Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

9 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Racism, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, Gore, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault

blackcatkai's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Classism, Rape, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Ableism, Racial slurs, Racism, Acephobia/Arophobia, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Gore, Murder, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual assault, Outing, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Mental illness, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Cancer, Homophobia, Antisemitism, Drug use, Cannibalism, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Transphobia

brianareads's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, and Murder

Minor: Racism, Racial slurs, and Antisemitism

celelisechap's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Xenophobia, and Racial slurs

silentprincess's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Cannibalism, Murder, and Gore

Minor: Racism and Racial slurs

nochnitsa's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Cannibalism, Car accident, Gore, Rape, and Animal death

Moderate: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Racial slurs

owenwilsonbaby's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious 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

3.75

"I learned that being female is as prefab, thoughtless, soulless, and abjectly capitalistic as a Big Mac. It's not important that it's real. It's only important that it's tasty."

Though I struggled with the narrative voice at times, which read a little like a hardboiled detective/pulp narrator, Summers has written something really special. A Certain Hunger is undoubtedly dark, but has a lot to say both directly and indirectly about female psychopathy, the hunger of womanhood, what cannibalism can symbolise culturally and the dangers of white girlboss feminism taken too far. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Murder, Cannibalism, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Xenophobia, Racism, and Racial slurs

jjreads331's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious 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

4.0

Apropos of the subject matter, I devoured this book. Dorothy has an incredibly distinct narrative voice, and I appreciated the faux memoir satire of it all. The writing about both food and murder and sex was visceral, sensual, and a little bit over the top. There were certainly parts that made me want to vomit a bit, but the descriptions of the food brought me right back in. A fun quick read for a darker sense of humor.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Cannibalism, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Rape, Antisemitism, Alcohol, Animal death, Cursing, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

varo's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Violence, Rape, Murder, and Gore

Minor: Drug use and Racial slurs