I had heard so much about I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me and it was 100% right. This debut is full of sacrifice, beautiful dancing, and friendships that demand more. I am obsessed. Keep reading this book review of I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me for my full thoughts.
Summary
Laure Mesny is a perfectionist with an axe to grind. Despite being constantly overlooked in the elite and cutthroat world of the Parisian ballet, she will do anything to prove that a Black girl can take center stage. To level the playing field, Laure ventures deep into the depths of the Catacombs and strikes a deal with a pulsating river of blood.
The primordial power Laure gains promises influence and adoration, everything she’s dreamed of and worked toward. With retribution on her mind, she surpasses her bitter and privileged peers, leaving broken bodies behind her on her climb to stardom.
But even as undeniable as she is, Laure is not the only monster around. And her vicious desires make her a perfect target for slaughter. As she descends into madness and the mystifying underworld beneath her, she is faced with the ultimate choice: continue to break herself for scraps of validation or succumb to the darkness that wants her exactly as she is—monstrous heart and all. That is, if the god-killer doesn’t catch her first.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Revolving around a central question of what would we give for power, our deepest desires, our aching ambition, I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me is captivating. Let me just begin by saying I love this ballet book and need to read about a hundred more. It’s a competitive world where we wonder how close of friends can we be when we’re all vultures. When one person’s downfall is another’s uprising. Having done ballet as a teen, I related to this relationship tango, to the pressures, the perfection demanded, and the ways our body is never enough.
It’s a world with cracks in our niceties. Knives hidden between tutus and blood stained bandages. I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me is dripping sweat, tears, and blood. It begins by asking us what would we give up for the world? Because Laure quickly figures out that it’s not good enough to be the best. You’re always fighting against the inequity, the nepotism, the racism. You have to fight double as hard to be seen, to be given the opportunities. And so Laure is asked what she would do to make the world be in the palm of her hand.
Overall,
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In I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me swirls jealousy, envy, love, and the intense burn of want. The danger of an aching obsession. And if we give into the sacrifices, how soon before the blood doesn’t phase us anymore? Beneath these themes, I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me explores friendship. It examines friend directions, one way, return trips, and friends of circumstance. Friends who want to possess our world, who don’t take our word as enough. Friends who excise what we love until a reflection stares back. This debut explores monstrosity, the competitive ballet world, and talons of friendship.
Find I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.