Reviews with content warning for Violence - A Certain Hunger

This was the most soul sucking and dark book I've ever read. The writing style was so good that I didn't want to put it down, but it was so hard to finish. Dorothy is incredibly insufferable, smart and somewhat self aware. I would say only read this book if you're in a good head space because, of how much detail his book goes into. I originally wanted to rate this book a 4 because, it's nothing I've ever read before and the writing was amazing. I had to knock it down because, of how disgusting this book is and the evil things the main character did.

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soph183's review

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dark funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Absolutely devoured this (pardon the pun).
I haven’t read anything like this before: the memoir style of the story went from being gross and gory to sexy and funny, then to being deeply reflective of the main characters’ complex psyche- it really had it all.
I loved the way Summers explored love/ desire/ the idea of being a woman in a man’s world, questioning and ridiculing our ingrained gender norms through one woman’s journey of finding her power through criminality and cannibalism.

Other reviews have described Dorothy (the main character) as pretentious and unlikable but I loved her- she’s a menopausal food critic of course that’s going to be the case! Her vast vocab, detailed descriptions of elaborate cooking techniques and restaurant experiences only added to the story and character depth imo.

I love when a book is told from such a passionate perspective that it makes you begin to rationalise behaviour that you previously would have thought unthinkable, Dorothy was an icon (I support women’s wrongs) and reading her ramblings felt like such an insight into the mind of a psychopath.

Absolutely loved it !!

‘Over trays of Bonnie Bell Lip Smackers and mountains of cooling fries, I learned that being female is as prefab, thoughtless, soulless, and abjectly capitalist as a Big Mac. It's not important that it's real. It's only important that it's tasty.’

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thegayestghost's review

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dark 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

4.0

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sunbearbeam's review

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dark medium-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

4.25

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refrejarator's review

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dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a really fun read, however the main character is (due to her nature) someone I find intensely unlikeable. The description is fun and wild, and full of gore and torrid sex. I personally dont enjoy constant discussion of genitals outside of smut, and this book had a lot of reflections on genitalia (but this lines up well with the main character).
I'm a vegetarian, and this book at least intrigued me with all the meat and recipe talk. Definitely made me hungry.

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modern_analog's review

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dark 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? Yes

4.5

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