I can’t believe this was my first Eliza Clark book! I’ve had her other books on my TBR for years (quite literally), so glad I finally finished one, even if it’s unlike her other books (a short story collection vs. a novel).

Short story collections aren’t necessarily my favorite, but they were entertaining via audiobook. Entertaining and a bit confusing, but I digress. I’d recommend it!

(Thank you, Harper Perennial and NetGalley, for the ARC and audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review.)

This is a really solid work of short stories. These horror or sci-fi stories had the underling theme of hunger or desire. There were all unsettling and disturbing in very different ways. My favorites were: Build a Body Like Mine, Goth GF and Nightstalkers. If you love weird stories, I suggest you pick up a copy of this book. This is my first read of Eliza Clark and I cannot wait to read more.

She’s Always Hungry by Eliza Clark 5/5✨

Omfg this was brilliant!!!! I really loved the stories she included and my first thought was, “Wow these have range!” Each story was different and I really enjoyed all of them. I found them to be funny and the body horror aspects didn’t make me feel sick, which was a definite win for me.

Thank you so much to Harper Perennial and Paperbacks and NetGalley for the ARC!

Quite a few content warnings for this one. StoryGraph has a full listing!

#elizaclark #shesalwayshungry #hunger #shortstory

Man this book made me realize some things, dude. I've never read a book by Eliza Clark, so I'm not familiar with the dark humor and scary elements that other readers have mentioned. First, I can now say I have read and do not like body horror. Second, this book was actually pretty good and I fairly liked it! The stories I did like were ones that I could really relate to, but the ones I didn't still gave me a good laugh at least or made me say "what" multiple times. Overall, I think each story was executed well, especially with the major theme being hunger.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the gifted arc of this book!

I wasn’t into this at all, after Penance this was a major disappointment. The stories felt like they were TRYING to be edgy, which I absolutely hate in books. It just felt like she was trying too hard.

I will still read any other novels she releases but I just don’t think the short story is her art form.

4.25 rounded down to 4

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

She's Always Hungry is a collection of short stories revolving around the general feeling of hunger. Some stories were disturbing, some were grotesque; others were thought provoking, and others were silly/satirical. This collection was really eclectic and I feel like anyone reading this could enjoy or related to at least one of these stories.

My favorite in particular was "Hollow Bones," which definitely was more of a space/science fiction body horror. It made me feel physically sick and gave me intense dread and anxiety. It was phenomenal, and it made me want a full-length novel. I also really enjoyed "She's Always Hungry," which had a nice twist and focused on a matriarchal society rather than a patriarchal one - I just loved how the gender roles were basically flipped and men were viewed as how women are typically viewed in society - a weak link and the cause of destruction (much like how Eve is portrayed in the Bible). Another story that stood out was "The Shadow Over Little Chitaly" which was just a bunch of "reviews" of this Chinese/Italian fusion place, however it seemed kind of supernatural or something of the like - and even though it was kind of goofy, it left me feeling really unsettled and I have no idea why, but it was interesting and unique.

This was my first book by Eliza Clark, and I'm excited to read her backlog now, because this book was very well done even though I typically don't read short story collections. It was weird, dark, and did not hold back. Most of these stories will definitely stick in my mind for the near future.

I recently finished, She's Always Hungry, a short story collection that captivated me and earned a five-star rating in my book! Each story offers a unique blend of the grotesque and the entertaining, leaving me both intrigued and grossed out. The author demonstrates remarkable talent in weaving tales that challenge the reader's comfort zone while provoking deep thought and reflection.

What impressed me most is how each story lingered in my mind long after I turned the last page. I appreciate a collection that can entertain while also encouraging introspection.

If you're looking for something beyond mere entertainment that pushes the boundaries of storytelling, I highly recommend this collection. It’s a wild ride that I won’t soon forget!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
Do you want to read a collection of everyday horrors and some campy alien short stories?

Pre-reading:
There’s something about a pinky cover that will always do it for me. I swear the girl on this cover is Saoirse Ronan. I haven’t read this author before, but I’ve heard phenomenal things.

(obviously potential spoilers from here on)
Thick of it:
Body:
God, that’s the dream, isn’t it?

Lol so triggering but so real. It’s a lot like Piglet.

