Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - A Certain Hunger

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

117 reviews

angievansprang's review against another edition

Ultimately, the discussion of cannibalism and it’s supposed “origin” in West African cultures is ignorant and uneducated for a book that so desperately wishes to be pompous, pretentious, and over-intellectualized. I specifically stopped reading at a section where the author/main character discuss william seabrook and his book the magic island which from a quick Google, I am pretty sure paints West African indigenous peoples as not only cannibals but also zombies which is baseline racist to say the absolute least. From reading other reviews, I learned that later in the book, our main character

kills an ex lover named Marco who is Jewish in “kosher style” because he no longer wants to fuck her. I also learned that the book contains an on-page anti-Semitic slur later on as well as a description of the main character’s “intrigue” around her own sexual assault.

Additionally, I found it absurd to hear this author’s discussion of the “unjust” conditions of incarceration as the main character is an extremely privileged white woman *GUILTY OF MULTIPLE CASES OF MURDER AND CANNIBALISM* after recently having read Angela Davis’ autobiography which details the real oppression she faced in the American incarcerate system as a Black woman on no grounds whatsoever. This book certainly strikes me as exclusionary white feminism at it’s core and I would not recommend it.

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bookswithmari's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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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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gjenn's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective 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

3.0

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trishalah_'s review against another edition

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dark informative medium-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

4.0

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isajr26's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

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danielatheinkdrinker's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

this book reminds me there is nothing more poetic than a raging psychotic woman. I laughed out loud, I cried at the very end and leaving away my prose: it made my fucking week. I loved it, it was raw ( no pun intended) with the criticism of what we deem correct, or moral, while also managing to even in the most sordid moments to force the reader to feel identified with a cannibalistic female who lacked empathy or emotions. A new favorite. Dorothy Daniel’s, you are the most ravishing competent woman in this murderous fictional world.

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joshoonet's review against another edition

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dark funny slow-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

As a non native english speaker, I had too google quite a few words
Incredibly delicious, colourful and visceral descriptions
The sex was - at times - a bit much for me, but it fit the theme very well and I got used to it
Timeless vibes for some reason
The protagonist (and writer of the story in form of a memoir) is deadly smart and she knows it well, hence some uncommon turns of phrase, some unusual words, some very pretty poetic writing
Feels strangely detached from the happenings of the story, readers will know why. It works.

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damishana's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious tense 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

4.0

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itsheyfay's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

My head is still reeling from this 😵‍💫 It was funny and sharp, but it took me all over the place with its pacing and random interludes of memory/commentary.

Either way, I’m going to be thinking about this for a while.

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