3.5
A Certain Hunger
ByPublisher Description
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’s A Certain Hunger introduces us to the food world’s most charming psychopath and an exciting new voice in fiction.
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’s A Certain Hunger introduces us to the food world’s most charming psychopath and an exciting new voice in fiction.
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3.5
I Blame Sonia
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“A Certain Hunger kept surprising me with each chapter. I enjoyed the slow uncovering of Dorothy's character and seeing both her brutal, as well as softer side. I didn't mind jumping the timelines either, although it made me confused about the chain of events at times. The writing was relatively dense, but this book has so many memorable quotes and paragraphs. It sucked me in completely and I didn't look at any other book while reading this.”
Crixby
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Ren_WordWonderer
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“This book was not it for me. It took me forever to finish, and honestly? It could’ve been 50 pages shorter if we cut out all the unnecessary fluff. 🥱
I love a good unhinged girlboss, but this one? 🥴 The plot had potential (the blurb totally got me), but the execution was flat and painfully boring. 🤷🏻♀️
But my biggest gripe? The endless descriptions of food. I get it, she’s a food critic, but do I really need a step-by-step guide on how to eat shrimp or slice meat? No 🙅🏻♀️ I signed up for girlboss cannibalism, not a fancy food blog. I feel like the author was trying to sound sophisticated with all the deep words and bougie food names, but it just felt… pretentious. 🫣
And the FMC? She thinks she’s the smartest person in the room. Like, full-on “I am better than all of you, peasants” energy. Which would’ve been fine if she actually was extraordinary. But apart from eating men? She’s just kinda there 🫠
That said, I did enjoy some of the feminist one-liners—highlighted a few gems ✨ But beyond that? Nah. The FMC didn't slay, she's insufferable.
The ending, her relationship with her one friend, and the love of her life? Those parts were good 🤍 But overall? It’s the execution for me 🙃 2 stars”About Chelsea G. Summers
Chelsea G. Summers is a freelance writer whose work focuses on sex, politics, tech, fashion and culture. She is a former academic and professor with Ph.D. training in eighteenth-century British literature, a discipline that has proven to be shockingly useful when writing about contemporary culture. She was a columnist for the now defunct ADULT magazine, has a piece upcoming in Roxane Gay’s Medium series, and her work has appeared in VICE, Fusion, Hazlitt, The New Republic, Racked, and The Guardian. She splits her time between New York and Stockholm, Sweden, and can be found on twitter @chelseagsummers. This is her first novel.
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