I absolutely loved this book, which I didn't think I would - I was the tiniest bit put off by the cannibalism that I read about in early reviews, if I'm being honest. But this is so much more than a cannibal novel, this is a treatise on what it means to be a woman, period. This is the most feminist novel I've read in ages, and if people pick it up for the people-eating, I'm glad, because it will give them so much more to think about than the hook. In the author's note, she talks about how it is a novel and how she's not an expert and she makes recommendations for books that are intentionally about feminism, etc, but can you write a book that centers women and female power without it being about feminism? I think not. This book was a slam dunk and the ending was an "oof" I didn't see coming. Killer. Read this book. I'm going to be foisting it on everyone for the rest of the year.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the ARC!

Girl Dinner is satirical, unhinged women’s fiction. We follow two women in this book: Sloane and Nina. Even as someone without a child to care for, I can imagine reading about Sloane (mom of an 18 month old) must have been cathartic as many of her struggles seemed to come from a place of harsh reality and honesty. Nina, on the other hand, is a college girl trying to find her place and she believes she’s found it in The House.
I picked this book up at just the right time since #rushtok is in full swing at the moment.

The sorority element was fun and interesting, the themes were dark, and the book had both humor and horror elements. The messages aren’t the least bit subtle, which I could see bothering some people. I, however, really enjoyed this reading experience.

also just to note: nothing is too detailed or gross for anyone worried about that.

What does it take to be a good woman? Is it attainable? Should we even want it to be? Girl Dinner follows a college sorority and a professor who is also a new mother. It almost reads as an unhinged journal entry. At times, there’s paragraphs that seem like rambling, which seems very intentional and works in the books favor. Girl Dinner has so many moments that make you want to put it down and just start SCREAMING!! Out of rage or irony and maybe a healthy mix of both. What would you be willing to do to be prettier, cook better, be a better mom in a world that will always assume you aren’t doing enough? Once you get to the last act, it feels like you have to unclench your teeth just as you got to a good bite. It feels like this book may have benefited from just a few more chapters, but what is there is thought provoking and dismally funny. I deeply encourage every reader to read the author’s note as well.

This one started off slowly for me. Sloane is a new mother settling back into her job in academia. Nina is a sophomore pledging for a sorority, the House. It starts to get more interesting as Sloane becomes their faculty advisor and we learn about the secret of the House, which to me was more interesting than the lead up.

Review to come but also … what on earth

OK, I'm back and ready to review. I think.

4.5 stars, rounded down because it just wasn't enough for a 5 for me.

Firstly, thank you to Tor and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I can't tell if I am or am not the target audience for this book, but once it going going, I was absolutely sucked in. Our two main characters are a sophomore rushing The House, the most prestigious and mystical sorority on the university's campus, and a new mum returning to work, trailing after her husband to his new fancy job while she's allotted a place as an adjunct professor. Their stories intertwine when Sloane (new mum) becomes the academic advisor to Nina's (sophomore) sorority.

The thing that brought the rating on this one down for me is that, for the first half of the book, wherever we were going, we were going SO SLOWLY. Sloane's inner monologue is so gratingly repetitive that I honestly nearly DNFed this one. Maybe it's because I'm not a mother, and have no interest in becoming one, but she passed over merely being unrelatable to me (which is fine, I don't have to relate to a character to enjoy or follow their story) to being a character that made me roll my eyes every time a chapter came up in her POV.

That being said, once the book got to about 50%, I was IN. I've been slumping hard this year, and I read the second half of this book in a single sitting. The mixture of the contemporary literature with the unnerving horror was a perfect blend, and I'll be recommending this to everyone.

Satire women’s fiction in the best way. Weird, beautiful, fun. Could’ve been a tiny bit shorter but other than that perfect to me.

How far would you go to be the perfect woman?

Girl Dinner follows two women, Sloane and Nina.
Sloane is an academic heading back to work after taking time off to care for her 18 month old daughter.
Nina is a sophomore trying to get into a sorority.
They meet when Sloane is recruited by a new, charismatic friend Alex, to be the academic advisor to a sorority affectionatly called "The House."

I went into this thinking it would be a horror, but it is my first satire women's fiction.
The pacing was slow, but I couldn't put it down. This was a smart book. I highlighted so so so much!

I felt for Sloane & her mom feelings/worries. Sloane's addiction to hate watch an influencer who seems to have everything together.
My heart went out to Nina wanting to be included.

I do wish there was more on the sorority & their ceremonies. But let me tell you - that ending gripped my heart!

5/5. 10/10. This book was AMAZING! It was lighthearted and funny and then dark and thought provoking. It inspired my female rage while taking me on an exhilarating ride. I loved all the characters - I really felt like I got into their heads and understood their motivations. When I finished this book I sat and stared at a wall for 30 minutes and just let myself sit in amazement and terror for the beauty of this book. Loved every second of it

Thank you NetGalley for the advance reader copy.

This is the third Olivie Blake book I've tried, and the only one I've actually finished. I'm not sure what it is, but I don't think her writing is for me. I love this premise and how femininity can be a bloodbath, but I've read several other books that deal with similar concepts that I preferred to Girl Dinner.

Thank you Tor and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I am a fan of Blake, but this one fell a bit flat for me. Writers are supposed to express and explain things through writing, not handhold and shove it in your face. It almost feels like an insult to the reader, that we are not intelligent enough to understand and pick up what she’s putting between the lines. SHOW US, do not tell us.

𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ★ ★ ★ ★
𝗔𝗥𝗖 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪:

You tell me that Olivie Blake wrote a new book and I’m immediately *cough cough* sick and need the day off haha (just kidding not kidding though). I love everything that Olivie writes and this one was so different and so good. I’d compare this to college rush meets the series yellowjackets. I thought that this was the perfect pace, the characters were like able and unlikable evenly and that the story line kept you intrigued all the way to the very end. I loved that cannibalism with the horror elements mixed with the trad-wife aspect and the obviously unhinged moments OF COURSE. I would like to be able to read this again for the first time.

𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗦: Fast Pace, Dark, Cannibalism, Trad Wife Vibe, Horror, Womanhood, College Rush Meets Yellowjackets

Large thank you to our Author, NetGalley as well as Tor Publishing Group | Tor Books

Look, when I said “yes, please, NetGalley, send me the book about the cannibal sorority,” I was obviously expecting it to be deeply unhinged and probably hilarious.

I was NOT expecting it to be this smart and thoughtful and wildly tuned in to so many niche aspects of pop culture.

So good! Would 100% recommend. Not a typical book that I pick up, but I really enjoyed it. I'm not a huge psychological thriller person, but this one had me on the edge of my seat!

The one thing I can say about this is book is how wild of a ride it was!!! Throughout the book, I wasn’t sure where it was headed but loved how it ended. The first 20% was intriguing, then after and up to the 60% mark I was a little bored. But the last 40% really picked up and kept me captive. Blake has such a way with words and is so intricate with her writing skills. However, some parts felt so wordy and was hard to follow. Other than that, the plot, the characters, the twist were riveting!!!! I can’t wait to recommend this.

Olivie Blake doesn’t just want us to topple the patriarchy, she wants us to cut of its balls and eat them.

I had an absolute blast with this book. I related to all levels of each of the two main characters. The discussions surrounding motherhood and womanhood scratched my brain and squeezed my heart. Blake isn’t trying to solve any societal problems here. She’s not providing us with solutions or paving a path of progress. She’s merely holding a satirical mirror to our current state. And sometimes having someone put your own thoughts and lived experiences into stinging words helps in its own way.

This book was a cathartic and empowering maniacal laugh. Thank you so much to Tor Books for the advanced copy!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy in exchange ge for an honest review.

I did not like it!

The pacing was uneven. The characterization was inconsistent. The political discussion was preachy (yes even the parts I agree with). The plot is basically nonexistent. And the ending? Genuinely unbelievable considering the perspectives taken by all the relevant characters up to that point.

Do not get me started on the handling of race, bio-essentialism and disability in this book. Even considering this was meant to be satire, it missed the mark.

Two stars.

Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake is my top most anticipated book of the year so the fact that I got to read an arc of it is just the bee’s knees.

This book follows two characters, Sloane and Nina, and how their lives become somewhat entangled. Sloane is a mother who is going back to teaching college after being on maternity leave. She is dealing with the guilt that comes with leaving her young child in daycare but also the guilt of being excited to have some time to herself because her husband is not exactly helpful. Nina is a sophomore at the college and desperately wants to join a particular sorority but worries she may have waited too long.

I don’t want to say much more about the plot because I think this book is best experienced without knowing too much about it. I ate this one up. It was exactly what I needed and nothing like how I thought it would be. This book is darkly humorous and full of satire while having important conversations about womanhood and everything that comes along with that.

