Reviews tagging 'Classism'

La Vorace by Chelsea G. Summers

20 reviews

vixenreader's review against another edition

challenging dark lighthearted tense 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

4.0

As distasteful of a novel as going to a slaughterhouse to see where your steak comes from, it is still a compelling character study about the worst person to serve at any fine dining establishment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Fatphobia, Rape, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting

Minor: Drug use, Excrement, Police brutality, and Medical content

Be aware that this text deals with sex intermingling with slaughter, bigotry towards polyamory, rimming, BDSM, butchering humans for food, imprisonment, tasteless sexual quips, and self-righteous opinions about food.

culpeppper's review against another edition

dark slow-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

1.75

To sum it up in one word, this book was excessive. 

Loved the

cannibalism and symbolism related to partaking in the act of it

but the rest was boring or felt slightly offensive.

Wasserman, the female black cop, was treated so weirdly. The author was fixed on her Blackness, and described her hair constantly and weirdly. Also compared her to a horse multiple time so?????

Dorothy tells the narrative in a weird, jumpy way I got used to, but it took away any thrill or surprise because she would just tell you whatever she was going to do in a summary, then go onto explain it in more tedious prose. Maybe true crime readers who like a #girlboss story will like it, but the story fell flat after about 8 chapters for me, and a lot of the "profound" shit was underwhelming but so tedious to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Blood, Cannibalism, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Violence, Excrement, and Antisemitism

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Racism, Vomit, and Classism

amalauna's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

emmas_reads_'s review against another edition

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

2.5

wow. this book was long. but short (thank god for that)! Summers sure knows how to write pretentious, unlikeable, unstable characters. and that is exactly what dorothy daniels is.

dorothy daniels is a sex-loving, borderline women-hating, antisemetic, racist, lesbophobic, and classist food snob. this book is supposed to be about dorothy critiquing women’s role in society. she brings up how she thinks monogamy is boring, that she won’t have kids, that she refuses to marry, that men are useful for sex, food, and manipulation and that’s about it. it honestly felt like dorothy hated women who decided to decided to do all of these things with men - the amount of times i wrote “just say you hate women and go” is astonishing for a book critiquing women’s gender roles in society.

the feminism in this book is more outright and blatant instead of the subtle critique i was hoping for. this felt just like the barbie (albeit with a cannibalistic serial murderess) - feminism 101.

the writing is…something. the author often shows what is unnecessary (food descriptions) and tells what is (emma and dorothy’s friendship developments). representations, descriptions, and comparisons are made with one of two things: food or genitalia. it’s very offputting - not necessarily uncomfortable but i did think it got excessive. i think the pretentiousness of the writing fit with dorothy’s characterization though, so even if it was a slog to get through i appreciate it.

i did enjoy the cannibalism (of which i do wish there was more of) and murder though. it’s why i bought this book in the first place. that part definitely delivered, and for that i’m thankful. delightfully sickening!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Racism, Violence, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Classism

carlomartinez__'s review against another edition

challenging dark tense 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

5.0

Read the trigger warnings! Not for the squeamish, sensitive, or faint of heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

nad_books623's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This was the most soul sucking and dark book I've ever read. The writing style was so good that I didn't want to put it down, but it was so hard to finish. Dorothy is incredibly insufferable, smart and somewhat self aware. I would say only read this book if you're in a good head space because, of how much detail his book goes into. I originally wanted to rate this book a 4 because, it's nothing I've ever read before and the writing was amazing. I had to knock it down because, of how disgusting this book is and the evil things the main character did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infertility, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

This book goes into deep detail about murdering people and animals being killed for food.

bando_bauldio's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Classism

lucylou's review against another edition

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

2.5

Crazy read. Interesting enough to finish, but my eyes glazed over a few times reading this, mainly around the 2/3rd mark. A pretentious main character who loves to talk and meander got pretty boring. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism

abicaro17's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

The last 25% of the book was very gripping and intriguing. Unfortunately most of the book had me checking my progress and seeing if it was over yet. Im usually a sucker for a gruesome murder which this book technically delivers but, the descriptions of literally anything and everything take up most of the book. Its almost repetitive and it took a lot of self control not to skim the book. Plus the amount of times Dorothy was just like "oh yeah this happened anyways back to this food" was annoying as fuck. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

ciaranolio's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny fast-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

A comic horror novel written as a cannibal food critic's memoir, reminiscent in ways of American Psycho, darkly funny in places and deeply off-putting in others. Very vivid writing style and truly excellent food descriptions were a delight to me, but my reading experience was somewhat marred by the book's reputation as a feminist girlboss-type story, especially when considering the fact that the protagonist (who, don't get me wrong, is as entertaining as they come, but most certainly not a girlboss in my mind) actively commits a hate crime.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism