The Appetites of Girls

by Pamela Moses

For the audience that made Commencement a New York Times bestseller comes a novel about women making their way in the world.

Four young women are thrown together as roommates freshman year in college: Ruth, Francesca, Opal, and Setsu. Each is striving to overcome struggles from childhood and find her true self.

Tormented by self-doubt, Ruth is coddled by her immigrant mother, who uses food to soothe and control her. Defiant Francesca believes her heavy frame shames her Park Avenue family; to provoke them, and to protect herself, she consumes everything in sight. Opal longs to be included in her glamorous, adventure-seeking mother’s dinner dates—until a disturbing encounter forever changes her desires. Finally, Setsu, a promising violinist, staves off conflict with her jealous older brother by allowing him to take away the choicest morsels from her plate—and from her future.

As their stories and appetites collide, these women make a pact to maintain their friendships into adulthood—but each must first find strength and her way in the world.

READERS GUIDE INSIDE

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Chick Lit, Adult, Book Club, Adult Fiction, New Adult

416 pages, Paperback

First published June 26, 2014

About the author

Pamela Moses grew up in New Jersey. She attended Brown University and received a master's in English from Georgetown. After graduating, she moved to Manhattan to teach English at a girls' school. She now lives outside of New York City with her husband and two children. THE APPETITES OF GIRLS is her first novel.

Reviews

[Meave · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overwrought, precious, obnoxious. Every character has exactly the same boring, stilted, stupid voice, and they can all shut up.

[Elvan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was underwhelmed by this look at four college girls as they take turns talking about their childhood and the reasons for their various eating disorders, neurosis etc. The Jewish mother, the adopted Japanese musical prodigy and abandonment issues all come into play in the lives of Opal, Ruth, Setsu and Fran.

The crazy thing is, we are given large chunks of day to day events in the lives of these women for the first twenty odd years and then poof, instant ending. It's almost as if the author had a deadline to meet and rushed to finish the book or else like the rest of us, she didn't think the girls lives were all that interesting and just decided to pack it in.

A forgettable read.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book through Goodreads First Reads.

Actual Rating: 4.5, rounded up.

The Appetites of Girls by Pamela Moses was a great read. It chronicles the life of four women: Ruth, Francesca, Opal, and Setsu, who each have their own struggles with family, love, and relationships. Intertwined with this, of course, is food, which plays an important role in their transitions from girl to adulthood. These four women meet in college, and from thereon after, remain close with each other.

From battling weight issues such as overeating, binging, or eating too little due to familial pressures, these women eventually come to their own terms of happiness and fulfillment in life, finding their independence.

I found the novel’s layout very effective, starting out in ‘present day,’ 2003, and going back to the 1980s through the 00’s, with individual stories from each girl’s perspective. The themes explored in this novel were relatable, especially with some particular moments which all members of society, male or female, face. Also, as a reader who usually reads YA novels, I found this as an excellent transition over to adult books and more serious themes.

Each chapter included a new ‘story’ in one of the four women’s lives, and was written engagingly, although at times, I found myself getting into the character and what was happening during the re-tell of their life, and wanted MORE. I also felt as though the characters of the women could have been developed more at times, for they fell flat at some points in the novel.

Overall, The Appetites of Girls was a satisfying read, and I enjoyed the novel thoroughly. I can’t wait to read more from Pamela Moses!

-Goodreads First Reads-
Book Review #2

[Vikki VanSickle · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engaging and at times uncomfortably honest look at the lives of four girls who meet freshman year at Brown University. Moses checks in on the girls at three pivotal moments in their lives: adolescence, university, and their first few years in the workforce. Moses demonstrates that despite the girls' various backgrounds, they all struggle with identity, relationships, body image, self worth, and finding their place in the world. While their individual chapters are revealing, we also learn about the girls from their perspectives on each other. This technique creates a rich and layered perspective of women's lives. Fans of The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer, Alice Munro, Naomi Wolf, and The Emperor's Children will be engaged in this study of what it means to be a woman in the contemporary world.

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Appetites of Girls
By
Pamela Moses

My " in a nutshell" summary...

