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44 pages 1 hour read

Sunyi Dean

The Book Eaters

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

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Themes

Motherhood and Sacrifice

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.

The Book Eaters is predominantly a story about the struggle of mothers at various stages in their journey. In the beginning, Devon is brought up without a mother, and she has no lived experience that prepares her for being a mother herself. Notably, many of the fairy tales she’s fed as a child—such as versions of Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, and Cinderella—are devoid of mothers. Throughout the novel, Devon expresses curiosity about her birth mother, but the woman remains a distant, mythic figure.

As soon as Devon comes of age, she is forced into an arranged utilitarian marriage for the purpose of bearing children. Once she experiences the bond that arises after childbirth, she begins her journey of questioning the lessons she was raised with. Devon’s bond with Salem is an intense, visceral kind of love that her family and upbringing did not prepare her for, one that becomes all-consuming. Her community is able to use this bond to manipulate her and force her to fulfill her duty as a female book eater. 

Driven by her bond with Salem, Devon underestimates the power that motherhood will have over her a second time. After she gives birth to Cai and undergoes another maternal bond, she is forced to sacrifice her future with Salem in order to keep him safe.

The novel poses the question of what it means to be good and moral. On the one hand, Devon is a loving and devout mother, in spite of Cai’s monstrosity. She will do anything for him and sacrifices her well-being for his. On the other hand, her devotion entails feeding him roughly 25 human minds. To ensure his survival, she is complicit in a form of murder. 

She has fed him roughly 25 humans, illustrating the extent of her loyalty. She sacrifices her own happiness and stability, including her relationships with others, and puts herself in harm’s way to give Cai a chance at a better life. Even in adulthood, Devon becomes a victim of the same manipulation that she experienced at the hands of her family through Ramsey, who positions Cai as a mechanism to keep her obedient. 

Ironically, it’s through this manipulation that he ultimately meets his downfall. At the close of the novel, Devon implies that her next steps will be to find her way back to Salem, thereby bringing her family back together. This shows how the bond of motherhood remains constant, even when faced with geographical and cognitive distance.

Patriarchal Oppression

The Book Eaters is presented as a dystopian novel similar in tone to speculative fiction like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, which also deals with themes of suppression and reproductive rights. Devon Fairweather’s world is dictated by rules, restrictions, and expectations of its men. Because of the book eaters’ dwindling numbers and struggles with fertility, women are expected to fulfill a duty to their families as reproductive vessels. Initially, this is presented as a fairy tale culture in which women are prizes to be won. However, it soon becomes clear that this system is domineering and totalitarian. Women are forced into marriages that they have no say in, sometimes being cuffed or drugged into compliance. After Ramsey implants an explosive device in Devon’s son, he alludes to such a practice being inflicted on resistant women in the past.

Marriages are often dressed up with luxury and fanfare in order to hide the true nature of the alliances. Devon first sees hints of this when she attends her cousin’s wedding and notices that the seemingly joyous occasion has an undertone of desperation. When Devon attends her own first wedding, she’s treated like a delicate creature from one of her fairy tales. However, her new husband treats her with indifference bordering on disdain. It quickly becomes clear that she is one piece in a larger social mechanism, rather than an individual entering into a loving relationship.

It’s not until Devon is stripped of her young daughter that she realizes the full extent of her powerlessness. Her helplessness is echoed in other female characters throughout the novel, most notably in Jarrow’s sister, Vic. Although the novel doesn’t present her experiences directly, the camaraderie between Vic and Devon suggests that Vic has faced similar challenges in her past.

Early in the novel, there is discussion about fertility treatments designed to help human women conceive, with possibilities for book-eater women. This creates societal contention because of the potential to empower women and give them agency. Ramsey, in particular, is affected by this because the knights exist for the purpose of controlling women. This is a classic example of how men often benefit from structures that suppress women and how it can be difficult to question these structures once they’re ingrained. 

The only man in the novel who seems immune to society’s toxicity is Jarrow; this could be due to the influence of his asexuality or from his exposure to contemporary human media. When Devon becomes a part of this contemporary world herself, she’s astonished at the freedom that women embody through their actions, relationships, and clothes. By seeing what a better world can look like, she becomes an integral part of the fight for women’s rights.

Creativity and the Use of Knowledge

The eponymous characters are uniquely incapable of producing written words in any medium. This weakness forces them to rely on humans, who produce their source of basic nourishment. Without a functioning human society, book eaters would die out. The book eaters’ vulnerability contrasts with the fact that they are physically stronger and cognitively superior; both species have power over the other in different ways. Book eaters are able to absorb vast quantities of knowledge through a form of osmosis, similar to a computer database; this gives them a dramatic advantage when navigating the human world. 

Devon, for example, is able to learn Polish instantly by eating a dictionary and manages public transportation by eating a train schedule. However, as Mani points out, using this knowledge is not the same as processing and developing intelligent responses to it. The novel posits a contrast between information and intellect and brings into question the relationship between the two concepts.

Book eaters are also naturally disinclined to creativity. Devon is fascinated by Hester’s ability to draw, something that would never have occurred to her in her own life. She’s also flabbergasted by the development of Redemption. Because of the cognitive nature of book eaters, her first response is never to think creatively. She takes facts at face value—such as mind eaters needing human victims—without taking time to examine them. For this reason, she is initially easy to manipulate by her family; she’s incapable of imagining another way to live.

In this way, Mani acts as a foil to Devon and to her culture as a whole. As demonstrated by the epigraphs told through his voice, Mani absorbs Devon’s culture through immersion and tries to understand it. He presents thoughtful, considered theories and opinions on what he has learned, rather than simply regurgitating a series of facts the way a book eater would. 

Another character who exhibits true intelligence is Jarrow, as he’s able to question the book-eater culture that he’s been exposed to all his life. He may be capable of independent thought due to his exposure to video games. Unlike a traditional narrative, video games require interaction and creative thinking. When faced with challenges, the player must consider all possibilities and employ problem-solving strategies. It’s arguable that this practice fostered creativity in his way of thinking. Throughout the novel, Devon begins to learn these skills in order to develop and grow.

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