Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - A Certain Hunger

holy shit. this book was as vile, graphic and brutal as it was brilliant - which is to say, extremely.
cynical, self-conscious, unflinching, and surprisingly profound.

dorothy was hilarious, and absolutely crazy. and the worst thing is, the whole book was also incredibly and excruciatingly thrilling. i was having fun watching a mad cannibalist skin her lover. i was having a jolly old time while reading about this psychopathic woman eating human meat and analyzing it as if it were just any other ordinary (and with ordinary i mean sophisticated and *italian*) meal.
it was horrible and so entertaining.

it was a very slow book though with a lot of detailed descriptions, sautéed in a sauce of names, places and meals i've never even heard of (did i do that right?). it was a little unrelatable, or maybe i'm just uncultured. probably both since i do believe i'm not a psychopath so relating to this woman would be a little disconcerting.

anyways, fun read.

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stumacherirl's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious medium-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

So pretentious. Loved certain parts and wanted to see more about them but they weren't focused on. The character is SUPPOSED to be pretentious but the writing isn't. Had several moments where I rolled my eyes, not because of the character monologuing, but because of what the author was trying to say. Satire isn't satire when it starts to genuinely emulate what it is trying to laugh at. Nonetheless, she is a girlboss, so she gets an extra two stars. I would let her kill and eat me.

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tatimarie8284's review against another edition

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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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killmoore_'s review against another edition

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Okay. I struggled with this one. Not because it's poorly written, or that it lacks a good narrative. Not that the premise isn't absolute perfection. I wasn't turned off by the gore. I wasn't offended. If this was written in any other style, I would have devoured this book in a single sitting. I wanted so desperately to love it.

However.

This book reads like a young person trying to squeeze as many derogatory words into 200-something pages as they possibly can. It feels... greasy. It doesn't feel like feminist grit. It tries too hard to portray psychopathy. It's a mess. The gore is the best part, and it really is well written, it's just every other aspect of this book that made me shut it.

Will I pick it back up someday? Probably. The only reason I didn't finish it was due to an inability to renew this and another novel which I'd much rather fly through before returning them.

Would I actively recommend this? No. I understand why people love it, it's just truly not for me.

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emmagrace012's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

Honestly loved it. So enjoyable to read, if a bit grandiloquent. Really enjoyed the immersive character experience and the overall plot lines.

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snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

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dark funny 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

4.75

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abundance_of_fiction's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

3.0

Almost a 4 stars but more like 3.5. This book was short but the pacing still felt slow due to the monologue and narration. As a serial killer/thriller fan it was entertaining to see the author weave in many of these infamous women into her story and how they related to Dorothy. Reading about this psychopathic cannibal was both grotesque but intriguing as far as a narrative goes. Dark but engaging.

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xiumillion's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective 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

4.0

This book was a hard read at times. There were a couple of instances in which I had to cover my eyes while reading, which is not something I thought was possible. I also skipped a couple of paragraphs because of the graphic nature of some of the scenes, and I just couldn't get through them without feeling sick. I texted my boyfriend often about how sick the book made me feel and how it was so hard to get through. I was also fully convinced I would come out of this book not really caring for it much, but not disliking it. Somehow, I found Dorothy to be a lovable character by the end of it, which is something I never expected to feel about a character who is a self-proclaimed

cannibalistic psychopath

. Yet, here we are. The author has a very distinct voice and I think this book will stick with me.

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