Chelsea G. Summers

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.

A Certain Hunger

james cao

Run to its inevitable end, fecundity will always turn to decay.

tianna

I never saw Alex again. I’d made my decision, and I saw no need to pretend that it was anything other than the death of our relationship. In the end, it came down to this: Alex made me a better person, but I didn't like her. She bored me. I couldn't imagine forty more years with her. I saw her in my imagination, and I wanted to stab her through the heart with something thrilling and awful. So I killed the relationship instead.

This reason is symbolic. In the anthropological trade, it’s called cannibalistic essentialism: the idea that ingestion of human flesh imparts a crucial element. 

To eat people is to get the taste of a Titan. It’s infinite immortalization. It makes a god out of a woman.

Ours is not one of them-no Western European culture openly embraces the eating of people (we will do it on the downlow, though; medicinal cannibalism lives into the twenty-first century). Even in the South Pacific, the cannibal capital of the world, not many cultures continue to practice traditions of cannibalism. It has been bludgeoned out of them, with religion, with laws, and with sticks.

For another Giovanni's insides were out, and much of his outsides were gone trailing down a length of pipe a long metal rod, rebar, I remember some man calling it—sunk into the ground alongside the guardrails. The rebar stuck straight up as a monolith, stood rampant as a needle, gleaming with a dull metallic evil in the light of the pale moon. Impaled, Giovanni hung on the rebar, glistering ominously

The main thing that youth has going for it is porpoise-tight skin. Raw, wide-eyed newness is meaningless. Nostalgia for knowing nothing is asinine; you can't recapture it and you don't want to relive it. Better to sing a song of experience with your burning tiger's heart.

One of the wonderful things about true Italian men is that their default setting is about a cunt hair away from physical violence where their heterosexual bonds are concerned. I do enjoy men with a whiff of menace.

Alli

With our friends, our guard tumbles like acrobats, falls like leaves, and swirls in glittery, dusty eddies. That face we keep up in front of everyone else —family, lovers, husbands or children — we let slide. Our friends see the frailties, the insecurities, the unattractive bits that we have to keep hidden from the rest of the world because — and this is the meat of the matter — it’s hard work to be a woman. 

Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for print media, and for me. 

was really not expecting a Monsanto / DuPont soapbox rant in this book… but here we are 😬

…to take our minds off life's real horrors, like the fact that the pesticides DuPont creates are in essence honeybee genocide. 

Emma and I loved each other with the ferocity borne of a twisted shared history. I have no other explanation for our relationship.

Alex J Wolfgang

Yet women weren't always the angels in the house, and angels weren't always benevolent beings playing harps on the tops of trees. We like to forget that men imprisoned women in the house and expected gratitude in rreturn.

I'll never understand people choosing to eat soulless foods- monsters all, say I, the cannibal.

If ritual cannibalism is metaphor, then metaphoric cannibals abound.

You eat a person because the flesh holds a secret meaning.

land of cock-and it does, the phallus dominates that city's skyline: Roman men strut with unquestioned self-confidence, their limbs decked in crimson, in mustard, in peacock blues and greens, each demanding your gaze but as much as the long penile lines of the skyscraper may define New York City, iť's a place that doesn't care who fucks whom, as long as you do it. Fucking, metaphorical or gla- w to m fe

I gave it a go; you know, when in Rome and all that-Boston was positively seething with lesbiansI don't like to be left free of a fad.

Maria

No man wears a sateen shirt without wanting to be petted

hessensitive

I never saw Alex again. Id made my decision, and I saw no need to pretend that it was anything other than the death of our relationship. In the end, it came down to this: Alex made me a better person, but I didn't like her. She bored me. I couldn't imagine forty more years with her. I saw her in my imagination, and I wanted to stab her through the heart with something thrilling and awful. So I killed the relationship instead.

It took me a little more than a year to realise I’d lost something important when I lost Alex. And that was when I decided to look up Andrew. I like being by myself, you see. I just didn’t want to be alone. And now I never will be. 

My heart became a home, and I did not live there alone. 

With that, I realized Id fallen in love. Because of egg coddlers. With a man I knew from college and had forgotten. It was wild, and I felt exhilarated. I sensed a stirring in the void where my soul Should have been-no great hatching of conscience but a flutter, a breath, a quickening. 

In death, I am closer to them than I ever was in life. I carry them around with me. It's not as if I imagine I can hear them calling, but I do like to converse with their imagined voices. It amuses me to have them agree with me. 