The lives of four young women are shared and explored from childhood until they are relatively grown up. Pretty much...they are all insecure, have parental (mother) issues as well as major food issues.

My thoughts after reading this book...

I found this book...for me...to be without tons of high highs or low lows. It seemed as though everyone's issues...were related to families...mothers in particular...as well as food. The food issues involved either too much food or not enough food depending on the mental health of each girl at the time. Plus...I really didn't like any of these girls...they were weird! They seemed to me to be lackluster! They had no spunk! No spark! I wanted them to be nerdy or geeky or quirky! They were none of those things! They were flat! Who wants flat?

So...briefly...here are the girls...

Ruth...her mother is always pressuring her to eat, to study, to be a good girl while controlling her in a sort of subtle way. Ruth has not been very free in her life. Her mother has certain ideas about what Ruth should do with her life. She seems to want Ruth to eat ethnic foods all of the time...knishes, latkes, briskets, she uses food to make Ruth feel guilty about everything. Ruth seems to be a hardcore overeater. Food makes her feel better about her choices.

Setsu...adopted...a gifted violinist who totally loses her confidence when her parents adopt an older brother. He undermines her talent. Setsu loses everything because of him. Her pride is in how little she can eat...how unnoticed she can be.

Opal...she has lived everywhere with her wandering mother. She wants to be like her mother until one night that wish causes one of her mother's boyfriends to take advantage of her. Then she spends most of her growing up years eating health food, wearing unflattering clothes and exercising.

Francesca...wealthy...classic NYC controlling mother...her binge eating is freaky! She can not control herself...a swipe of icing on a cake leads to the entire cake being destroyed...devoured. Her mother's hints about her weight just make her eat more.


Memorable moments...

Hmmm...I am not sure that there were any. The foods and their descriptions in this book were not pretty and not appealing to me. I think I was reasonably disgusted by the food descriptions and the sheer amount of foods...I particularly thought about Francesca...sneaking food from the caterer before a party. Cubes of yellow and white cheeses, greasy baby egg rolls, potato cheese stuffed bites that Francesca wrapped in a napkin to eat in her room...greasy bits left in the napkin. And Ruth...devouring every bit of her mom's care package in her room at college at night...no sharing...just eating behind her closed room door. Yuck!


Final thoughts...

These were four women who roomed together throughout college and stayed connected afterward but I truly didn't really get why. I guess they helped each other and offered support. They must have wanted to hang together because they did stay in touch.

I think if you enjoy girl sagas...food issues...drama...awakenings...disappointments...and then finally a little happiness for the life you were meant to live...you should enjoy this book...maybe!

[Sanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

More on my blog at:

https://redheadbooknerd.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/girls-food-body-image-and-the-appetites-of-girls-by-pamela-moses/


The Appetites of Girls is a story of four very different women from very different backgrounds thrown together as freshmen flatmates at Brown University. Despite their significant differences, the girls form an unexpected bond sharing their college experience. Thought this friendship plays an important part in each of the girls’ lives, they still manage to keep certain secrets from each other, secrets and aspects of their past that shaped who they are to a large degree. The story starts with the women having a reunion as adults and then looks back at their individual stories both throughout their childhood and university years. These pieces of their individuals puzzles read almost as independent short stories. Taken together they offer a beautifully detailed, and complex portrait of each girl. Ruth, Opal, Setsu and Francesca offer glimpses into their stories, the ordinary and extraordinary moments of their lives that shaped their attitudes towards food, their bodies, their sexuality, relationships and the world in general.

A simultaneously loving yet controlling and meddling mother who offers comfort through food. A competitive, manipulative brother whose desire to take everything includes the food off of his sister’s plate. An adventurous, restless, exotic mother whose constant hunger for male attention “teaches” her daughter an unexpected lesson. An invisible daughter of wealthy parents who seeks “visibility” through food. Paloma Moses explores these topics throughout the book bringing to the surface the complexities of these issues and their relevance to the lives of these girls. These are not the stories of magical catharsis and transformations but rather thorny and gradual paths of self-discovery and self-acceptance.