I’m assuming she’s got a tapeworm or something. (Yup.)

They just copy-pasted my brain for this. This is horrible lol.

It’s the way it’s meant to be horrifying and like me and so many women would actually do that, and that’s why it’s the real horror. Our brains are nightmares lol.

3/5
————————-
Problem:
Oh cool, so we’re not doing fake horror stories. This is just here’s why every day for women is the real horror. Great. Well done, but a little sparse on new commentary.

4/5
————————-
Hungry:
A Sam!

We do love a gender dystopia.

That was grand. Reminds me a bit of Scorpio Races.

4/5
————————-
Shadow:
Aliens try to do door dash. That’s so funny.

3/5
————————-
Hollow:

What in the vagina horror??!? Holy shit, you should see my face right now. I think all the color drained out of it.

Dude, I love this. I would take a whole book about this. Do I secretly like sci-fi?

Oh my god, my jaw dropped.

Oh, I’m afraid.

Covid changed literature. I wonder if anything else did to this extent? Like I know the wars did, but were there any other big cultural events that just like shattered literature like this?

I hate that she named the doctor Nook because I can only picture the animal crossing guy.

That was fucking horrifying. Absolutely five stars. Give me more.

5/5
————————-
Goth:
That was just more men being gross.

2/5
————————-
Extinction:
That’s so sad. The poor little plants.

4/5
————————-
Nightstalkers:

I didn’t get this one. It was just like very plain. Closeted gay boy in love with his bestie who’s actually a piece of shit. And what about it?

1/5

————————-
Shake:

Just more sad girl everyday horror. Reminds me of that Augustina Bunny story.

3/5
————————-
King:
She’s at her best writing campy aliens. I normally hate aliens. Hers are so funny.

This is phenomenal.
This would make a phenomenal TV show.

Absolutely loved it. I think if the people behind The Good Place could get behind this with a script, it would be amazing television. Easy five stars.

5/5
————————-
Company:

I'm assuming she killed his son. (God, it's like never a twist.)

It’s weird that he would go down on the lady who killed his son. That’s yucky to me.

Meh. Very 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. Cool motive, still murder, you know?

2/5

Post-reading:

I love a short story collection, but inevitably they can’t all be bangers. The alien short stories in this book are so, so good. They’re ready to pitch to TV. The others are kind of bland. It’s everyday horror, but they lack any insightful commentary to make them more. There are no one-liners to make you sit up or take the story away with you. They're all technically well written, but there's something missing.

I don’t think it’s the most successful collection. Despite the stories having similar themes, they don’t really flow together, and I’m not sure why. There’s just something lacking, some extra zhush even though I liked most of these short stories. Maybe it’s the lukewarm concluding story that's really dampening my enthusiasm for it as a whole. That recency effect is a bitch.

I think Hollow Bones is the most successful story. It is viscerally horrific. It has wildly efficient characterization. It’s got humor and immaculate tension. I would take an entire book.

The King would make a phenomenal, campy TV show. It’s got that black humor quality to it that just works.

Nightstalkers is the weakest in the collection. I don’t think I got it. It was just kind of there.

I don’t think it’s a life-changing collection, but I think there’s some good stories in here if you wanna pick it up.

Who should read this:
Short story girlies
Campy sci-fi fans
Femme horror fans

Ideal reading time:
Winter. I think you could read it anytime but they do kind of have a winter vibe to them.

Do I want to reread this:
I genuinely might reread the alien ones.

Would I buy this:
Yup. Pretty cover+stories I would lend to others=going on my shelf.

Similar books:
* Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado-femme horror short story collection
* Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link-dark short story collection
* Mouth by Puloma Ghosh-dark short story collection, fairytale retellings, sci-fi
* You've Got a Friend in 10A by Maggie Shipstead-angry, sad girl short stories
* How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu-interconnected standalone dystopian, sci-fi short stories
* Piglet by Lottie Hazell-lit fic character study, family drama, eating disorder
* Any Man by Amber Tamblyn-lit fic character studies, rape culture commentary
* Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca-queer horror
* The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton-speculative mystery
* Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt-queer horror, gender commentary
* Nineteen Claws and a Blackbird by Agustina Bazterrica-horror short story collection

She's Always Hungry by Eliza Clark is a short story collection retaining her signature blend of absurdity and grotesqueness with dark humor, mining new dimensions of sci-fi and speculative fiction. This collection is not as explicitly dark as some of her previous novels, but it plunges deep into hunger, body image, violence, and power dynamics in a manner uniquely unsettling. Connoisseurs of Clark's work will find that she does not disappoint here with typical examination of grotesque situations, peppered liberally with quick-witted humor, though some of these stories may feel a bit uneven to the reader in some instances.

