Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

47 reviews

boglord's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, Gore, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Car accident, Drug abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Infidelity, Alcohol, Animal death, Classism, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Death of parent, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Antisemitism, Cancer, Body shaming, Incest, and Adult/minor relationship

owenwilsonbaby's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

"I learned that being female is as prefab, thoughtless, soulless, and abjectly capitalistic as a Big Mac. It's not important that it's real. It's only important that it's tasty."

Though I struggled with the narrative voice at times, which read a little like a hardboiled detective/pulp narrator, Summers has written something really special. A Certain Hunger is undoubtedly dark, but has a lot to say both directly and indirectly about female psychopathy, the hunger of womanhood, what cannibalism can symbolise culturally and the dangers of white girlboss feminism taken too far. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Murder, Cannibalism, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Xenophobia, Racism, and Racial slurs

jolyne's review against another edition

dark funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Summers’ writing style is insane and decadent; every page is chock-full with words that feel plump enough to eat lol. The story flips between campy dry humor and brutally disturbing descriptions, but it stays consistently clever. I did laugh out loud a good amount. A warning: there is strong sexual content and the descriptions of the protag’s mutilations leave little to the imagination. It’s funny that this is the first story that I’ve read where our lead is horrifying and twisted, but loveable in a way that makes me feel like I’ve lost a friend after finishing the book. Some things are iffy but make sense when you contextualize them with how icky Dorothy is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Car accident, Violence, Death of parent, Mental illness, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, and Stalking

Moderate: Gaslighting, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Vomit, Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexual harassment

rllyhategrapes's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Blood, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Death of parent, and Cancer

Minor: Drug use, Drug abuse, Animal death, Incest, Infidelity, and Antisemitism

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

swellshark's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book is carnal and creepy and gross and I loved it. Beautiful, horrifying writing, unapologetically, though self-awaredly, monstrous protagonist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, Infidelity, Rape, Violence, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Body horror, Gore, and Toxic relationship

This book has graphic, detailed scenes of murder and cannibalism. There is at least one rape scene that is described for at least a paragraph in very detached terms.

paulasnotsosecretdiary's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Dorothy Daniels turns her adoration of food into a career as a food critic and writer. She proudly defies social conventions, engaging in behaviors that other people would consider disgusting and shameful. She is also a proud psychopath and serial killer, admitting to all the ways she uses people, collects information about them to use at her whim, and throws them away without a care. Her appetites are enormous. After tasting everything, a terrible accident presents Dorothy the chance to taste the ultimate forbidden dish: human flesh.

As the story begins, Dorothy recalls the crime that sent her to prison for the remainder of her life. As she serves her sentence, Dorothy writes her autobiography, recounting her youth, including the organic food her mother grew and cooked. Dorothy recalls her food writing career throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including the dishes she tastes, people she sleeps with, and the information she gathers on every one of her lovers and bosses. When she loses her job during the 2008 recession and has to turn to freelancing for internet websites in her 50s, something breaks a bit more inside Dorothy. 

You may ask, why should I read this book; the narrator is a monster. Dorothy Daniels is smart, funny, and charming; she is a fantastic storyteller. The novel reads as though sitting down to dinner with a fascinating and terrifying guest. It also offers readers insight into how the loss of print publications, especially glossy magazines with incredible photography and long-format articles, impacted writers, and how readers lost something when these publications folded or went online. The story is fast-paced and filled with action, featuring lovingly detailed descriptions and language, resulting from a great deal of time and care in its writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Excrement, Gore, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence