Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

14 reviews

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

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

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

tatimarie8284's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

it honestly took me a while to get into, the first day i got it i was struggling to read the first chapter because i wasn’t expecting the writing style but after i got past it it was such a page turner! couldn’t put it down! it was so uncomfortably descriptive it made it easy to put yourself in her world even though you wouldn’t want to. definitely one worth reading but not if you have a weak stomach 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Car accident, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Blood, Violence, Animal death, Cancer, Sexual harassment, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Terminal illness, Body horror, Death of parent, Excrement, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, and Gore

lilawsahar's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative tense slow-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? It's complicated

2.5

I loved that it felt like the character was talking to me. It was like gossiping with your best friend but your best friend was obsessed with food and sex and herself; and you just wanna hear about her murders. I loved that she had one loyal friend through it all and that was her Achilles heel. I didn’t get her story with Alex. I wanted that scratched; it didn’t add anything for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Murder, Sexual content, and Cannibalism

Minor: Rape, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Body horror, and Sexual harassment

blackcatkai's review

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

itsheyfay's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.75

My head is still reeling from this 😵‍💫 It was funny and sharp, but it took me all over the place with its pacing and random interludes of memory/commentary.

Either way, I’m going to be thinking about this for a while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Death, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Car accident, Gore, Infidelity, Murder, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexism

Minor: Cancer, Antisemitism, and Death of parent

rachael03's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

lilacwhisker's review against another edition

dark funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

Pretty enjoyable! Really picks up near the end as well. I enjoyed how relatable Dorothy was (which I think in part is why this book is so popular) and, despite the murders, really enjoyed hearing her talk about her life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Death of parent, Cannibalism, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Stalking

Moderate: Cancer and Confinement

Minor: Animal death

raquelcanread's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Stalking, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual harassment

rach_lind's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

5.0

Wow. It's objectively horrifying and yet absolutely fantastic. You're hooked almost immediately and stay there throughout. Good and interestin ending, great reveaks and surprises. Shocking at times, hilarious, and relatable too. 

The only thing that was a bit irritating was coming across a word every other page that I had to underline and look up. And I feel like I have a pretty decent vocab. So prepare for that--but it seems also to be purposeful in its parody of extravagant food writers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Sexual content, Infidelity, Drug use, Death of parent, Death, Cancer, Body horror, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, Violence, Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, Blood, Stalking, and Car accident

jdf1027's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny tense medium-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

4.75

I'm a little ashamed at how many times I laughed and how many times I was turned on. Gruesome but infatuating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Rape, Death, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Car accident, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Cannibalism, Violence, Murder, Cancer, Gore, and Terminal illness

Minor: Antisemitism