She’s Always Hungry is a collection of eleven short stories that vary in terms of horror level but all swim in the same sordid pool of morbid and satirical humor. 

 

As you might imagine from the title, the central theme to this collection is the feeling of hunger, even if that hunger is presented in different forms. If you feel that this theme might be a sensitive topic for you, Clark has included a content guide for each story (in the digital file I read it was in the back, but you could click on a link in the front matter of the book to get there). 

 

This collection starts off with a fantastically gross and humorous story written almost like it was a video made by a social media influencer called “Build a Body Like Mine”. This influencer has a guaranteed way for you to lose weight and keep it off while allowing you to eat anything you want. She even has a subscriber program. She even has a discount code. She doesn’t even gatekeep the secret to her success. She’s just so proud of her creation. 5⭐️ 

 

“The Problem Solver” definitely hit close to home, being a story of a man who insists his female friend tell him her story and then inserts himself in her business even when she asks him not to. The man obviously has a need to virtue signal, while the woman is stuck with the aftermath of it. I vocally growled at this pathetic man who needed to feel like someone’s hero. 4⭐️ 

 

“She’s Always Hungry” is probably my favorite story in the collection, a dark fable of misandry, repression, colonization, and how a completely matriarchal society may not run as well as everyone would hope it would. 5⭐️ 

 

“The Shadow Over Little Chitaly” is one of the stories I liked least, and maybe that’s because I just didn’t understand the point all that well. I really can’t describe it better than it being a story about a weird Uber Eats kind of service that keeps getting the food wrong. 3⭐️ 

 

“Hollow Bones” is interesting, but a little slow-moving for this collection. I liked the concept but felt it wasn’t as humorous as the others. It almost didn’t fit in. 3⭐️ 

 

“Goth GF” is my second-favorite story in the whole collection, a tale of a creepy and obsessive bartender who falls in lust with the goth chick who works at the bar with him. His objectification of her is disgusting, even more disgusting than the stereotyping and bullying she receives from their coworkers. The ending of this story had me snorting laughter, because it was both so fitting and it felt really therapeutic. 5⭐️ 

 

“Extinction Event” isn’t funny to me at all, actually. Satirical, yes. Humorous, no. This was actually one of the most horrific stories in the collection because I can’t stand the idea of humanity never learning its lesson. 4⭐️ 

 

“Nightstalkers” is a terrific period-specific short story involving petty crime, internalized and externalized homophobia, and use of hallucinogens. I liked it but didn’t love it. 3⭐️ 

 

“Shake Well” is one of the more descriptive stories. If you like pimple popping videos, well, this is pimple popping taken up a notch. Then add in more body horror that involves skin. This is a weird and horrible little story about grooming, drug abuse, pedophilia, and DV. 4⭐️ 

 

“The King” is a fascinating apocalyptic story about a cannibalistic species hidden in our society waiting to rule the world after it ends. There’s some humorous vorarephilia scenes in the beginning that made me chuckle, and the irrepressible optimism the narrator expresses throughout the story is a mix of terrifying and silly. 4⭐️ 

 

“Company Man” is a rather standard self-flagellation versus revenge tale. I’d like to say there was something special about this one but there really wasn’t for me. It was well-written, just like all the stories in this collection, but nothing else about it stood out. 3⭐️ 

 

It’s a great collection, well worth the read. It especially fit my mood right now and I appreciated the dark humor of it all. 

 

I was provided a copy of this title by the publisher and author via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. 

 

File Under: Body Horror/Dark Comedy/Horror/Literary Fiction/Satire/Short Stories