A Certain Hunger - Chelsea G. Summers

This book follows food writer Dorothy Daniels, who is also a convicted serial killer. Daniels narrates the story of her crimes from prison, moving back and forth in time between her life behind bars and the life that led to her imprisonment: specifically the food she ate, including eating men. (link)

Review: 4/5

I was recommended this book by my former coworkers and fellow book lovers, Tori and Courtney. Around our office, this book is well known as one of Tori’s favorite books ever; she even has a copy under her computer monitor on her desk. Tori’s recommendations don’t come lightly; so I had an inkling it would be good without knowing anything about it besides it was a “girl-boss” book.

Let’s get one thing straight, I have a love/hate relationship with anything to do with “girl-boss”ing; I’d like to acknowledge that it’s the inherent feminist in me. Some “girlbossing” can feel too performative… like a rewrite of Hawkey into a young woman (and I’m not here saying I hated that show... but actually, yeah, I am saying I hated it.) I want real emotion, real bad bitches that are just women or girls by coincidence. I think A Certain Hunger proved that a “girl-boss” can be not cheesy, and can actually make women feel empowered (for all the wrong reasons).

I ADORED how Dorothy drew her knowledge of food critiquing into her man-eating. Every time she spoke about the relation in her fine dining and cannibalistic home meals, I was drawn in more and more. I think that’s the appeal of reading about a lifestyle you’re intrigued by, but won’t ever get to experience yourself. We gobble the cannaballist shit up (pun intended) because we know we are too cowardly to partake.

This book is a prime example of getting the consumer/reader to side with your villain. I was queasy most of it, but for some reason I still rooted for Daniels. I was hungry, and this book was a full buffet of women empowerment and ego. The only thing I didn’t like about this fake-memoir was the time jumping. I was confused on the setting a few times; but this is most likely a side-effect of me being bad at adapting, as I eventually caught on.

If there’s anything I think of when I hear “murderer girl-boss, but well deserved” it’s Florence and the Machine. As a big F+TM fan (luckily seeing the magic live with my own two eyes!) I feel the “badass cannibal woman” title can be well applied to Ms. Florence Welch. I could start a fan-page just for Florence Welch on her own, but this isn’t that. I also felt a lot of the emotion of Big Thief and even some Beyonce leaking into this fake-memoir. I think the term “suffering but in a girlboss way” makes the most sense as a genre title, if you really needed me to hammer the nail in more. So, digest the feelings of women suffering, feel the fat of it enter your bloodstream, and clog up those arteries.

Spotify: LINK