A Certain Hunger is a debut novel by Chelsea G. Summers which follows a successful food writer. This book is a mock-autobiography, written as if the main character is writing it from prison. The plot follows successful food writer and serial killer Dorothy Daniels. Critics have described it as the feminist cannibal ‘nobody ever asked for’.
“To make Dorothy a cannibal made emotional sense because I was middle aged, I was really angry, and I was specifically angry at men but at the same time, I’m a heterosexual woman and I like men,” Summers said.
Summers has made it clear that this book was not intended to romanticize cannibalism or share some sick fantasy of her own. This book was written with the intention of using the image of consumption to make readers think about the “habitual horrors of idealized womanhood”. Through the main character’s many manipulations and murders, the reader can find a, usually taboo, sense of relatability in the grotesque and perverse pride she feels.
“I wanted to read something that was about a complicated, difficult, menopausal woman who was murderous, and who had a best friend and had complications in her love life and work life, and is just sort of figuring things out, because that’s where I was at,” Summers said.
The dedication of the book is something which has struck a cord with many readers. The book is dedicated to “all the bad girls”. This dedication has found its place in the hearts of readers interested in the complexity of femininity, along with those who have complicated feelings around their own femininity.
“For me, I always considered myself very bad at being a girl. I think that unlikable female protagonists are having their own moment but when I was writing the book, there really weren’t that many. There was Amy Dunne, and that was kind of it,” Summers said.
The double entendre it creates with the term “bad girls” being commonly used within a sexual context also alludes to the nature of the main character. Dorothy Daniels views men as objects for her pleasure, a direct comparison to the way many men in the real world view and discuss women. This aspect of Daniels is one which makes her unlikeable to many, but unlike many protagonists, that’s kind of the point.
“She’s not a role model. She’s not a girl boss. She is a cannibal; she is not supposed to wave a big foam finger for all manners of feminism, but I do think that there is a kind of emotional catharsis. There’s an emotional freeing, there’s a permission that men have always had access to in antiheroes that we have now in these new female protagonists who are difficult and problematic. It’s about time,” Summers said.
As Summers refers to it, this novel brings about a sense of emotional catharsis for readers in the negative aspects of Daniels. She also discusses the positive impact that writing it had on her, giving a greater insight into the emotions, energy, and intention which went into writing the book. This can also give readers a more intentional perspective to think of the book within.
“It was allowing myself to tap into my own worst, most immoral, most scandalous, most disturbing thoughts and feelings, and just letting them rip. Since I finished the book, I was able to pretty much release my anger towards men and to fall in love with somebody and marry them and feel good about the commitment and to make peace with aging in ways that I wasn’t really expecting,” Summers said.
Despite being a breakthrough author, with A Certain Hunger being Summers’ first novel, she has been a nonfiction writer and columnist for much of her literary career. Being 50 years old before starting to write her first fiction novel had Summers a little bit shaken, but her perseverance shows through in her book. A major part of Daniels’ character is the unshakeable confidence which comes along with sociopathy.
“Dorothy’s belief in herself was the wind beneath my wings. That was the thing that powered me finishing the first draft. Once I got into it and really forced myself to do it, it was not so hard. It was really just forcing myself to actually do the work,” Summers said.
Not only is the book itself empowering, acting as encouragement for women to feel their emotions out loud, the story of Summers writing it is great inspiration for any aspiring writer.
“I’m a very insecure writer and one of the things that was really helpful about writing a sociopath who had unshakable faith in herself, was I got to be powered by her confidence,” Summers said.
A Certain Hunger explores topics such as women’s emotions in a very nuanced way, discovering the complexities of womanhood through a sociological lens. This novel dives deep into themes of sexuality, violence, empowerment, and consumption through the use of grotesque imagery. It is an incredibly powerful piece, which any horror lover would adore.
“Women are fed these scripts: we have the Maiden, we have the Mother, and we have the Crone. That’s it, that’s what you are allowed to be. But what if you’re not any of them and what if you still want to find meaning and a place in this world,” Summers said.