Quotes I enjoyed:

“So each evening before supper, while my mother worked in the kitchen and my father flipped through newspapers in the living room armchair, I closed my bedroom door to avoid disturbing them and played the new pieces I had learned. The notes vibrated through my fingers as I held them to the strings, making my hand tingle. Some nights I imagined my whole body humming the melodies, a swaying and swelling in my chest and in my throat that moved out and out along my limbs until I reached the final measure of a piece. The concluding notes that seemed so sad, fading until no music remained. I almost hated to play them, and sometimes few the bow in slow, slow strokes to make them last. Other times, I rushed through as quickly as my fingers would fly, hoping I had time to start once more at the piece’s happy beginning before dinner.”

NOTE: I would like to thank Penguin Random House Canada for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Kern County Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Take a look at this #book review, written by Michele at the Rosamond & Mojave Branch Libraries for The Appetites of Girls. Interested in reading the book? Place a hold on it in our catalog at http://goo.gl/b1vPeK

Fran comes from a traditional Jewish family who has a controlling mother. Opal is the daughter of a carefree, gypsy-like mother who encourages risqué behaviors and dress. Francesca’s world includes formal parties and social events characterized by her mother’s materialistic philosophies. Setsu is an adopted child of Japanese decent whose birth parents were gifted musicians and is overshadowed by an adopted older brother. These four girls come from different socio-economic backgrounds and geographic locations and meet at a critical time in their lives. The author brings the reader on a journey that explores the burden of expectations, the effect of parental choices and the longings of the female heart. Moses’ underlying philosophy appears to be that what happens to girls as children, and how they cope as a result, shapes her future appetites and subsequent coping skills. The Appetites of Girls addresses the unique needs of the female heart and how that plays out through the actions taken to satiate the soul.
This is a well-done, touching, timeless and lasting first novel for Pamela Moses. The author’s literary style is highly relatable and refreshing. Moreover, the author invokes the reader to embark on a journey of introspection leading her to unearth the reasons behind her own behaviors and attitudes as an adult. The Appetites of Girls is a phenomenal work of fiction and will find a viable place on the shelves of bookstores and libraries and eventually in the hearts of women everywhere.

[Anissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book and while there's nothing entirely new here it was engaging and quite captivated me. Mother's loom large whether they are imposing their will forcefully or emotionally absent and food becomes a hiding place, a battle cry, an object of denial or fear. Still it's clear that each of the women were searching for happiness, peace and joy. I won't spoil but I'm glad they found it. I suppose many women will see themselves in the characters and I admit that I most identified with Francesca. Setsu was the one who took longest for me to engage with but once I did, I understood her and hoped for her happiness. Opal broke my heart with her story so watching her come full circle was wonderful. From the start I rooted for Ruth to find her voice and exercise her own agency and it while it was difficult to watch her fits and starts along the way, it was satisfying altogether when she did. Above all, I enjoyed watching each woman finally value herself and her right to her opinions, decisions and happiness.

My favorite passage from the book is by Fran: "Some lessons take longer to learn than others. If I had obeyed my own stubbornness, I could have gone a lifetime without ever learning mine. But as I gazed into Jonathan's eyes on the morning we were married, I understood with a certainty that steadied even my bridal jitters that I had been waging futile battles, seeking strength in empty places"

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a strong story about women. I'll also be looking forward to reading more from Pamela Moses in the future. I won this book in a giveaway (not on Goodreads) from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

[Anderson McKean · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this thought provoking novel, Pam Moses offers poignant insights on the pressures young women face in today's weight conscious
world, expectations placed upon them by friends, family, and most significantly, the mirror. Through the voices of four college roommates, Moses brilliantly examines our emotionally charged relationship with
food; what drives us to indulge and deprive, display and hide our deepest cravings. The stories of Ruth, Opal, Francesca and Setsu are
deeply affecting; each showcasing ways in which body image issues transcend class, age and race. Their shared struggle to discover and
embrace their appetites will resonate with women of all ages, providing food for thought and nourishment for the soul.

