Lobster: and other things I’m learning to love

by Hollie McNish

A brand-new collection from the award-winning poet, the companion piece to the Sunday Times bestselling Slug.This book is written out of both hate and love for the worldAs people, we are capable of both love and hate; amazement and disgust; fun and misery.So why do we live in a world that is constantly telling us to hate, both ourselves and others? We are told constantly to be repulsed by our own bodies, bodies that let us laugh and sweat and eat toast, amongst other activities; to be ashamed of pleasure; to be embarrassed by fun. In this brand-new collection, Hollie McNish brings her inimitable style to the question of what have been taught to hate, and if we might learn to love again.'Never have we needed her more' Stylist'I've loved her work for years' Jo Brand'She writes with honesty, conviction, humour and love' Kae Tempest

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Book Club

432 pages, Hardcover

Published February 11, 2025

Reviews

[bookclubforme · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will never bore of Hollie's work. Her writing is relatable, intelligent, funny and filthy and just so damn readable. A real ode to life and covering everything from friendship to motherhood, body shaming to sex and all the other things that tick her off or make her day, her latest collection Lobster is (as always) unflinching honest, charmingly insightful, hella entertaining and oddly reassuring - an absolute scream from start to finish. I've said it before and I'll say it again, louder... I bloody love Hollie McNish! 🦞💙

p.s, I recently saw Hollie perform alongside Michael Pedersen, she was BRILLIANT (as was he!)

[Clare Horrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never tire of Hollie. A hug after a rough day; the book equivalent of chatting to your best friend about things you both thought far too weird to admit to anyone else.

[Hannah Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will pledge allegiance to the Hollie McNish flag forever. Funny, full of warmth and sense, I just think the world of her. I love her writing style in the prose between the poems, and of course I love reading the poems aloud to my thoroughly amused housemates.

[indiffferente · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5⭐️ hollie mcnish the woman that you are i love you this is a great great book

[Salomée Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hollie McNish did it again. I don't know how this writer manages to make me giggle one page and my heart aches for all the injustices of the world the next. I always feel so full of love and hope when I close her books. I would read anything McNish writes, I even enjoyed the poem about her poo (c'est pour dire!!) I'd read her shopping list. I am sure she'd manage to turn it into a powerful poem anyway. Aaaa, now i wanna go hug my friends, eat strawberries, take a nap, masturbate, go learn 3 languages, and make sure that Boris is far away from my tits. Thank you for everything you do Hollie McNish. You're changing the world 💙

[abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hollie McNish never disappoints. Reading Lobster felt like having a conversation with your best friend late in the night during a sleepover, I didn’t want it to end

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of stories and poems about learning to love your body, motherhood, men, sex, learning, language and more.

Poignant social commentary wrapped in a hilarious and vulgar bow. You will be giggling one minute and questioning your internalised reality the next.

Personal highlights for me (I didn’t write the names down and Spotify just has them listed as ‘Track #’!) were: the body through the letterbox, the section about men and consent, the section about no language available for cunnilingus on women and the reminder of how ridiculous it is that we don’t tell children the name of their female body parts. This was my first time ever consuming poetry so I am struggling to organise my thoughts, but I will say that this was a great introduction to the art form and will not be my last. Hopefully with some practice, I will be able to analyse better.

A warning that this book is very much focussed on the geopolitical landscape of the UK and comes from a left-wing standpoint. Not that this is wrong, it just is something to bear in mind before reading.

[Louise Jutson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to give this book 10 stars please Goodreads.

[Ria Simmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

love love love this

[Zaria Bettles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hollie can never be less than 5 stars for me. I read this slowly because I found I considered every word, and it made me think so much. I read it while on "the move"; in lunch hours, in spas, while being tattoo'd, and I found myself taking photos of paragraphs and sending them to childhood friends, reading snippets to my kids, sharing with my sisters. This book should be compulsory reading in schools. It gave me so much and realised I'm not asking too much to expect it.

[Yasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This felt so much like a conversation with a close friend that I sent Hollie a reel that reminded me of her ?? I’m sorry I did that I only realised later how weird this was.

Lobster was a must buy when I saw it on the upper st bookshop shelf, and, fun little tidbit, the guy at the till looked at it and I was turning it over to show the price he said 10.99? and it was correct, which to me had the same effect as if he pulled out a rabbit of a hat. I was in a bit of a slump and didn’t know what to read, and I loved Slug, and a few pages in I knew I wanted to spend some time w Hollie.

I’m always so interested in the regional dynamics of a country, so I rly liked reading her thoughts on cultural differences, accents, and the way people categorise themselves by picking arbitrary metrics. Also her thoughts on class, though that may have been in a separate section.

The section on the body resonated less with me, not because I’m unaffected by external judgement / beauty standards / social media, and not because I see my body as purely functional - I just feel like this is a conversation I’ve had before with my friends many times, for hours, and Hollie is echoing their talking points rather than mine. So it didn’t resonate but that’s not a bad thing, it’s still familiar and fun to read and I like reading people’s thoughts on things.

Love how much space imagery there is in the poems in this one, i don’t know if this was written after watching a documentary or picking up astronomy in her spare time but I do love it.

Also v evocative descriptions of what it’s like to be touched and let’s be so real rn I miss it. Maybe I should call him? Also read the section on oral sex in the same period of time I listened to Louis Theroux interviewing Armie Hammer and this combined gave me a different perspective on fellatio. Maybe dicks do deserve love. Maybe not from me, maybe not right now. But you know, food for thought ?

