A Certain Hunger

Dorothy is the novel’s first-person narrator, who frequently addresses the reader. Although her story is sensationalistic, and she describes herself as both a sociopath and a psychopath, Dorothy is a reliable narrator: She doesn’t spare the details of her crimes or perspectives. Indeed, part of the chill of her character is the frank manner in which she discusses her appetites. Dorothy conveys an emotional distance from most of the events of her life. For instance, she describes the experience of being raped in Italy as “fascinating,” as if it existed outside of her (66).

Dorothy’s primary characteristics are hedonism, selfishness, a need for constant stimulation, vanity, and intelligence. Her primary weakness is her inability to resist her appetites for too long: “My fondness for gratification has always been my downfall” (98). Dorothy cannot throw herself into a project that does not gratify her appetites or appeal to her vanity, which, for her, includes having a child or a long-term relationship.

Dorothy’s observational skills make her a skilled predator. While men think they are winning her over with suave seduction, she is gathering data on them, flattering their worst impulses, and satisfying her own desires. She understands people, and men in particular, to an acute degree, which helps in her crimes and her façade of normalcy.