Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - a certain hunger

wow. this book was long. but short (thank god for that)! Summers sure knows how to write pretentious, unlikeable, unstable characters. and that is exactly what dorothy daniels is.

dorothy daniels is a sex-loving, borderline women-hating, antisemetic, racist, lesbophobic, and classist food snob. this book is supposed to be about dorothy critiquing women’s role in society. she brings up how she thinks monogamy is boring, that she won’t have kids, that she refuses to marry, that men are useful for sex, food, and manipulation and that’s about it. it honestly felt like dorothy hated women who decided to decided to do all of these things with men - the amount of times i wrote “just say you hate women and go” is astonishing for a book critiquing women’s gender roles in society.

the feminism in this book is more outright and blatant instead of the subtle critique i was hoping for. this felt just like the barbie (albeit with a cannibalistic serial murderess) - feminism 101.

the writing is…something. the author often shows what is unnecessary (food descriptions) and tells what is (emma and dorothy’s friendship developments). representations, descriptions, and comparisons are made with one of two things: food or genitalia. it’s very offputting - not necessarily uncomfortable but i did think it got excessive. i think the pretentiousness of the writing fit with dorothy’s characterization though, so even if it was a slog to get through i appreciate it.

i did enjoy the cannibalism (of which i do wish there was more of) and murder though. it’s why i bought this book in the first place. that part definitely delivered, and for that i’m thankful. delightfully sickening!!

Content Warnings

erkkmoon's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I liked the descriptions of food more than the rest of the book, I think that says a lot, even though I'm a fan of horror and cannibalistic themes and was very excited in the beginning
like, it's a good book, i guess, but it's bad in various aspects and the writing style is not my cup of tea (“I tasted the bleach-and-umami flavour of his precum” what.)
interesting plot though?? idk, good but not that great

Content Warnings

thegayestghost's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

refrejarator's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

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

Content Warnings

biobeetle's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny tense 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

4.0

Content Warnings

prairieraven's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

abicaro17's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

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