[Laurel-Rain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our story begins in 2003, eleven years after the four young women who are the centerpiece of the story graduated from Brown University, where they were roommates during their matriculation.

"The Appetites of Girls" then slips back to the past, to the early 1980s, and we follow each of them individually, learning about their early years. Ruth, whose immigrant mother controls her through food; Francesca, who senses her mother is ashamed of her larger body, but who rebels against her by stuffing herself with food. And lonely Opal, whose mother travels with her numerous boyfriends, living a glamorous life and leaving her behind. Something traumatic happens to Opal on one of the occasions she accompanied her mother...and this event seemingly defines her. The saddest of them all, in my opinion, is little Setsu, a Japanese girl adopted at age three, and who enjoyed the adoration and support of her parents for her musical talents until they adopted an older brother Toru, also Japanese. Toru's talents would then take precedence. He even helped himself to morsels of food from Setsu's plates.

Throughout the college years, the girls stuck together as if they had a deep bond between them; as if their friendship were something more than proximity. But I could never sense any real closeness between them.

They did manage to stay in touch after university, but I saw little that connected them, except that they all had issues which they occasionally commiserated about. None of them seemed to learn how to really stand up for themselves, and when the supposed bonds between them could have offered a support system, I did not see this happening.

My overall feelings about these characters is indifference. There wasn't much about them that I could relate to, and nothing memorable that would make me feel something as the book came to an end. And in the last few pages, as their accomplishments are summed up for us, it all feels a bit too neatly wrapped. I would have liked seeing the process, some hint of how they learned and grew from their experiences. 3.5 stars.

[JennyRebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, I need to thank whomever recommended this book to me. I had requested it from the library, but forgotten about it, so when it became available, the cover and title of the book threw me for a loop for a minute:)

Secondly, while there is a theme of the relationship women have with food in the book, a better title/description of the book would include how the relationships girls/women have with their mothers and how that relationship infiltrates everything a girl does, INCLUDING their relationship with food.

I related to all the women in this book on multiple levels, but especially enjoyed the fact that I am the same age as the characters. I LOVED the absence of technology, computers, email in the book and was reminded of a simpler time when I'd receive a letter in the mail and read it multiple times and save it in a shoebox to read again later:) Also, being a native of NY, I love all the city references and their love of the city...that always makes me happy.

I've never written a review this long on here EVER. I absolutely fell in love with this book and had about ten pages left to read for a couple of days -- wasn't ready to say goodbye to these characters just yet. I loved the details of the journey of each of these women, I loved hearing their paths in life, their stories. We all have a story and I thoroughly enjoyed being an audience of their stories for these past few days.

[CuteAsAMuntin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The relationship each woman has with food in Western culture is very complicated, often fraught with strange rituals and beliefs, unhealthy behavior, guilt, and shame. While potentially triggering for those currently struggling with an eating disorder, the stories shared by the four women in this book are heartfelt and encouraging. From their friendship as roommates at an Ivy League college, each woman travels backward and forward in time, through their relationships with food and with other people at defining points in their lives. Their struggles and their emotions feel very real, and often all too familiar

[Rupali · Rating 3 out of 5]

[3.5 stars]

I really really liked this book, but I don't know if I want to give it more than 3.5 stars. I enjoyed reading it, I loved the parallels between the characters; how they are different, yet so similiar. I love the title, and the gorgeous cover. I found the ending too abrupt. Worth a one-time read.

[Lindsey Lawntea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5 stars

NOTE: I received a free copy of The Appetites of Girls from Penguin's First to Read program. I received no other compensation for this review and all opinions below are entirely my own.

The Appetites of Girls is not an easy nor quick read. It is not a book that you pick up, flip through, and say, "Wow, that's an awesome book." It is a book that sits heavy in your gut, exactly like the feeling you have when you overeat.

The reasoning for this is not because the novel is not well-written or enjoyable. The language and characterization is rich and in-depth, as if every word is a tasty morsel cooked to perfection. In fact, it is one of the best books in the coming-of-age genre. It is because I found myself identifying so personally with some of the heart-wrenching scenarios in the book that I would either get lost on long thoughtful tangents or would have to stop reading because I was crying or spending most of my time voicing my social work opinion on the girls before realizing that they were fictional and would not do as I said.

This is a book that I think will earn many different reactions from many different people, based on each reader's shape, size, experience, and perspective. Each character has personal traits and flaws that define them and can be assessed as positive or negative depending on where you shine the light (as I mentioned before, I am a social work major and spend most of my time trying to get a holistic perspective on situations and life in general, mostly by spending my free time analyzing film and literature). As someone who has struggled with body problems since puberty, I identified with Ruth and Fran's struggles to either gain the appearance that society deemed appropriate or to profess their love for their bodies the way that they are. I envied how effortlessly Opal seemed to be able to run tirelessly, or how Setsu could ignore hunger pangs. Each of the girls tells her own touching story of how she found herself, and long after you put it down, you wonder, "Now what will my story be?"

This is a book about the things we hunger for - be it success, love, or, of course, food. It is about satiating that hunger and making yourself happy. It is also about the people and ideas which judge us for our appetite, deny us what we want most in life, and how we need to move past these things and find strength in the right place: within ourselves.

This is a book mothers should read with their daughters with a ton of pauses to stop and discuss the material. This is food for thought, and you need to be able to spend some time digesting it.

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is broken up into sections - first by chronology and then by point-of-view. The first section, the coming of age of these four girls who will later become college roommates, highlights the differences between them. And though the title is catchy, a more apt title (for this section in particular) would be “The Mistakes (or outright cruelty) of Mothers.” Making these mothers - so far the only true women in the book - so unlikable and unsympathetic is a rather surprising decision for a book that has garnered advanced praise hailing this as such a strong piece of women’s fiction...

I also wish that the 1980s timeframe had more emphasis in this early section. Still, it is an engaging read and anyone who has ever found flaws with their own appearance will find something among these insecurities to identify with. But I am truly taken aback that the main set-up for this novel is basically one bad mother after another.

The second part - set during the college years - still carries over the bad parenting and compounds this with poor choices in men. Yet there is something engrossing about the story in its own way, though the characters become less readily connectable as they age. And the last section - the post-college years, feels more unbalanced than the previous sections - especially in the pacing and how the chronology plays out. Setsu, in particular, seems rather shafted in this section. The epilogue contains a rather rushed quality, but I can see how book discussion groups will find plenty of interesting fodder to fuel their talks. Though ultimately, this book leaves my reading appetite unsatisfied.

[WTF Are You Reading? · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Appetites of Girls is an eye opening look into the lives of four women, spanning transformative happenings in their youth, college years, and early adult careers. As readers are given the opportunity to explore and ponder the intricacies of each of the lives presented; a definite pattern emerges. Each of the young women featured here mirrors their relationships with family, lovers, career, and fulfillment with there relationship with food.
Whether it be eating as little as possible in order to eat smaller portions in order to fulfill a perceived role in a relationship, or to not outshine a sibling. Using food to fill an emptiness left by a loss. Turning the act of eating into a regime built on control, to compensate for a time when control was forcibly taken. Or living a life of bounty but never truly allowing one's self to enjoy said abundance.
This book and the stories found herein echo the hopes, fears, and anxieties of a great majority of today's women.
Women of today, living the paradox between our authentic wants, feelings, desires, and goals, and those imposed on us by family, spouses, society, and ourselves.
Brimming with a personal emotionality that gets inside of readers, authoress Pamela Moses speaks to that part of her audiences where secrets are hidden.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Appetites of Girls follows four women from childhood through early adult-hood. They meet in college, where they are suitemates in their dorm. Each girl has a distinct personality and a distinct relationship with food to go along with it. Two of them eat too much and two eat too little. The four women were well drawn characters. I did wish some of the secondary characters would have been developed more, especially Setsu's parents. They were just blurry stick figures in my mind. Speaking of Setsu, she was so frustrating - I wanted to beat her about the head and shoulders. I consider it the mark of a good author if a book can stir up strong emotion in me like that, even if it is a negative emotion. I felt strongly for all four of the women in fact and could understand why each of the them turned out the way they did.

