A Certain Hunger
One of Vanity Fair's Books That Will Get You Through This Winter
"One of the most uniquely fun and campily gory books in my recent memory... A Certain Hunger has the voice of a hard-boiled detective novel, as if metaphor-happy Raymond Chandler handed the reins over to the sexed-up femme fatale and really let her fly." --The New York Times Food critic Dorothy Daniels loves what she does. Discerning, meticulous, and very, very smart, Dorothy's clear mastery of the culinary arts make it likely that she could, on any given night, whip up a more inspired dish than any one of the chefs she writes about. Dorothy loves sex as much as she loves food, and while she has struggled to find a long-term partner that can keep up with her, she makes the best of her single life, frequently traveling from Manhattan to Italy for a taste of both. But there is something within Dorothy that's different from everyone else, and having suppressed it long enough, she starts to embrace what makes Dorothy uniquely, terrifyingly herself. Recounting her life from a seemingly idyllic farm-to-table childhood, the heights of her career, to the moment she plunges an ice pick into a man's neck on Fire Island, Dorothy Daniels show us what happens when a woman finally embraces her superiority. A satire of early foodieism, a critique of how gender is defined, and a showcase of virtuoso storytelling, Chelsea G. Summers' A Certain Hunger introduces us to the food world's most charming psychopath and an exciting new voice in fiction.
BUY THE BOOK
Join a book club that is reading A Certain Hunger!
Community Reviews
What Bookclubbers are saying about this book
✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI
Readers say *A Certain Hunger* by Chelsea G. Summers offers a provocative, darkly humorous narrative with a striking, poetic style that many find memo...
I’m biased because I audited 20 seasons of a cooking show for a previous job, so gastronomic bloviation gets on my nerves rather quickly.
•Dorothy kills four men for reasons that amount to ego, entitlement, and boredom.
•She never grows, never questions herself, never contradicts her own mythology.
•The “big explanation” of why she is the way she is comes at the very end and is shallow, rushed, and generic.
•Emma’s letter + Dorothy’s reaction (“life is unfair because Emma gets to eat lunch outside prison”) actually makes Dorothy look even worse, which was a feat.
•The ending reinforces that she’s a narcissist who sees herself as the primary victim in a story where she’s the only predator.
•Her voice never stops sounding like a magazine profile of herself.
•The “confession” format collapses because she’s too self-conscious to confess anything real.
•Dorothy kills four men for reasons that amount to ego, entitlement, and boredom.
•She never grows, never questions herself, never contradicts her own mythology.
•The “big explanation” of why she is the way she is comes at the very end and is shallow, rushed, and generic.
•Emma’s letter + Dorothy’s reaction (“life is unfair because Emma gets to eat lunch outside prison”) actually makes Dorothy look even worse, which was a feat.
•The ending reinforces that she’s a narcissist who sees herself as the primary victim in a story where she’s the only predator.
•Her voice never stops sounding like a magazine profile of herself.
•The “confession” format collapses because she’s too self-conscious to confess anything real.
First 1/5th was good, a unique voice at the start.
Had some nice feminism, excellent Hannibal references and this gem:
“The truth is a feral cat, it wants to get out; it wants to bite you…”
But after the meta references and sartorial comments it was insanely repetitive. The second half is painful to read because of this predictability.
Im very much over this faux memoir genre; it is neither a good work of fiction nor a good memoir.
Had some nice feminism, excellent Hannibal references and this gem:
“The truth is a feral cat, it wants to get out; it wants to bite you…”
But after the meta references and sartorial comments it was insanely repetitive. The second half is painful to read because of this predictability.
Im very much over this faux memoir genre; it is neither a good work of fiction nor a good memoir.
My favorite book of the year. So many quotes on the female experience. The author wrote this beautifully and the main character was amazing
The end where she couldn’t get engaged to Alex (the one man she loved) because she felt she’d loose herself is what makes my book of the year.
Seriously amazing and I already want to reread it
The end where she couldn’t get engaged to Alex (the one man she loved) because she felt she’d loose herself is what makes my book of the year.
Seriously amazing and I already want to reread it
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.