The collection starts off with 'Build a Body Like Mine,' a truly disturbing weight loss story where a woman invites a parasite into her body, setting the tone for the rest of the grotesque body-focused stories thereafter. In 'The Shadow Over Little Chitaly, Clark uses the form of Google reviews to show surreal and often unnerving orders from an Italian-Chinese fusion takeaway, fusing online culture with her own signature weirdness. The stories range out into speculative fiction, entries including a teenager buying acne medicine off the dark web and an immortal cannibal presiding over a new planet. There is an interesting exploration of sci-fi and apocalyptic themes, though they seem to fall a bit short compared to the visceral stories that Clark offered.

There is a bit of hunger in every single part of this volume, a common thread across the collection, while Clark satirizes societal expectations of beauty, body dysmorphia, and violence. Some stories, like 'Shake Well' and 'Build a Body Like Mine,' go into bodily pressures, using an absurdist style to make it uncomfortable yet compelling. Though these stories fit more neatly into Clark's deconstruction of the human experience, the sci-fi and space opera tales feel more disconnected and slightly less effective, probably due to the priority on world-building seeming to muddy the thematic focus.

The collection will be impossible to resist in its grotesque allure and address to modern preoccupations for some; for others, it might be too variable in quality or drag towards its ending, or give less than the reader would desire. It is here, in stories of body image and violence, societal pressures, that Clark really thrives, while the melancholy undertones of pieces like 'Extinction Event' allow a satisfying depth to cut through much of the often absurd humor elsewhere.

Though not quite as honed as some of her contemporaries-Ottessa Moshfegh, for example-Clark's voice is still fresh and sharply imaginative in navigating this cynical, mordant, disruptive space. Overall, this collection is quirky and discomforting in its exploration of hungers in all their forms: bodily, emotional, social-while Clark pushes the absurdity to its limits.

She’s Always Hungry by Eliza Clark

Why I Chose It: I’ve been trying to read more short stories.

This was my first encounter of Eliza Clark, and I must say I was impressed. This collection of stories was eccentric and graphic. Clark quickly painted a picture in each of the short stories that set the stage for what was to come. I did really like the Content Guide at the end; check that for triggers.

These stories are hard to categorize as some are horror and some are sci-fi, but they all brought something to the collection relating to society. My favorites were:

🍝 The Shadow Over Little Chitaly
🍝 Build a Body Like Mine
🍝 She’s Always Hungry
🍝 Shake Well

I always feel a little bit like I need to check on Eliza Clark after finishing one of her books. She walks the line of disturbing and darkly funny in such a unique way, and that statement holds true for this collection of stories. Each tale was wildly different but engaging in its own right; I don't think I had any immediate favorites but there are a few that will definitely stand out in my memory come the end of the year. The author also does a great job writing fully formed characters with such economy of style—a couple of sentences and a handful of internal remarks gives a clear picture of the narrator while still leaving room for some dazzling plot twists.

This would be a great fit for readers of Your Utopia, Bliss Montage or Women in Peril (all short story collections that I've enjoyed this year!)

Thank you to Harper Perennial for the opportunity to read and review!

Every time Eliza Clark writes a new book, I drop everything so I can read it, and she never disappoints. This is no exception.

This was gruesome, funny, hilariously on point. After each story I had to stop for a while to take it all in.

Highlights: Goth GF, Extinction Event, and The King.

I have a hard time rating short story collections since each one really stands on its own, but I suppose I’ll estimate an average of 4.25 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Perennial for this ARC.

This was the most unhinged set of short stories I’ve read. I’ve never had so much fun reading them and truly never being able to guess what was going to come next.

