DNF Diaries: Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng

I wanted to love Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng. I really did, but I just couldn’t stick with it. Let’s talk about why I dnfed this one.

Synopsis

Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner, washing away the remains of brutal murders and suicides in Chinatown. But none of that seems so terrible when she’s already witnessed the most horrific thing possible: her sister, Delilah, being pushed in front of a train.

Before fleeing the scene, the murderer shouted two words: bat eater.

So the bloody messes don’t really bother Cora–she’s more bothered by the germs on the subway railing, the bare hands of a stranger, the hidden viruses in every corner, and the bite marks on her coffee table. Of course, ever since Delilah was killed in front of her, Cora can’t be sure what’s real and what’s in her head.

She pushes away all feelings and ignores the advice of her aunt to prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival, when the gates of hell open. But she can’t ignore the dread in her stomach as she keeps finding bat carcasses at crime scenes, or the scary fact that all her recent cleanups have been the bodies of East Asian women.

As Cora will soon learn, you can’t just ignore hungry ghosts.

My Thoughts on Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng

I have two main reasons why I dnfed this. The first being that I did not enjoy reading about the Pandemic. I feared that this might be the case before I even picked it up. I was hoping that the interesting premise would hook me enough to overshadow the setting but it didn’t.

The next reason was simple. I didn’t enjoy reading from the main characters point of view. She had no personality, and her development was flat. Normally, with this point of view the side characters feel flat compared to the main character because we’re in the main characters head, but it was the exact opposite with this one. Now I think that was probably done on purpose due to the character’s trauma, but it was done with a heavy hand. I just couldn’t connect with the character because she didn’t feel like a character at all. Maybe that got better further into the book but with multiple factors making me dislike this one I just decided to give up.

Will I Try Again

No. Probably not.