Reviews with content warning for Cancer - a certain hunger

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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karalara's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense slow-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

1.25

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themeanfrench's review against another edition

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dark funny informative tense slow-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

3.25

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colormeember's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

2.5

I was so excited to read this book but in the end I had to force myself to not DNF it. It’s a really interesting premise and some parts really drew you in. But the story was slow and the words used were the biggest synonyms to simple words. In the end I enjoyed the relationship with Emma but I would have enjoyed more of it. It read like a student who had a 10 page paper due and only wrote 6 and it’s due tomorrow. Things were so drawn out I basically skimmed my way to the end.

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cj_tatertott's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.25

This was a really interesting read, and I did really enjoy the visceral, descriptive writing style. The main character is fascinating, and is both relatable in some aspects and utterly horrifying in others. Good read, both entertaining and darkly philosophical at times. Definitely not for everyone, but I enjoyed it a lot!

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bbpettry's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.25

Summers really worked me out with this debut - I'm three years late as always, but damn! It's fun, its grotesque, its twisty and while this protagonist is deeply fascinating, there is no point in the narrative that is positioning for forgiveness. Dorothy Daniels is a violent murderer, and she tells us about that in tales of food and sex and plotting. It feels like Summers made this character by taking all the femme fatale career bitch attitude stuff from the 90's and took it all to its logical conclusion. A man-eater. A writer. A woman. Every time the writing was on the verge of losing me in too much gourmet musing (she is a food critic writing from prison, obviously she'd go on endless food tangents) she pulls it back with a raunchy one-liner or low brow tv reference (Green Acres being my fave.) Somehow with all this book is, one could describe it as a book about the power of friendship and you'd technically be right. Very misleading, but correct.
Not 5 because

while the end with Emma knowing all and staying loyal was fun, something about the end felt wanting? I wanted a bloodier end somehow, with her having escaped and maybe she's coming to eat you next kinda thing. But this isn't a horror novel, so maybe the end fits but was clumsy.

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