The book is organized in chronological order and alternates between each girl's first person view point. It takes jumps forward in time - first a section from their childhoods, then college and so-on. This was an effective structure that held my interest. It was like I was checking in and catching up with them at each point in their lives.

With four diverse main characters, I think that there will be aspects of one or more of these women that a reader will relate to, making this a book that most everyone should be able to enjoy.

[Leslie aka StoreyBook Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd probably give this 3 1/2 stars.

The characters in this book are dealing with issues from their childhood that shapes who they are in college which in turn shapes who they become in their 20's. All have self esteem issues of some sort and they all deal with it differently. Ruth overeats, Opal embraces running & vegetarian food, Setsu doesn't eat much primarily due to the relationship she is in, and Francesca is a radical feminist.

All 4 of these women have something to learn about themselves and the world and I think that they learn some of that from each other. There are several characters to hate in the book that contribute to how they see themselves - Ruth's overbearing mother, Setsu's boyfriend, Opal's past, and Francesca's lack of a relationship with her mother.

The book was interesting and somewhat enjoyable but could have been trimmed. The first "chapter" was hard for me to get through but once I did the rest was easier to read. There are 3 sections and each "chapter" is life from the viewpoint of either Ruth, Setsu, Opal or Francesca. Some things didn't make sense such as Setsu's wanting to please everyone and is a meek Asian girl, but she was adopted at age 3 so the mild manner wasn't learned in Japan.

[Monica Robison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This enjoyable novel follows four women (switching perspectives) from childhood to young adulthood. The first half of the book drags a bit, and some characters are more fully developed than others. Yet Moses expertly captures the complexities of mother-daughter relationships and the difficulties girls face as they mature into women. Two scenes in particular stand out to me in this novel as being so devastating and well-written they remind me of Fitzgerald: subtle, with psychological veracity. Where the book falters at times is with the characters' relationships with food. Yes, food is another character in the novel, and one of the less developed ones unfortunately. It almost seems the author believes eating is one hundred percent psychologically driven -- that no one simply enjoys food for its delightful flavors, or that no one is simply physiologically larger shaped than others. No, in this novel eating and weight gain or loss is always a reflection of how a person feels about herself, always connected to emotion. This is simply not always the case in life, so unfortunately it clouds an otherwise starkly truthful novel.

[Rhonda Farrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in one day. It is an exceptionally well written novel about the lives of four girls who become college roommates in their freshman year of college and decide to remain roommates all the way through. There is such beautiful, descriptive character development within this story that I found myself just glued to it and just couldn't tear myself away till I finished it. Each girl has issues to deal with that mostly started way back before the college years and has carried over into their adult lives. It has shaped them into the people they are and each one approaches the emotions they face in a different way. The story is told from alternating girls point of view. In this way we learn what happens in their life before they become roommates that sets the background of why they react the way they do in college around food, each other and men. This is definitely a book I will highly recommend!

[Rebecca Mckenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating debut novel by Pamela Moses that every mother of a daughter, and every daughter of a mother should read! Moses intertwines the lives of four very different women who become suitemates in their freshman year of college while uncovering their sameness. The title of this book couldn't be more apt and encompasses the emotional roller coasters girls/women ride throughout their lives and how deeply rooted these emotions coincide with ones' appetites, whether finding solace in gorging to fill an emotional void, or depriving oneself for the same. Women are hard on each other and it doesn't matter what background you come from, we all struggle. This book of fiction would be an excellent contender for a book club discussion - or even a project in Women's Studies!

I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a debut novelist, so I will give her a bit of a break. Plus, the chapters about the main characters as young girls (and their food issues) (and their mothers) offer an intriguing darkness. I honestly wish this had simply been a vaguely sinister collection of short stories about young girls (and their food issues) (and their mothers).

However, this book is trying to be one of those books about four college friends who grow and change together. I will admit to enjoying a well-written book with this common plot. But really, this isn't a book about friendship at all, and the "women's fiction" stock format here seems to box the author in. So many cliches! By the end, I felt like someone had poured perfume all over me. Gah.

