Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

93 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.

essie101's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Death, Gore, Violence, Cannibalism, and Murder

Minor: Cancer and Death of parent

alexiasambrano's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.75

A beautifully written book about the darkest and most horrific actions a human being could ever partake in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, and Death of parent

thenoboshow's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Cannibalism, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

The writing captured the pretention of the writers career in food journalism. As most people who eat with their eyes I feel like I could have been more excited about the storytelling in a visual format like a movie or TV show. Living in the head of the main character didn't give us the space to empathize with her nor the distance to understand the charisma that must have existed to allow her to move through the world as she did. A third perspective would have really served.

pantrat's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

addie's review against another edition

dark funny 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Car accident and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cancer and Death of parent

courtnyklly's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

• unreliable narrator
• characters you hate 
• over descriptive food talk that will leave you hungry 
• over descriptive murder and gore that will leave you reeling 
• chaotic evil female energy 
• burn the patriarchy taken to the absolute extreme
• bizarre hannibal lector vibes if hannibal lector was an upper class white woman in her 40s 

but also:
• long tangents that are mostly irrelevant sub-information
• an unshocking “twist”
• two murders that we didn’t get to hear about that i would’ve preferred over some of the random stuff that was included
• a slow moving (sometimes confusing) account of the life of someone who is extremely unlikeable except for the fact you want to know how she ended up in prison

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

ingridreadss's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Car accident, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, Antisemitism, and Death of parent

mcrespo's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.5

despite the main character being insufferably hypocritical, arrogant, smug, and a truly evil white woman down to her core, i thought that this novel so wonderfully described the complexities of feminine rage, love, and female friendships. summers' prose is rich and a sensory delight, however, i found that at times, the descriptions and literary devices summers employed detracted from the storyline. the repetition became tedious, and the descriptions dragged on for paragraphs at a time. i found myself frequently fighting the urge to skip over a large chunk of text that went into great detail on the process of preparing and consuming duck confit or baked alaska. i can appreciate the way that food tied into this novel, and i understand the importance of creating this idiosyncratic description of food to immerse the reader, but at times, it definitely detracted from the real meat of the story. overall, i was happy to have read this, and i loved the way that themes of love and female relationships were explored, even through this really unlikable character. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cancer and Death of parent

danpolta's review against another edition

dark funny reflective 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

Girlboss American Psycho describes our narrator, Dorothy Daniels. A professed psychopath, the character takes us through the men she murdered, what she wanted from them, and what made her do it.

I really enjoyed the parts where the author uses the character to describe depraved thoughts and feelings through an unreliable narrator who insists that we all feel the same hungers. At her best, you can feel sympathetic toward the drive to cannibalism. At her worst, it feels like gore porn for misandrists.

The build up to the narrator ending up in jail (revealed at the start of the book) feels well-earned, and there are a few Chekhov guns for the mystery-loving attentive reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Antisemitism