Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - A Certain Hunger

i had so many thoughts while reading this, and now i have none. this is a freaking work of art, as messed up as it may be. i must admit i skimmed the overly-descriptive meals, but the rest i. ate. up. like a woman starved

dorothy, you psycho, “maneater” is your song

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svnn's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

3.0

Carrie Bradshaw + Anthony Bourdain + Hannibal =

The first 100 pages or so felt like quite a slog to get through, but I’m glad that I did as the rest of the book was pretty good. There just felt like so much filler throughout the book that really bogged it down for me and felt quite vapid, overly detailed, and ultimately unimportant to the plot.

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culpeppper's review against another edition

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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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casualvamp's review against another edition

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challenging 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

2.0

For a book about cannibalism, it turned out to be surprisingly uneventful. Not at all what I was expecting from this book, I must say I'm disappointed. The pacing is increeeeedibly slow, making it a tedious read. The main character is insufferable; while I understand we are meant to dislike her because she's a murderer, her annoying personality made me almost give up on the book. Also, the way Dorothy describes sex made me want to vomit.

"As I tasted the bleach-and-umami flavor of his precum" —girl, what?

It felt more like reading a pretentious early '90s food magazine than a novel about a literal psychopath.

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carlomartinez__'s review against another edition

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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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nad_books623's review against another edition

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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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readinghoneybee's review against another edition

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dark fast-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

2.5

For a book that’s marketed as a female rage novel with lots of cannibalism, there wasn’t much female rage or cannibalism. Food critic turned psycho killer cannibal, sounds great! However, I was disappointed. With the hype surrounding it on social media, it didn’t live up to my expectations and I was expecting something more.

It starts off intriguing and I thought it’d be right up my alley with a Basic Instinct vibe straight off the bat. Dorothy, the main character, her inner monologue is repetitive and boring which made for a difficult read. I was expecting a Hannibal Lecter-esque character but I couldn’t cook any interest in her character. After page 100, everything felt the same with long descriptions, sometimes even pages, of the food she eats and the sex she has with little to none about cannibalism, which is what the book is advertised as. Too many pages about food, too many similes and metaphors, too many pages about her lusting over cocks and fucking her lovers with not enough plot to keep me engaged with the story.

The scenes including the killings and cannibalism were the best parts of the book. Each word making you cringe with horror which is exactly what you expect from a thriller novel. Some parts were good with brilliant quotes but I felt like I couldn’t appreciate them because I wasn’t enjoying it. I’m usually one for flowery language and writing styles because I love Oscar Wilde but this felt like she vomited a thesaurus on every page.

I wanted to love this book but I didn’t like the execution of the idea. Just because the cover of a book is pretty and coordinates perfectly with the dark academia aesthetic, doesn’t mean you’ll enjoy what’s inside.

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refrejarator's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a really fun read, however the main character is (due to her nature) someone I find intensely unlikeable. The description is fun and wild, and full of gore and torrid sex. I personally dont enjoy constant discussion of genitals outside of smut, and this book had a lot of reflections on genitalia (but this lines up well with the main character).
I'm a vegetarian, and this book at least intrigued me with all the meat and recipe talk. Definitely made me hungry.

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