Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - A Certain Hunger

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

49 reviews

emmagrace012's review against another edition

dark funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Honestly loved it. So enjoyable to read, if a bit grandiloquent. Really enjoyed the immersive character experience and the overall plot lines.

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snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

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dark funny medium-paced

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

4.75

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abundance_of_fiction's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.0

Almost a 4 stars but more like 3.5. This book was short but the pacing still felt slow due to the monologue and narration. As a serial killer/thriller fan it was entertaining to see the author weave in many of these infamous women into her story and how they related to Dorothy. Reading about this psychopathic cannibal was both grotesque but intriguing as far as a narrative goes. Dark but engaging.

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xiumillion's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

This book was a hard read at times. There were a couple of instances in which I had to cover my eyes while reading, which is not something I thought was possible. I also skipped a couple of paragraphs because of the graphic nature of some of the scenes, and I just couldn't get through them without feeling sick. I texted my boyfriend often about how sick the book made me feel and how it was so hard to get through. I was also fully convinced I would come out of this book not really caring for it much, but not disliking it. Somehow, I found Dorothy to be a lovable character by the end of it, which is something I never expected to feel about a character who is a self-proclaimed

cannibalistic psychopath

. Yet, here we are. The author has a very distinct voice and I think this book will stick with me.

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lizzym126's review against another edition

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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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blackcatkai's review

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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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