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.

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256 pages

Average rating: 6.77

161 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

lizac
Dec 09, 2024
8/10 stars
woahhh here she comes. she’s a maneater…literally LOL. make sure you know what you’re getting into with this one. check those content warnings!!!
gigireadshorror
Nov 26, 2024
8/10 stars
She ATE.
chealeesanch
Sep 19, 2024
3/10 stars
Very strange book
mimiscrr
Aug 28, 2024
8/10 stars
I know I wont forget about this book for a while, and the way it spoke about femininity, female connections in society, and explorations of cannibalism as symbolism for love (imo at least). I loved the way you sort of flip flop between liking the narrator, Dorothy, to questioning her behaviours. The ending with Dorothy and Emma ripped my heart out, and I can't help but love this book so much. The horror, the writing, the characters, all of it was just *chef kiss* for me.
KBenoit
May 17, 2024
10/10 stars
That was different

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