There are some horror elements to this novel and the way they are presented is so unique to the way Olivie Blake writes. I do worry that this books will be divisive because the way the story unfolds won’t work for everyone. But I look forward to seeing conversations and reviews from other readers!

As usual, a stunning new work from Olivie Blake!

I only needed to hear “cannibalistic sorority girls” to add this one to my TBR, and it did not disappoint! In fact, it was so much more.

The book follows two point of view characters: a struggling adjunct professor struggling with being her daughter’s primary caretaker while her (somewhat) useless husband makes his own career moves in the same field, and a sophomore in college longing to be a part of sorority culture for the protection is seemingly provides. Both are navigating the highs and lows of womanhood, especially in the age of technology and heightened expectation. I enjoyed being in both of their (anxious) minds, watching them both navigate peculiar friendships in connection to The House: a sorority that is clearly the highest on the totem pole for reasons unknown. Watching their plots and perspectives of each other merge was fascinating commentary on self perception vs the perception others have of us.

While I personally deeply enjoyed this book, I do fear that its timeliness will make some aspects of the novel obsolete in ten or so years. I find it was incredibly worth the read, but the idea of “trad wife” commentary still being relevant in a few years is (I pray) unlikely, as well as the commentary on how anxious our phones make us to stay connected to the world (though both commentaries are VERY RELEVANT right now and I can tell just from reading the novel that Olivie Blake and I carry many of the same fears and thoughts about the state of society as a whole right now)

Overall, 5 stars from me. The ending was a little jarring, but aren’t they always? Besides, I think it feeds back into the perception > reality trap that the novel sought to explore. This book is perfect for fans of Mona Awad and Otessa Moshfegh. Eat up!

I don't know what Olivie Blake puts in her books but I can never get enough! Girl Dinner is the little treat we all deserve.

Between her 18-month old daughter, her new adjunct position, and her well-meaning if frankly useless husband, Dr. Sloane Hartley is struggling to keep her head above water until the alumni of a notoriously successful sorority take her under their perfectly polished wings. Nina Kaur is a sophomore rushing the same sorority, and as she becomes immersed in the glittering world of The House Nina finds herself starving for more.

I mean, when I saw the title and description I knew I had to have it. I loved this so much that it actually surprised me a little. Sloane and Nina are such different people whose narratives parallel one another so closely, and the HUNGER. God, really the sense of desire they have for The House and its alumni is so vivid it made my heart pound. With Sloane, I felt her frustration and violent love for her daughter so keenly, every time Max messed up I wanted to slap him on her behalf. Nina's devotion towards the sisterhood will feel familiar to any of us who have had a somewhat unhealthy codependent friendship before. There's a great deal of philosophizing in this book that some people won't like, but I'm a little defensive of it.

Quick aside: A few year ago, before I decided to study linguistics, I wrote a paper on Bloodchild by Octavia Butler and how the story challenges the largely masculinized form of success present in space exploration narratives. In essence, depictions of successful far-future for humanity often involve intergalactic colonization and control by force, both forms of success defined and co-opted by the patriarchy.

Girl Dinner deals with a similar problem that comes up in each wave of feminist philosophy: If feminism means that women can and should do whatever they want, is it productive/feminist for women to still choose traditional gender roles or promote misogynist ideologies? This and other questions are explored in the novel, not particularly subtly but keep in mind this is a satire so I think that's appropriate for the genre. It makes for some brilliantly shocking moments where characters are just talking and yet there's a sense of stakes because they're bringing up real ongoing talking points. Despite the fact that this is a satire, I think these discussions provide some grounding that similar books don't. I also praise the novel for discussing feminist talking points without excluding queer and trans people, as few others have bothered

The book feels closely entangled with girlhood and womanhood and all of the conflict and beauty and misogyny that surround those experiences, and yet the narrative arc feels distinctly non-gendered because it is fundamentally a familiar story of power, loss, and sacrifice, all fundamental to womanhood but familiar to personhood.

Delicious, bold, refreshing, and a little unhinged. Go ahead and read it, you deserve a little treat!

Thank you to Olivie Blake and Tor Books for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!

Happy reading!

(I no longer work for a bookstore. Please do not use this review for anything related to Indie bookselling. If needed, you can attribute this to my YouTube channel, WIPs and Whimsy, where I talk about knitting and books).

Girl Dinner is phenomenal. It's gritty, visceral, telling, satirical like a knife's edge, and I couldn't put it down. How can you go wrong with a cannibal sorority? This filled a void I've had since finishing Star Eater.