Talking to Andrew, I discovered that my assistant, while only marginally adept at her job, was spectacularly good at being the kind of woman who makes otherwise intelligent men lose their absolute shit. I always marvel at this sort of woman, the sort who accepts total, monogamous devotion like it's her birthright. To my experience, there’s nothing that unites these women- they can be smart as pinstripes or as dumb as fake fur, they can have the classic beauty of a perfectly ripe honey crisp apple or the compelling plainness of a pie. They tend to be skinny; perhaps their performance of appetite suggests comfort with deprivation. Maybe they dupe men into thinking that they, like air plants, don’t need nourishment to survive.  

The writing was flowery in the extreme with a lot of explaining explanations but the story was amazing. I felt confused when the writer was confused, it was wonderful 

Abbi Brown 

This book follows Dorothy Daniels, a food critic who also happens to be a convicted serial killer. With an insatiable appetite for both gourmet cuisine and chaos, she recounts a life filled with culinary delight and chilling confessions. Her dishes weren't just rich in flavour-they held dark secrets, often including a deeply personal ingredient: her past lovers.

This book is steeped in sensory indulgence, blending culinary eloquence with gruesome satire. Dorothy turns meals into art, even when they involve human flesh. The writing is lush, provocative, and rich with vivid food descriptions. Honestly, it's the kind of book that begs to be read with a glass of wine in hand.

This book follows Dorothy Daniels, a food critic who also happens to be a convicted serial killer. With an insatiable appetite for both gourmet cuisine and chaos, she recounts a life filled with culinary delight and chilling confessions. Her dishes weren't just rich in flavour-they held dark secrets, often including a deeply personal ingredient: her past lovers.

This book is steeped in sensory indulgence, blending culinary eloquence with gruesome satire. Dorothy turns meals into art, even when they involve human flesh. The writing is lush, provocative, and rich with vivid food descriptions. Honestly, it's the kind of book that begs to be read with a glass of wine in hand.

A good gory, descriptive, vulgar read. Maybe a few too many similes than I cared for, but this is a great book! I love evil women!

Certain Hunger

its alright. at first i was so into it but then idk what happened in the end, maybe i was disappointed because i was rooting for her? anyways i just didnt like who the book ended thats why its a 3-star rating. like whyd the love of her life pop out of nowhere like that, it didnt really make sense to me and i wasnt amused at all by it. but overall, the book was a fun experience.

so beautifully written. the unique writing style and detailed descriptions of pretty much everything (food, sex, violence) made it a beautiful read. 

by far one of my favorite books for december. every chapter was such a gasping moment. dorothy self aware queen? it was definitely overwhelming with how it was written 

march🐇

This book would likely make a fine screenplay, but as it stands the main character is so insufferable to read about. Entirely self-indulgent and quite frankly boring. 

Brynn Sklar

The writing was good, a little flowery. Overall the story fell flat and I found myself bored a lot while reading. This book is less than 300 pages and it felt like it would never end. I think I just expected this story to be more gripping with such an interesting premise?? I’m left feeling disappointed with this one, but happy to have read a book that’s been on my shelf for 2+ years. 

It was okay. Some good quotes.

The writing was good, a little flowery. Overall the story fell flat and I found myself bored a lot while reading. This book is less than 300 pages and it felt like it would never end. I think I just expected this story to be more gripping with such an interesting premise?? I’m left feeling disappointed with this one, but happy to have read a book that’s been on my shelf for 2+ years. 

the first chapter of this book was so irritating i almost DNF’ed it but i’m glad i kept going because the rest of the book is much less heavy handed stylistically 

mallorie 🦌

Original writing style, which was the best part for me. Plot was a bit predictable and repetitive, sometimes nauseating and not in a thrilling way. Felt like the story could have been integrated a bit better and main points weren’t fully fleshed out and were incredibly heavy handed at the end. For book club! 

taylor miles hopkins

what a great book, a definitely must read

Malia

Caroline Williams

Book theme of the month: female rage

Beautiful prose, engaging narrator, genuinely fun to dive into the mind of a female psychopath. Loved discussing this as a group.

Liyah 🤎

A very strange but compelling book. A bit gory for me personally. Enjoyed the prose and gave me lots to think about. Excited to discuss in bookclub!

This book, though short, put me in a reading slump twice. The descriptive nature of it nauseated me, and made it difficult to read more than a couple chapters at a time. However, the ending of this book was fantastic. Everything tied up so nicely and I wasn’t left with a single question. Dorothy is definitely an interesting character and I enjoyed her strong voice. This novel is so unique— I’ve never, and probably never will again, read anything like it.