Build a Body Like Mine ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - gross but hilarious and honestly relatable

The Problem Solver ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - I wish this one was longer I feel like I missed something based on the last sentence but I’m not sure what it was 😂

She’s Always Hungry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - loved the folklore vibes of this one.

The Shadow Over Little Chitaly ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - definitely my favorite. I neeeed to know more!

Hollow Bones ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - sci fi is definitely not my genre so this one wasn’t for me.

Goth GF ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - love love love.

Extinction Event ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- even for not loving sci fi, this one was just really entertaining to see play out. Black Mirror vibes.

Nightstalkers ⭐️⭐️⭐️.✨- good! I just love the way Eliza Clark tells a story.

Shake Well ⭐️⭐️ - this one was just too gross for me. pimple popping makes me want to throw up.

The King ⭐️⭐️⭐️- not for me but still entertaining!

Company Man ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- this story was so well drafted and fleshed out for being so short. Loved it!

4.5 ✨ overall for entertainment value. I’m going to NEED to go read more from Eliza Clark since this was my introduction to her.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

Hahahaha, wtf.

This collection has the perfect variety of dark and ominous short stories. Exactly what I was looking forward to from Eliza Clark!

If there’s anything about her writing, it’s that she’s going to create unhinged characters with weird lil minds, and she does that with multiple stories in here. The stories that don’t center around an interesting character with odd objectives are still told within a strange environment which kept the collection keeping me guessing.

Although there were only a couple stories that I didn’t love, I still enjoyed each of them. My favorites being The Problem Solver, Goth GF, Shake Well & The King.

I don’t want to give anything away because I think going into it relatively blind was a lot of fun. Definitely will be buying a physical copy!!!

4⭐️

Thanks Netgalley & Harper Perennial for the ARC :)

Eliza Clark's She's Always Hungry is a collection of short stories that are weird, dark, and unsettling — just as Clark fans have come to know and love her work. Clark never fails to do something new and fresh and you can tell that in each story she was experimenting into a new genre, world, and character study and having a lot of fun doing it. This collection is perfect for not only fans of Clark, but anyone looking for bite sized stories to sink their teeth into. While reading, it almost felt like a blend of American Horror Story, Black Mirror and Severance (and I'm very into that).

Short, weird, dark stories that feel very of this moment. This would be a good collection to read in bits, a story a day.

I loved this set of short stories! Some were more relatable than others but each one had a unique perspective on hunger and all were interesting to read.

this is my third eliza clark book. i've really enjoyed her longer fiction, so i was curious to see what her short fiction would offer.

this is a weird collection. i'm not truly sure that i could call it horror or anything specific.

i'm sure you'll hear about the short story "The Shadow Over Little Chitaly" in quite a few reviews. it was a fun little thing told in customer reviews of a chinese/italian restaurant where the orders are never quite right. loved the unique formatting of this one, the idea of how absurd it was that the restaurant was run by white australians who send pineapple pizza with apple on it or, in one case, a whole block of tofu.

eliza also dips her toe into both sci-fi and the fantastical in "Hollow Bones" and "She's Always Hungry" respectively. i liked each of these for different reasons - the body horror associated with "Hollow Bones" as the protagonist fight off parasites in an alien environment and deals with gaslighting, too. "She's Always Hungry" flips misogyny on its head and takes us out of time.

the two weakest stories in this collection for me were probably "Build a Body Like Mine" which heavily centers on internalized fatphobia, terrible eating habits, and weight loss via parasite. just not a fan of this particular theme. "Shake Well" was easily the most gratuitously disgusting, just pages and pages of zit/blemish picking. it actually made me nauseated to read and i think through my revulsion i didn't understand the point of the story.

"Company Man" was also an interesting little thriller and something that i could easily see being adapted for cinema, about a very lonely woman making up her identity for a man who has his own secrets.

anyway, this was solid! like most short story collections it falls somewhere around a 3.5 for me but if you're a fan of eliza's other works i think you'll like this one.

Very weird unique stories with a little grossness to each other them
Enjoyed the writing style but idk about the stories
Strange dark worlds

This was my first introduction to Eliza Clark's writing and I was really excited because I have heard so much hype around her. I think short stories are so great for this time of year and also great for getting to hear an author's voice and style. This did not disappoint!