Over time, she's transformed. Slowly shedding any semblance of who she used to be, morphing into what she knows she's meant to be. Who she should be, not for herself but for him. Girl forged from dirt. Lilith.

Animals Eat Each Other follows an initially unnamed narrator (eventually dubbed Lilith) through the early 2000's as she recounts her year long three-way relationship with Satanist, Matt and his long term girlfriend Frankie. Obsessive behaviors and consistent longing for attention nourish L's deterioration of her sense of self, creating an unsettling environment that highlights the lengths she's willing to go to feed her fixation.

Darker than I anticipated, Animals Eat Each Other is a deep dive into the psyche of someone who will destroy themselves in order to feel thought of, loved, cared for, cherished. Lilith's total disregard for herself in order to seek attention to fill the void left from childhood trauma and neglect was bleak yet so entertaining. I love her. The fact that Matt was who she chose to obsess over was almost infuriating but it was so ridiculous that I bought into it quickly. Matt is an absolute loser and the fact that he is 26, Lilith is 18, and Frankie is 17 (and the mother of his child !!??) only confirms this. While the novel creates and consistently holds a moodiness throughout, I wish there was more of an arc in the plot (it is only 121 pages but...still), as the last 40% was more anticlimactic than the rest of the novel suggests. An easy 4 stars, read for a needy, moody moment.

P.S.: This book was built for the Lana Del Rey baddies. If you were ever a Lana stan/Born to Die dropped during your formative years/Elizabeth Grant has EVER had you in a chokehold at ANY POINT IN TIME you will most likely enjoy this book. I finished it 3 days ago and I've been bumping Born to Die, Ultraviolence, and NFR albums almost exclusively since :-)