Abigail Marie

Elisavet Rozaki 

I've never had such a vivid image in my mind while reading a book

maitha mana

the canniblism was so tame, i just wanted more of that “dark” stuff 

envie,

kayla 

I believe in women’s wrongs. Very descriptive when it comes to the how the organs and body parts were prepared and the taste profile. The writing is very dynamic and a bit crass. I like that the language used contrasts the image of the main character and it just shows how much work she put into keeping it. Very funny. 

definitivamente foi diferente do que eu esperava, mas isso é bem comum entre as minhas leituras, já que tenho costume de não procurar saber tudo sobre um livro antes de ler ele, gosto da sensação de ir descobrindo sobre enquanto leio. 

a escrita me agradou bastante, mas imagino que talvez não seja o tipo de livro que vá prender a atenção de alguém que prefere uma leitura acelerada, os capítulos não são entediantes mas são desenvolvidos de forma lenta e a narração é bem paciente.

é como uma versão feminina de american psycho, inclusive apesar de não ter lido o livro, eu suponho que a narração deles deva ter suas semelhanças. foi uma leitura que eu gostei, mas preciso admitir que eu tinha expectativas um pouco mais altas quando quis ler.

gosto muito de como a quantidade de informações sobre personagem foi distribuída cautelosamente, era como se realmente a cada página lida o leitor entendesse mais o funcionamento da mente conturbada da dorothy ( protagonista e narradora ), e as razões “justificando” seus pensamentos, suas ações e as consequências de tudo. achei legal a ironia dela ser canibal e crítica de gastronomia, deu um toque hannibal para a trama ( apesar de que os dois não tem nem comparação no meu ponto de vista ), também gostei de como a obsessão dela por comida e alimentação é algo demonstrado desde o começo do livro de uma maneira que faz você ficar imerso nessa linha de raciocínio onde algo tão cotidiano o quanto a alimentação tem um vasto significado na vida dela.

gosto de toda a desenvoltura inicial do livro, onde se descobre que ela saiu de uma vida onde sua alimentação vinha direto da fazenda para a sua mesa, fazendo seu passado contrastar com a ação de se revelar uma serial killer canibal que abraçou seu senso extremo de superioridade, o começo foi minha parte favorita. 

camille menezes

definitivamente foi diferente do que eu esperava, mas isso é bem comum entre as minhas leituras, já que tenho costume de não procurar saber tudo sobre um livro antes de ler ele, gosto da sensação de ir descobrindo sobre enquanto leio. 

a escrita me agradou bastante, mas imagino que talvez não seja o tipo de livro que vá prender a atenção de alguém que prefere uma leitura acelerada, os capítulos não são entediantes mas são desenvolvidos de forma lenta e a narração é bem paciente.

é como uma versão feminina de american psycho, inclusive apesar de não ter lido o livro, eu suponho que a narração deles deva ter suas semelhanças. foi uma leitura que eu gostei, mas preciso admitir que eu tinha expectativas um pouco mais altas quando quis ler.

gosto muito de como a quantidade de informações sobre personagem foi distribuída cautelosamente, era como se realmente a cada página lida o leitor entendesse mais o funcionamento da mente conturbada da dorothy ( protagonista e narradora ), e as razões “justificando” seus pensamentos, suas ações e as consequências de tudo. achei legal a ironia dela ser canibal e crítica de gastronomia, deu um toque hannibal para a trama ( apesar de que os dois não tem nem comparação no meu ponto de vista ), também gostei de como a obsessão dela por comida e alimentação é algo demonstrado desde o começo do livro de uma maneira que faz você ficar imerso nessa linha de raciocínio onde algo tão cotidiano o quanto a alimentação tem um vasto significado na vida dela.

gosto de toda a desenvoltura inicial do livro, onde se descobre que ela saiu de uma vida onde sua alimentação vinha direto da fazenda para a sua mesa, fazendo seu passado contrastar com a ação de se revelar uma serial killer canibal que abraçou seu senso extremo de superioridade, o começo foi minha parte favorita. 



reneé amelia 

sex and cannibalism (she’s so real for that)

People are on this “movement” for and against dropping books. I have been, am, and probably always will be a quitter to a certain extent. SO let’s talk about why I gave up on this book. 

First off, I can handle sex but making it ti chapter three and reading the comparison of cum to donut glaze really did it for me. It was simply too much for my mind. I originally wanted to read this book for the sake of eating and thoughts of expression, but the sex stuff was just a lot for me. 

I also disliked the writing style (personally) BUT it does work so well for the narrative voice. 

People are on this “movement” for and against dropping books. I have been, am, and probably always will be a quitter to a certain extent. SO let’s talk about why I gave up on this book. 

First off, I can handle sex but making it ti chapter three and reading the comparison of cum to donut glaze really did it for me. It was simply too much for my mind. I originally wanted to read this book for the sake of eating and thoughts of expression, but the sex stuff was just a lot for me. 

I also disliked the writing style (personally) BUT it does work so well for the narrative voice. 

A Certain Hunger

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