spherocytosis's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Cannibalism, Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Car accident, Death of parent, and Cancer
Minor: Toxic friendship
holycinema's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Murder, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Cannibalism, Rape, and Sexual violence
nkoss's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Torture, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Stalking, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Gore, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, and Sexual violence
abundance_of_fiction's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Gore, Violence, Mental illness, and Cannibalism
Minor: Toxic relationship, Ableism, Toxic friendship, Antisemitism, Cancer, and Fire/Fire injury
lizzym126's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Murder, Violence, Cannibalism, Physical abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
blackcatkai's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
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.
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
bitchigo's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Cannibalism, and Car accident
Minor: Torture and Toxic friendship
wormgirl's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Cannibalism and Murder
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Gore, Violence, Mental illness, Blood, and Sexual content
perplexed's review against another edition
1.5
Also, sure, have a psycho main character but at least TRY and make them a wee bit engaging and not just a raging rude bitch
ALSO ???? bruh this book just screamed of someone being like "hey I want this word to be something better lemme just grab my thesaurus" and I h a t e that. Use big words sure, but when your sentences are filled with like 4 or 5 instances of that happening stop. Just stop. Put the thesaurus down and use words humans know.
Genuinely still don't understand how this book is feminist other than like
Spoiler
yay main milf character kills and eats men???Also - last point I promise, how was a book about a cannibal food critic this dull??? Like that's already such a darkly comic theme ?? Please I just don't get how many 5* reviews this book gets p L e a s e
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Cannibalism
autumngk's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Spoiler
after she’s adjusted to prison life during their group when the arsonist is telling her story and some of the other women are talking and Dorothy reveals a possible change in her feelings about what she’s done/herself. It’s not worthy of a sequel, just a couple more chapters here and there. While what we’re left with is a complete picture, it felt like there were just some missed opportunities. So many offers were put up in the air by introducing her in the present as working in the library; especially given her relationship with Emma, it felt unfinished in a way. We know so much about her while she’s cannibalizing and murdering these men senselessly, but it feels pointless to still know her while she’s imprisoned and know so little about her in the present. She still has the same voice. She still speaks the same about humanity. What about her changed? if nothing did, why this story? Why now? Just to sell cannibal torture porn?Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Violence, Cannibalism, Classism, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Stalking, Torture, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Forced institutionalization