Reviews with content warning for Rape - A Certain Hunger

One of the most interesting books I’ve ever read. Pretentious but not off-puttingly so— more of that the narrator was semi pretentious and not the book itself. Gore is written less in a murderous way and more in a food preparation way, if that makes sense?

Content Warnings

applesodaperson's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny tense medium-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

4.75

This book was a masterpiece and so well written. So many times the descriptions of food genuinely made me so hungry, and that is saying a lot considering there is cannibalism in this book. But yeah this book was exactly my kind of book. I have been interested in true crime for a long time, so having the main character be a serial killer was super interesting. I also just love hearing about a confident and cool girlboss woman. I also thought the format of switching between the present and past was interesting. Although it did get rid of any suspense that would have been present if the reader didn’t know she got caught, it was still interesting to hear about how she got there.
But the writing was absolutely the standout of this book. It was written so incredibly well and I really tried to take my time and pour over every word of this book, and it paid off, because this book was amazing.
Read my personal copy.

Content Warnings

queerfucker's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark funny reflective tense 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

4.0

overall a great book exploring gender and sex one painstaking cut of meat at a time. It can get a little bit unneeded in areas of euphemisms but i get its supposed to be a person desperate to shock you ? Some antisemitism/lesbophobia but I can genuinely chalk it up to the authors age as my mom from gen x has said some weird shit until i corrected her in an innocent way not knowing it’s outdated.

Content Warnings

eword97's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark funny medium-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

3.75

Content Warnings

amoveableread's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced

4.0

I support women's wrongs

Content Warnings

bando_bauldio's review against another edition

Go to review page

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? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Such a fascinating book on weaponizing gender norms. The writing was superb! I loved the culinary themes in the book, it adds a certain sophistication to Dolores’ murderous actions that makes me almost admire this baddie of a woman.

Content Warnings

mmefish's review against another edition

Go to review page

Not only it's blatantly racist and anti-Semitic (you can't just say "my character is a psychopath" and pretend that it makes anything you write OK), it's also laughably edgy, overwritten and unnecessary vulgar in relations to sex.

Includes gems like:

"In an arc as perfect as a fifteen-year-old girl's breast [...]"

And

"I imagined the relief after my hymen broke [...]"

For the love of god, learn your own body's anatomy.

Chelsea Summers writes women as Men-Writing-Women write women. In what world this piece of garbage is feminist?

Content Warnings

bbpettry's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

More...