[Narfy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished this book in the hopes that at some point these girls would stop being a bunch of vacuous twits and grow some substance. Alas, I was disappointed.

As others have mentioned, all of these girls have major mother and food issues. It's kind of tedious to get through. Even though most of these women find love, it's glossed over and when the guys do have some interaction, bless them, they're as patient as saints having been rejected by these ladies at one time or another in the storyline. It's a cliched story in a cliched genre. If you consider yourself to be smarter than average, don't bother with this one.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent summer read. Easy to read, a timeless story actually, we all have friends, dreams, family expectations that transform us. Life transforms us.
I have older friends, grandma's actually, and everyone can relate to or plain enjoy this, my copy is being passed on to my special friends to enjoy.

I received a copy from Goodreads. I read this June 13, 2014
Well, I passed my copy around to a few friends and it came back to me Jan 2016. So I read it again. Yea I still like it. I have a new neighbor who is a reader so she gets this copy to read tomorrow.

[Maxwell03 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best coming of age girlfriend book since Jennifer Close's Girls in White Dresses (which I loved!). Moses does an excellent job fully developing each individual woman's personality, story and "appetite" intertwining them all into an excellent examination of various types of female friendships.
Highly recommended!

[malak :3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

there’s so much to say!!! i really really enjoyed this book. i feel like it discussed a lot complexities behind it means to be a girl: mommy issues, impossible beauty standards, grappling with both hating female objectification and wanting to be a part of it, having your capabilities suppressed by the men in your life—fun stuff like that.

but it also explores themes of sisterhood and female friendships and accepting yourself, which was also a treat.

i feel as though the book could have said more had the author been more experienced in writing (this was her first ever novel) and there seemed to be underlining framework that female promiscuity was something to be frowned upon. also, the author’s writing style leaves something to be desired.

but overall, i believe the book was successful in what it was trying to accomplish and i loved the idea of exploring different aspects of girlhood and womanhood via the different characters and while each girl has her own opinions and biases, no one is necessarily framed as correct. it was a good time, even if somewhat difficult to get through because of how long the chapters were.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

