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A review by soph183
A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Absolutely devoured this (pardon the pun).
I haven’t read anything like this before: the memoir style of the story went from being gross and gory to sexy and funny, then to being deeply reflective of the main characters’ complex psyche- it really had it all.
I loved the way Summers explored love/ desire/ the idea of being a woman in a man’s world, questioning and ridiculing our ingrained gender norms through one woman’s journey of finding her power through criminality and cannibalism.
Other reviews have described Dorothy (the main character) as pretentious and unlikable but I loved her- she’s a menopausal food critic of course that’s going to be the case! Her vast vocab, detailed descriptions of elaborate cooking techniques and restaurant experiences only added to the story and character depth imo.
I love when a book is told from such a passionate perspective that it makes you begin to rationalise behaviour that you previously would have thought unthinkable, Dorothy was an icon (I support women’s wrongs) and reading her ramblings felt like such an insight into the mind of a psychopath.
Absolutely loved it !!
‘Over trays of Bonnie Bell Lip Smackers and mountains of cooling fries, I learned that being female is as prefab, thoughtless, soulless, and abjectly capitalist as a Big Mac. It's not important that it's real. It's only important that it's tasty.’
I haven’t read anything like this before: the memoir style of the story went from being gross and gory to sexy and funny, then to being deeply reflective of the main characters’ complex psyche- it really had it all.
I loved the way Summers explored love/ desire/ the idea of being a woman in a man’s world, questioning and ridiculing our ingrained gender norms through one woman’s journey of finding her power through criminality and cannibalism.
Other reviews have described Dorothy (the main character) as pretentious and unlikable but I loved her- she’s a menopausal food critic of course that’s going to be the case! Her vast vocab, detailed descriptions of elaborate cooking techniques and restaurant experiences only added to the story and character depth imo.
I love when a book is told from such a passionate perspective that it makes you begin to rationalise behaviour that you previously would have thought unthinkable, Dorothy was an icon (I support women’s wrongs) and reading her ramblings felt like such an insight into the mind of a psychopath.
Absolutely loved it !!
‘Over trays of Bonnie Bell Lip Smackers and mountains of cooling fries, I learned that being female is as prefab, thoughtless, soulless, and abjectly capitalist as a Big Mac. It's not important that it's real. It's only important that it's tasty.’
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Gore, Murder, Violence, Cannibalism, and Animal death