since a novel has thrown me like this.
With thanks to Pushkin Press for the ARC and for completely scrambling my brain.
All Flesh by Ananda Devi is a downright horrifying, coal-black examination of beauty and culture. The humour is obsidian: sharp, mirthless, and cruel to a disquieting degree. Despite Devi’s breathtaking way with words, this is a deeply uncomfortable read, one that offers little relief to the reader.
And yet, All Flesh is also an extraordinarily well-crafted novel. It moves slowly and relentlessly towards its final page, branding itself onto the reader’s mind and refusing to let go for days afterwards.
For that alone, I can’t give it anything less than four stars.
Did I actually enjoy it, though? I’m still not sure. When I finished, part of me wanted to throw my Kindle across the room in revulsion; the other part wanted to stand and applaud.
It’s been a good long while since a novel has thrown me like this.
With thanks to Pushkin Press for the ARC and for completely scrambling my brain.
March 21, 2021
À la naissance, elle pèse déjà 10 monstrueux kilos, ce qui fait fuir sa mère. Elle est donc élevée par son père, excellent cuisinier, aux p'tits soins de son appétit gargantuesque et qui l'appelle "mes chéries", excusant son obésité par le fait qu'elle ait mangé, in-utéro, sa jumelle. Son enfance est marquée par le rejet, les rires moqueurs et les quolibets des enfants de son âge auxquels la société a déjà inculqué le culte de la minceur et qui la surnomment "la Couenne". Mais elle ne peut que céder à cette faim débridée et à 16 ans, l'adolescente aux bourrelets himalayesques ne quitte plus sa chambre, gavée par ce père bourreau dans tout son dévouement à la rassasier. Elle y découvre pourtant l'amour dans toute son abondante sensualité. C'est une fable dont les mots sont tout aussi savoureux que les mets que cette ogresse truculente ingurgite. Je l'ai dévoré ce petit livre qui condamne la tyrannie des hommes quand elle s'aiguise, sans modération, contre l'autre. Il est aussi question de cyber-harcèlement. C'est un miroir qui nous est tendu, à peine déformant et ça fait mal!
August 9, 2022
Note: 3.5
Une belle réflexion sur la grossophobie ! Un livre bouleversant sur le regard cruel de la société sur les personnes en surpoids et obèses.
C'est le récit d'une personne qui naît en surpoids, dont la mère fuit pour ne pas faire face à cela et dont le père rationalise la situation en prétendant qu'elle a mangé sa sœur jumelle dans le ventre de la mère et s'adresse ainsi à elle au pluriel tout en la nourrissant pour deux. Ceci ne fait qu'aggraver sa situation en la laissant perplexe de l'amour absolue que son père tend à lui donner.
Histoire glaçante mais écrit dans un style ludique qui arrive à décrire crûment le ressenti de cette personne. Cependant, alors que le livre semble être une dénonciation de la grossophobie, de l'obsession pour la minceur et du cyber harcèlement, il y a par moment un malaise du choix des mots et des expressions qui semble desservir la cause initiale.
Une belle réflexion sur la grossophobie ! Un livre bouleversant sur le regard cruel de la société sur les personnes en surpoids et obèses.
C'est le récit d'une personne qui naît en surpoids, dont la mère fuit pour ne pas faire face à cela et dont le père rationalise la situation en prétendant qu'elle a mangé sa sœur jumelle dans le ventre de la mère et s'adresse ainsi à elle au pluriel tout en la nourrissant pour deux. Ceci ne fait qu'aggraver sa situation en la laissant perplexe de l'amour absolue que son père tend à lui donner.
Histoire glaçante mais écrit dans un style ludique qui arrive à décrire crûment le ressenti de cette personne. Cependant, alors que le livre semble être une dénonciation de la grossophobie, de l'obsession pour la minceur et du cyber harcèlement, il y a par moment un malaise du choix des mots et des expressions qui semble desservir la cause initiale.
January 7, 2026
3.5 ⭐️
In All Flesh Devi drops the reader into the mind and body of a 16-year-old morbidly obese woman, abandoned by a mum who didn’t know how to love her and raised by a dad who could only show his love through food.
Although slow to start, the novel quickly becomes engrossing and ventures into unexpected territory. It deals with themes of gluttony, hedonism and self agency, as well as shame, guilt and social control.
While well captured, the ruminating thoughts of the protagonist do become repetitive and tiresome at times. However, I loved how the mythical twin sister, absorbed in utero, acted as an intrusive voice in the mind of the protagonist.
If you are looking for an unsettling read with notes of body horror, this certainly fits the bill. Perfect for fans of The Lamb by Lucy Rose.
In All Flesh Devi drops the reader into the mind and body of a 16-year-old morbidly obese woman, abandoned by a mum who didn’t know how to love her and raised by a dad who could only show his love through food.
Although slow to start, the novel quickly becomes engrossing and ventures into unexpected territory. It deals with themes of gluttony, hedonism and self agency, as well as shame, guilt and social control.
While well captured, the ruminating thoughts of the protagonist do become repetitive and tiresome at times. However, I loved how the mythical twin sister, absorbed in utero, acted as an intrusive voice in the mind of the protagonist.
