Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

10 reviews

officialdani's review

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

The writing is overly pretentious, although I realize the character is pretentious. It gets a bit tiring at times, but really keeps you connected to the main character.

However, the more I read the more it kept me interested.

The descriptions of certain events are very graphic and disturbing. But that did make it a good October/Halloween read.

I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend this, but I also wouldn’t discourage someone from reading it (unless you really can’t read graphic content). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Stalking, Body horror, Cannibalism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and Animal death

prairieraven's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Cancer, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Abandonment, Alcohol, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Cannibalism, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Infidelity

abicaro17's review

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The last 25% of the book was very gripping and intriguing. Unfortunately most of the book had me checking my progress and seeing if it was over yet. Im usually a sucker for a gruesome murder which this book technically delivers but, the descriptions of literally anything and everything take up most of the book. Its almost repetitive and it took a lot of self control not to skim the book. Plus the amount of times Dorothy was just like "oh yeah this happened anyways back to this food" was annoying as fuck. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Sexism, Antisemitism, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Cannibalism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcohol, Car accident, Death, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Stalking, Blood, Death of parent, and Classism

nkoss's review

challenging dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I’m sorry but I tried to like it but the author seemed overly concerned with using every pretentious large word in her vocabulary (like, I get it! His head was “brobdingnagian”! Did you really have to use that word more than once?) — Dorothy, I assume on purpose, was unlikeable in every aspect and I can’t help but think that the author was exorcising some of her own frustrations out h the through Dorothy’s annoyance in the evolution of the workplace and how long form content is essentially dead. Felt like everything was written for shock factor when it just became quite boring towards the end. The last few chapters felt rushed that I thought a chapter was missing. It was a quick read so I finished it, but it wasn’t a favorite. Don’t feel like I need to read it ever again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Torture, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Stalking, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Gore, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, and Sexual violence

lizzym126's review

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Murder, Violence, Cannibalism, Physical abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

blackcatkai's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

CW: blood, violence, antisemitism, murder, ableism, fatphobia, food/body shaming, classism, racism (slurs and otherwise), sexual content, rape and other types of sexual assault/harassments, gore, animal cruelty and death, sexism, gaslighting, infidelity, alcohol and drug use, passages that may read a bit homophobic and/or transphobic

no. i get that it's supposed to be a satire overall and youre not meant to like the main character, but my biggest issue was how boring the entire novel is. and technically, it's only a satire in regards to the universe of food in real life, not the sexism or murder or sex or society as a whole or whatever. so maybe if it had JUST been about that, it would've been more successful for me. then the character of Dorothy would've read better with her vapid, self important, condescending, holier than thou bullshit. but not here, not when you throw in everything else.

pacing? all over the place, mainly slow. cannibalism and violence? well, its THERE, technically? but it takes forever to get to the gruesome bits and then theyre lackluster at best. this doesnt feel feminist or inclusive or a biting commentary on anything other than narcissists suck. there's also a ton of nuanced information presented in a non-nuanced way that feels like im reading an incomplete wikipedia page with no sources and missing key context. we get it, the author learned about a lot of things and wanted us to know about them, even if some info was left out, leading to what feels like misinformation, even in a fictional story.

this is more a book about gratuitous sex, fancy food, and trips to europe because its the best (except new york city, of course) than it is about cis-female empowerment, cannibalism, or violence. its repetitive use of simile, speaking down to the reader, and infodumps, left me disengaged, bored, and desperate for the end.

basically, this book was not for me, and im so glad its finally over. thank you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Classism, Rape, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Ableism, Racial slurs, Racism, Acephobia/Arophobia, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Gore, Murder, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual assault, Outing, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Mental illness, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Cancer, Homophobia, Antisemitism, Drug use, Cannibalism, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Transphobia

autumngk's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

I honestly don’t know what I was expecting from this book-cannibalism, sure, but the nonlinear format took me by surprise. Something about it felt too reliant on shock value and grotesque tropes, but after all it is a cannibal serial killer. I don’t know if I’m just beginning to be turned off by horror novels, but this one did the trick. There were really great sections, and I mean chapters at a time where the writing was absolutely beautiful and engaging. I wish we got to know more about Dorothy’s life as the prison librarian and how that began to effect her; I can’t tell if my reservations with this book are that if felt too short and heavy/reliant on the gore to tell its story or what! We get this really nice look into her life…..

after she’s adjusted to prison life during their group when the arsonist is telling her story and some of the other women are talking and Dorothy reveals a possible change in her feelings about what she’s done/herself. It’s not worthy of a sequel, just a couple more chapters here and there. While what we’re left with is a complete picture, it felt like there were just some missed opportunities. So many offers were put up in the air by introducing her in the present as working in the library; especially given her relationship with Emma, it felt unfinished in a way. We know so much about her while she’s cannibalizing and murdering these men senselessly, but it feels pointless to still know her while she’s imprisoned and know so little about her in the present. She still has the same voice. She still speaks the same about humanity. What about her changed? if nothing did, why this story? Why now? Just to sell cannibal torture porn?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Violence, Cannibalism, Classism, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Stalking, Torture, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Forced institutionalization

rach_lind's review

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow. It's objectively horrifying and yet absolutely fantastic. You're hooked almost immediately and stay there throughout. Good and interestin ending, great reveaks and surprises. Shocking at times, hilarious, and relatable too. 

The only thing that was a bit irritating was coming across a word every other page that I had to underline and look up. And I feel like I have a pretty decent vocab. So prepare for that--but it seems also to be purposeful in its parody of extravagant food writers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, Stalking, Car accident, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Rape, Terminal illness, Murder, Violence, Infidelity, Body horror, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Cannibalism, Death, and Death of parent

alainareading's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence

arys_library's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I’m glad I’m a vegan. 

I absolutely loved this book. I knew it would be graphic but it was beyond what I was thinking it would be. Everything was so graphic and detailed which made me read a bit slower than usual but the writing style was still amazing. At times I feel like the author was being too descriptive, she described everything in great detail but it got to the point where things were so repetitive and I had to take a break. But besides that, I absolutely loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Car accident, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Cursing and Vomit