Book Review for Feast by Thomas S. Flowers

Feast, by Thomas S. Flowers, is a horrific tragedy centering around the mutilation of a young boy, with bloody nightmares caressing a guise of endless wealth and fortune.

Titus Fleming, the owner of Big Butts Bar-B-Que, has recently lost his son in a terrible murder suicide, a son who was also the heir to his restaurant. In order to prevent losing the family business, he decides to arrange a marriage for his transgender son, Lavinia, to Anna, the daughter of greedy woman named Tamora. However, when Lavinia turns up beaten, raped, and mutilated, Titus grieves for the loss of his son, and decides that no matter what, he will have revenge on Lavinia’s assailants. Flowers outdoes himself with meticulously gory details, as he shows what happens when hatred goes unchecked.

I loved the twisted devotion Titus shows Lavinia, however terrible a road it led him. Their relationship reminded me of a promise parents would make to their children, that no matter what they would do anything for them, even murder if they had too. It was the abomination of that love that took the physical form of a bloody feast, one that every bystander had taken part of, directly or indirectly. And while there was one redeeming quality both Tamora and her own sons had, in the end they fell to their own arrogance.

I also enjoyed a dark nostalgia with each word I read. From Titus’s murderous butcher shop, so very reminiscent of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, to the beautiful Lavinia, who shared his namesake with the equally tragic character from Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, the book was like a morbid reminder of the wonderful works of art that had detailed the destruction of lives, literally and metaphorically. Even the age old fairytale, The Juniper Tree, made an appearance here, and it was something I am deeply indebted to Flowers to. Not only does he illustrate the various aspects of these tales through the book, but he also creates a unique storyline that pertains to our culture today. Homophobia, transgender issues, infidelity, corruption; it’s like a macabre kaleidoscope that draws readers in, only beginning to scratch the surface of what it means to truly be insane.

Overall, I would give this book a 4.2 out of 5 stars. The characters were a bit too neat in my opinion, but I loved seeing them and their demons. I also enjoyed the terrifying elements Flowers had incorporated in the book. Though it was tragic, it was beautiful nonetheless. Thus, I would recommend this book to fans of the horror genre in general.