If you are looking for an unsettling read with notes of body horror, this certainly fits the bill. Perfect for fans of The Lamb by Lucy Rose.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for providing me with the ARC.
Pub Date 23 Apr 2026
This book is very unique, hilarious and heartbreaking. It has no plot, just vibes. The MC is not your usual girly protagonist. She is fascinating, right from the beginning - being born as a huge baby; her entire personality is being sarcastic and delusional. The narrative is very unhinged throughout and the ending will make you squirm, it builds and builds and it pays off at the end. If you’re looking for a weird translated fiction, this is the perfect story; it’s very short and you can read it in a breath. There are weird elements and some triggers, mainly around obesity and fatphobia. Overall, this is a satire that made me cry and laugh hysterically. I loved the door scene – it was hilarious and tragic at the same time. I hope this reaches a big audience, because it deserves it.
Pub Date 23 Apr 2026
This book is very unique, hilarious and heartbreaking. It has no plot, just vibes. The MC is not your usual girly protagonist. She is fascinating, right from the beginning - being born as a huge baby; her entire personality is being sarcastic and delusional. The narrative is very unhinged throughout and the ending will make you squirm, it builds and builds and it pays off at the end. If you’re looking for a weird translated fiction, this is the perfect story; it’s very short and you can read it in a breath. There are weird elements and some triggers, mainly around obesity and fatphobia. Overall, this is a satire that made me cry and laugh hysterically. I loved the door scene – it was hilarious and tragic at the same time. I hope this reaches a big audience, because it deserves it.
June 23, 2021
TW trouble du comportement alimentaire, cyber-harcèlement, suicide, schizophrénie.
Lecture très poignante, assez horrifiante parfois. Je l’ai lu rapidement et de manière fluide. J’ai ressenti un paradoxe entre compassion et malaise par rapport au personnage principal, émotions qui ont suscitées de l’intérêt chez moi. Cependant, le vocabulaire autour de la grosseur est très imagé, et bien que je pense que ce soit voulu, il y a une exagération qui tend vers des propos grossophobes. Je crois que le but était justement d’interpeller. Le sujet de la maladie mentale chez le père est également abordé, bien que je l’ai trouvé trop superficiellement pris en compte.
Cette lecture me reste en tête, comme une macération.
Lecture très poignante, assez horrifiante parfois. Je l’ai lu rapidement et de manière fluide. J’ai ressenti un paradoxe entre compassion et malaise par rapport au personnage principal, émotions qui ont suscitées de l’intérêt chez moi. Cependant, le vocabulaire autour de la grosseur est très imagé, et bien que je pense que ce soit voulu, il y a une exagération qui tend vers des propos grossophobes. Je crois que le but était justement d’interpeller. Le sujet de la maladie mentale chez le père est également abordé, bien que je l’ai trouvé trop superficiellement pris en compte.
Cette lecture me reste en tête, comme une macération.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
This Novella was beautifully written! I was an awe of the description and Prose used, utterly visceral and grotesque. It explores the lack of empathy within our society that is so focused on body image that it leads to the dehumanization of the people who do not fit within its expectations. It comments on humanities tendency to harm instead of help and the collective fear and need to shame those hurt by our ever rampant and destructive consumerism. The characterization of the father with his harmful delusions, denial and his refusal to se his daughter as she really is filled me with hot rage! Overall this is a stunning and horrific portrayal of a Teenage girl who just wants to be accepted in a world that refuses to see her as anything but a monster.
November 29, 2025
2.5/2.75 rounded up
i think this just wasn't really for me. while there were parts i found interesting like the family dynamic and the myth of the twin sister, overall i just didn't vibe with this. the connection between the protagonists body and the ever-expanding consumption and demands of capitalism/modern life often felt forced and overall just not really compelling. often, the parts about the internet and even the thoughts of the protagonist felt like an adult had written them rather than thought up by a 16 yr old.
the ending (like the last 5 pages) were so interesting though!!! wish that had come sooner or was developed more!
thanks to netgalley for the arc!
i think this just wasn't really for me. while there were parts i found interesting like the family dynamic and the myth of the twin sister, overall i just didn't vibe with this. the connection between the protagonists body and the ever-expanding consumption and demands of capitalism/modern life often felt forced and overall just not really compelling. often, the parts about the internet and even the thoughts of the protagonist felt like an adult had written them rather than thought up by a 16 yr old.
the ending (like the last 5 pages) were so interesting though!!! wish that had come sooner or was developed more!
thanks to netgalley for the arc!
December 19, 2024
Je ne sais pas quoi penser de ce roman. C'est très bien écrit, mais il me semble assez contradictoire d'à la fois dénoncer le culte de la minceur et de montrer l'obésité comme une forme de monstruosité. Et cet "amour" que l'héroïne vit avec René n'est jamais remis en question, alors que la rencontre et la différence d'âge sont franchement glauques. Ce n'est pas parce qu'un livre est choquant qu'il est profond.
March 30, 2021
Récit dévastateur d’un noirceur total.
August 15, 2024
Ce livre se lit comme un conte satirique sur la vie moderne; l'oeil tout puissant ou l'oracle qui nous surveille en permanence. Tres beau livre mais qui fait réfléchire.
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