MY TAKE:
4 STARS
This book starts with a reunion of four girls who went to college together having a reunion eleven years after they have graduated, keeping in touch, as promised, back in college, but not in person until the end, finally, in celebration of one of the girl's expected new life is born.
This is one book all women should read! It helps us to see we are not alone in our journey through life as some of us can be so hard on ourselves with many things, especially about our weight/issues with food that have unknowingly rolled over into other areas of our lives as well.
These issues start and become ingrained on us as young girls, and the remarks our mothers throw at us at home, especially in this book I found it was the mother’s who had a good hand in starting/causing issues with the girls. It started young, too, most in the single digit ages. We are reminded about our weight as teenagers constantly, by our mothers and by our classmates in High School. What exactly about? Weight. Weigh as teens, weight as women. Just weight that make food such an issue. The female sex becomes obsessed with weight/food our entire lives. Whatever age we are, it is weight versus food which seems to be our forever issue we battle with from childhood until the day we die, as these characters in The Appetites of Girls have show us over and over.
In this book there are three parts. The first part is when the girls were younger and addressed each of their lives individually. We meet and follow these girls who turn into teens and then young adults until they meet in Part Two as suitemates at Brown University, an Ivy League college and become the best of friends, through ups and downs and other issues, namely food and how it affects their lives. In Part Three, as women, they continue their relationships with each other even if they don’t see each other as often, but blossom on their own individually again, despite some tough issues most all of them fight to get through.
The girls are Ruth, Francesca, Opal, and Setsu. We meet them earlier, each individually as young girls at varying ages as I referred to above, but it is the timing when we meet these girls that is so important and makes such a lasting impression on the rest of our lives. I can say this from experience, too. It is when we/they first realize or start to have an issue with our/their body image as weight and food issues really pop up and they learn to overcome and compensate for this through other area in their lives, and sometimes it spills over into those areas.
What I found the most profound was these girls' mother’s were ALL at the heart of these issues, and almost always seem to be the ones to blame, even into the future. For extremely shy asian Setsu who couldn’t speak up if she tried, (We just had to give her time to grow into herself before she found her voice, as the other three girls/women do, too!) her newly adopted twelve year old Violinist, asian brother, Toru, would eat all of her food directly off of her plate. Not being able to speak up for herself yet, she just allowed him to have at her entire plate. I wondered why she even tried to put food on it? Why didn’t their trepadacious mother (for fear of upsetting her newly adopted son, Toru, perhaps he would no longer be happy living with them and want to leave and return to where he was adopted from? I don’t know?) to not notice the weight difference between the two siblings? She knew Toru had a voracious appetite, but Setsu was hungry! You never saw her eat, nor did you see food on her plate because Toru would knowingly plant a suggestion in her head that she was not going to eat what was on her plate and he ate it for her, ‘ALL’ of her food. Yes, the mother knew Toru had a huge appetite, but how could she not notice how tiny Setsu was? Pencil thin arms, one of the other girls from college noted. Or that she was shrinking as Toru was growing outward? Oh! That part made me so mad! Later in college, if someone had a bag of candy or ANY food, she would take one piece. One! (Although, then again maybe this was a good thing as she definitely never had a problem with portion control unlike some of us at one time or another!) I felt the sorriest for her, even all through the book as her issues with food spilled over into her personal life, too.
As demonstrated in this book, we women are the hardest on ourselves. We judge ourselves and each other, even with every twist and turn in life we take every so harshly upon ourselves. We seem to be far worse with this than the opposite sex is - why do you think men don’t wear girdles of ANY kind? They don’t generally care! LOL!
Again, this is a book all women need to read. It touches every aspect of our own lives as it does in these characters’ lives. I will say this is a book you need to dedicate some time to read as it's not one you want to rush through, nor can you rush through as there are four different women to keep track of, and you don't want to mistakenly be reading about one girl and have it be another. This book took me a little extra time to read through than most, but was most enjoyable! These are the types of women's fiction books I thoroughly enjoy!
I would like to thank Penguin Group, Berkley, NAL, and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book in exchange to write a review of my own opinion.

[Whitney Schroeder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very surprising and well done. I read so much and hear about all these books with relatable characters for women. I’ve never found one that hit home like this! Very pleasantly surprising.

[Cristina Jardan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not impressed by this book.
Looks like it’s loosing its sense in the story.
Took me a while to read it

[Meg - A Bookish Affair · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. "The Appetites of Girls" is the story of for college aged women: Ruth, Francesca, Opal, and Setsu. As with so many of us in college, these girls are thrown together in a dorm suite where the beginnings of lifelong friendships are born. The title of this book deals with the fact that each of these women has dealt with both a physical appetite having to do with actual food and a mental appetite having to do with desire. All of their stories and struggles are different. This multi-fold theme is woven throughout the book.

This book is broken up into three parts. First, we get the background story of each character. Each character has had a different dealing with food and it has affected the way that each character deals with the world. Second, we the readers witness each of these character's experience in college and how they are affected by the stories of their past. The third section looks at these women as full-fledged adults after they have been friends for a long time. This is sort of a hard book to explain and it definitely took a while for it to grow on me by by the end of the book after seeing each character go through so much, I really enjoyed this book. If you do try those book, I suggest giving it a little while to see how it all comes together.

One of the things that really struck me in this book is the way that the author was able to create a really unique voice for each character. This can be really difficult for others to do when it they are counting on the characters to show the reader the story. At first I did feel as if I was being held at arms length but as I read on, The author has a really nice way of slowly opening up the characters to the reader.

And a lot of ways, at this book is very quiet but powerful. It took me awhile to get into this book. It's the kind of book where it all comes together at the very end but I found myself wondering where it was going throughout the book. You just have to hang in there until everything is put all together in the end. This is a book that is better considered after the fact rather than while you are reading it. I think this is a really good book for anyone who feels like they are always dealing with the past in some way and looking for ways to overcome it.