Review by Booklist Review
Readers of horror and speculative fiction will thoroughly enjoy this fun collection of short stories, which vary from space adventures to a tale told through restaurant reviews. In the title story, Clark (Penance, 2023) describes a matriarchal society on an island where the men are protected from the danger surrounding them. When a young man stumbles on a hungry siren, it quickly becomes clear why society is set up this way. The excellent depth of story and phenomenal character building continue in "Goth GF." Willow is a beautiful girl that the narrator of the story works with and lusts after, an Instagram influencer who freely shares her opinions on everything with her coworkers. They aren't huge fans--but the narrator is, and Willow and the narrator figure out a way for them both to get what they need. The story has a twist that will make the reader smile. The feminist themes and rich characters of She's Always Hungry will stick with readers long after they close the book.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This scattered collection from Clark (Penance) spans genres and styles with varying degrees of success. The narrator of the wry "Build a Body Like Mine" pitches a weight-loss method involving the use of tapeworms. Other strong entries include "The Problem Solver," in which a woman named Julia tells her roommate Oscar that she's been raped by a mutual acquaintance. Oscar confronts the rapist and beats him up, which doesn't help Julia feel better and only sows confusion among their friends. In "Nightstalkers," an aimless teen longs to drop out of high school and start a band with his friend, who he has a crush on. The highlight of the collection, "Extinction Event," follows a botanist who's sensitive to the pain of plants, which makes her agonize when she's tasked with cultivating a plant that can solve the climate crisis only to see it stricken by a mysterious disease. When Clark hits on a fresh idea, her stories transport. Unfortunately, too many of these entries feel lifeless, including the title story, a muddled folktale set in an oppressive matriarchal society, where a man falls under the spell of a shape-shifting sea creature who encourages him to lure other men to her. Readers will find this a mixed bag. (Nov.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
In a new collection of short stories, Clark shows off a growing mastery of the absurd, the bizarre, and body horror. In "Build a Body Like Mine," a nameless narrator grows a cult following on the internet after admitting she uses parasites--tapeworms--to help her lose weight and stay in shape. In "Hollow Bones," a young woman recovers on a space station after an incident she can't remember which left her with a strange, glowing injury. "The Shadow Over Little Chitaly," perhaps the collection's standout, is told through increasingly bizarre reviews of an Italian-Chinese-Australian fusion restaurant that keeps bungling takeout orders and might or might not be of this world. The tongue-in-cheek narrative structure and the reviewers' surreal interactions with the restaurant create a story that's laugh-out-loud funny while maintaining a sense of unease. Unfortunately, while many of the stories are successfully built on strange and engaging concepts, others have a tendency to end abruptly and without the skin-crawling payout that readers expect from a writer dabbling in body horror, visiting distant planets, and awakening eldritch creatures. When they're not uncanny or causing a general sense of discomfort, the stories can feel more like vignettes than finished products, blurry snapshots of modern life and explorations of humanity that are over as quickly as they've begun. The result is a tantalizing and sometimes uncomfortable book--especially for more squeamish readers--that could have provided more for those wanting an exploration of the base human needs, especially hunger, in its literal and metaphorical senses. An unsettling collection of stories that solidifies Clark as a writer to watch in the world of horror. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
