Book Review: Insatiable, Daisy Buchanan
Insatiable, Daisy Buchanan
My rating: 5 /5 stars
Book of 2022: 13
Read: 27/08 - 04/09/2022
Stuck in a dead-end job, broken-hearted, broke & estranged from her best friend: Violet’s life is nothing like she thought it would be. She wants more - better friends, better sex, a better job - & she wants it now.
So, when Lottie - who looks like the woman Violet wants to be when she grows up - offers Violet the chance to join her exciting start-up, she bites. Only it soon becomes clear that Lottie & her husband Simon are not only inviting Violet into their company, they are also inviting her into their lives.
Seduced by their townhouse, their expensive candles & their Friday-night sex parties, Violet cannot tear herself away from Lottie, Simon or their friends. But is this really the more Violet yearns for? Will it grant her whatever it is she is so desperately seeking?
I picked up this delicious-covered novel in Daunt Books in London. Drawn to the orange jacket of this book, I read the blurb & thought I’d give it a try.
When looking at a book, I’ll always skim the first page to see if I’m enticed by the writing style at first chance. I was: “I don’t want to be at this party.” Excellent.
I started reading this in a park in Edinburgh, in the sun, with a cup of peach bubble tea soothing me from the intense heat. Violet’s narrative voice instantly drew me in. She is creative, honest & flawed & a little bit annoying. Bit like me perhaps.
Violet is pulled across the room, to a woman she idolises the moment she sees her. Lottie is the woman Violet wishes she was, carries herself with confidence, elegantly dressed, evidently displaying the funds she has to look this good. We’ve all been there.
“I want to know what’s making her smile, and who cuts her hair.” (7)
At first it feels as though Violet is the one chasing Lottie, but soon it appears Lottie was the one holding the magnet.
“Maybe I want it to get weird.” (43)
The dynamic between Lottie & Violet is an intriguing one. A convincing portrayal of wanting to please someone, to mirror them in some way, to dress for others, to appear as though you are one thing, thinking that is what they want. It’s a familiar feeling, one that satiates the reader with relatability.
“Lottie seems to inhibit her clothes with a sense of pleasure, as though they might taste delicious.” (76)
Violet quickly becomes encased by Lottie and her husband, and their group of friends. We dive headfirst into an alluring portrayal of group pleasure. Violet in the centre, the fascination of a group of adults with perfect lives and their shit together. Or so it seems.
We reach into her past, see the curtain unveil what led her here, to a place where this validation is intrinsic to her needs. She left her farmers-market fiancé, has a complicated relationship with her parents, and a chasm between herself and her best friend. She is pulled into the charm of Lottie and Simon, and slots herself in between them, into a pseudo-parental-pseudo-throuple relationship. It’s complicated, and Buchanan has a way of portraying the blurred lines to the reader as Violet sees them.
“I want to curl up at the bottom of their bed, by their feet, and pretend that I belong to them.” (221)
“I feel as though I’ve broken the rules without understanding what they really were.” (133-4)
This book was kind of perfect for me at the time I read it, and I think that’s why I was so drawn to it in Daunt Books that day. Ultimately, it’s a tale about making mistakes, uncomfortable situations, and the overarching message that it will all be okay. We’re sturdy enough to get through it. A reminder to cling to those who wish us well, and to hold those that don’t at an arm's length. To chase pleasure, to chase enjoyment, but have the right people alongside you to hold your hand when the fun stops.
“It’s better to feel real pain for a moment than to feel nothing forever.” (329)
A big fat yes from me.
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