Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - A Certain Hunger

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.

Content Warnings

eglantinem's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

Content Warnings

caylorquinn'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

3.25

Content Warnings

fijibubbels'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? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

So fucking weird, but like in a good way? The writing is in incredibly graphic and therefore captivating, but Dorothy is so messed up that it becomes a little sickening at some points. I guess that’s the point of the book, so props to the author from me.

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lqne's review against another edition

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slow-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

Content Warnings

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark funny reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

This book was beautifully written and grotesque. It was both funny and unbelievably unhinged. It made me laugh and cringe, and feel sad. It was just so good. There were some sections that were difficult for me to get through but as a whole this is such a solid piece of literature and such a good addition to the "unhinged woman" literary sub genre.

Content Warnings

ephemeral_remi's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

luise96's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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? It's complicated

3.25

I am not so sure how to feel about this book. It was hard for me to get into the book, I liked the middle part but then I was kind of waiting for it to be over. The writing is the most unique part of it I would say, very over the top at times with many difficult words I had to look up. The writing fits the story and the protagonist and is what had me going most of the time. The protagonist felt mostly like a stereotype psychopath, with not a lot of dimensions until maybe at the end. Not a bad book, but I expected more.

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