Anyways, I also find her perspective on adult friendships a bit reductive. I’m not saying that socially/culturally friendship doesn’t take a bit of a backseat, but I know it’s a theme I’ve been obsessed with throughout uni, and I was so so scared of my friendships diluting or fading when I started working, and maybe I’m in a bubble but it turns out adults still take time off work to attend their bestie’s housewarmings and go on runs together and play games, have dinners, go out out, take trips to visit each other, watch each other’s dogs, crash at each other’s places, go ice and roller skating and take circus classes. Observing my coworkers’ social lives has filled me w so much hope for my future in my 30s and 40s. They’re not letting their friendships go, even the married ones, even the ones w children,so this is my bid to stop the fearmongering I guess.

Anyways I’m sure I’ll think of more thoughts to add, all in all this was fun to read :)

[Bree · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of not only Hollie’s poetry but discussion around the things she is learning to love. Backed up with studies (not overly so) for me this gave Hollie’s arguments even more credibility and I learned loads along the way.
Hollie fights the corner of women (and often men) and questions societal norms that I couldn’t help but be persuaded by. The topics are quite motherhood heavy but this is ok for me and I found this so relatable.
The biggest thing that sticks with me, and I will use to educate my children and young people I work with, give genitalia the correct names - so many compelling reasons to.
Second I loved the chapter on oral sex. Never have I read anything like it. It was great!
Poetry is not my thing but this book was great. I also recommend Hollie’s book Nobody Told Me which I came across as a midwifery student and was hugely relevant for me at that time.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly relatable, funny and engaging book. I saw her at Hay Festival having heard from a friend how amazing she is ... And she is!! I read the book quite slowly, and quite distractedly (my fault), but it always came to life (in her voice!) The chapters on motherhood and societal pressures were really insightful, backed up with research and data, and the odes to childhood and being "childish" made me so emotional. She's a rallying cry to enjoy life without shame and fear, and this book is an incredible inspiration to that. I've folded lots of corners over on my favourite sections, poetry and prose alike.

Would highly recommend!

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I come to Hollie as to a good friend. She makes me laugh, she makes me think, she affirms what I already believe in the world and stretches the appreciation, the delight and the compassion just a little bit wider, and she just is fun to spend time with (as I felt I did opting to buy this one as an audiobook vs reading her book Slug last summer). I think to learn and understand the context of how and why poems are written is so rich and enjoyable, and makes me always want to have that background and context for art.

This collection was delightful and like a warm cup of tea to me. Her writing makes me happy to be a woman, happy to have friends, happy to explore pleasure, happy to know and love mothers, and happy to age. It’s a gift.

[Justine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hollie McNish is as curious about the world as I am and writes about it in a way I am so enviable of and also absolutely delighted by. What a wonderful feeling to read someone's views/perspective that you completely agree with while also be so honest about their less glamorous traits, I LOVED the way she celebrated the ordinary, the looked down on, the watching TV all summer holidays.
Hollie clearly shows how inane (or worse) some of the things we value in society are and then points out the deplorable ways we don't value things we so obviously should.

I'll read anything she writes.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book!! I absolutely loved it! It even got me into poetry which I didn’t expect to happen! So much so I’m thinking of trying to write some! I especially like the part on body image/confidence. I’ve dropped a star as there is quite a lot about having children/being a Mum which isn’t relevant to me. I just skipped those parts and there was still a really good amount of content I loved so maybe 4.5 is more accurate!

[Kimberly Pendleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too short! 😂 Felt very sad upon finishing, could have listened to many more chapters. Audiobook read by her is 👌 he voice is so lovely! Especially love how she pronounces the 'h' in words like 'whisper', just gorgeous! The writing is exceptional and the topic matters important. Read or listen, I implore you!!

[eleanorwalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I could give it a 3.5 I would.

I really wanted to enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed Slug but for large sections I wasn’t vibing. I assume it would have resonated more with me if I was reading as a parent?? Still, it was honest and funny and emotional - perhaps I should’ve just skipped the bits about childbirth.

[Sharon Labrum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book and will be encouraging any women I know to read it. A great mix of relatable musings on life and poetry. Holly McNish will now be my guru and I will be reading her other books.

[Izzy Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

hollie mcnish ily

[Ellie (bookmadbarlow) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fabulous selection of poems and musings from Hollie McNish, she never fails to make me question everything and I've tabbed multiple poems to go back to.

[Posie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very long!!! But very enjoyable!!! Poems are fricking top notch, I’m only 18 so can’t really relate to the motherhood ones but at least I’m not looking forward to birth now ? 👍👍

[Lily McGahern · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Michaela Salmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, funny and often insightful poetry book!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first Hollie McNish book and I loved it. I laughed, I learnt and it made me want to pick up my writing pen again.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute joy to read! How to feel normal in a not so normal world. Funny, filthy and extreme honesty with some added poetry. Love love love

[Sophia Thanasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fun read!!! I got this book from the Edinburgh Book Festival during the Fringe this year and absolutely loved it. Hollie’s writing style is hilarious and quite refreshing compared to what I generally read. I’ve been wanting to get back into poetry for a while and had a great time trying to analyse some of these poems. Could not recommend this book more :)

[Amy Geminibookish · Rating 2 out of 5]

My favourite poem was A Estas Alturas. Not my usual read, I wouldn’t read the entire book again, but I liked that poem in particular. Thank you to Little Brown for the arc.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took in and appreciated the essays more so than the poems, but a great collection overall.

[Suze · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought from foxlane immediately after hearing the poem about friendship. Also found she was performing in York… bought tickets straight away! ‘For all your Susans’.