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3.37 AVERAGE
3.37 AVERAGE
Good book and I liked how the author used Famine (horseman of the Apocalypse) as a metaphor for Lisa's anorexia.
"Issue" books are very common in the young adult world. Death, drugs, depression, eating disorders...you name it. It gives the author an easy plot arc - start down in the depths and build yourself up to recovery in some fashion.
Hunger is an "issue" book in the sense that the main character Lisa has a severe case of anorexia. It does follow the familiar plot arc, but does so in a unique manner - by incorporating fantasy. Lisa is chosen to be one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Appropriately, she is chosen to be Hunger.
Lisa's anorexia is the dominant theme of this book. Her life revolves around it. She dropped friends who questioned her health and attached herself to bulimic Tammy, who eggs her on. While the reader hates manipulative Tammy, I definitely see why Lisa is friends with her - it's comforting to have someone who understands the way you think and the way you eat. Lisa's inner voice is her constant nemesis. Always telling her that she's not thin enough. To everyone else she looks gaunt, but Lisa's voice points out all her flaws, real and imaginary. The author portrayed the inner voice well, showing just what kept Lisa from eating or changing. I thought it was an accurate reflection of the anorexic frame of mind.
The fantasy aspect - the Horsemen - is quite strange. Lisa wonders around on her horse making people starve to death. It was interesting, although a bit of a stretch. Some fantasies are so well-described that I almost believe it's true no matter how magical it is. Although Hunger is well-written, I never came close to believing it.
I loved Death. He seems like a sensitive thinker who's taken on the image of Kurt Cobain. While I don't want to get close to Death, Death as a person seems pretty cool. Pestilence was creepy, but good for Lisa. He helped her understand that her role as Hunger can either be a force for evil or a force for good. War is evil. Out for herself and full of hatred.
It was interesting how having the power to determine whether people starved or thrived helped Lisa come to terms with her anorexia. While the plot itself is a bit odd, I really liked the path Lisa took to discovering the value of her body and her health. She discovered the meaning of friends and family.
Definitely an interesting novel.
Rating: 3.5 / 5
Hunger is an "issue" book in the sense that the main character Lisa has a severe case of anorexia. It does follow the familiar plot arc, but does so in a unique manner - by incorporating fantasy. Lisa is chosen to be one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Appropriately, she is chosen to be Hunger.
Lisa's anorexia is the dominant theme of this book. Her life revolves around it. She dropped friends who questioned her health and attached herself to bulimic Tammy, who eggs her on. While the reader hates manipulative Tammy, I definitely see why Lisa is friends with her - it's comforting to have someone who understands the way you think and the way you eat. Lisa's inner voice is her constant nemesis. Always telling her that she's not thin enough. To everyone else she looks gaunt, but Lisa's voice points out all her flaws, real and imaginary. The author portrayed the inner voice well, showing just what kept Lisa from eating or changing. I thought it was an accurate reflection of the anorexic frame of mind.
The fantasy aspect - the Horsemen - is quite strange. Lisa wonders around on her horse making people starve to death. It was interesting, although a bit of a stretch. Some fantasies are so well-described that I almost believe it's true no matter how magical it is. Although Hunger is well-written, I never came close to believing it.
I loved Death. He seems like a sensitive thinker who's taken on the image of Kurt Cobain. While I don't want to get close to Death, Death as a person seems pretty cool. Pestilence was creepy, but good for Lisa. He helped her understand that her role as Hunger can either be a force for evil or a force for good. War is evil. Out for herself and full of hatred.
It was interesting how having the power to determine whether people starved or thrived helped Lisa come to terms with her anorexia. While the plot itself is a bit odd, I really liked the path Lisa took to discovering the value of her body and her health. She discovered the meaning of friends and family.
Definitely an interesting novel.
Rating: 3.5 / 5
This book is so unique and enthralling. It has such an interesting concept and the author doesn't shy away from making it exactly as gritty and disturbing as it could be.
The only reason this doesn't get 5 stars is because of the ending. I can't explain without giving spoilers but for me, it was too easy, too convenient, too quick of a fix for the situation.
I will definitely be reading the next one soon.
The only reason this doesn't get 5 stars is because of the ending. I can't explain without giving spoilers but for me, it was too easy, too convenient, too quick of a fix for the situation.
I will definitely be reading the next one soon.
Hunger presents a unique look into anorexia and how it truly is a mental illness.
In Hunger, readers were able to get a glimpse into the mind of a person suffering from an eating disorder. It was interesting to see how the "Thin Voice" dictated to Lisa what she should and shouldn't eat or what the consequences of eating would be. It was also interesting to see how much in denial Lisa was regarding her illness. She truly believed that her behavior was normal and rational.
I also liked how the author used fantasy to present a unique look into anorexia and bulimia. As Famine, Lisa's own hunger affected people wherever she went. On a more personal level, this shows how anorexia and bulimia can affect more than just the person suffering from the disorder.
The length of the book was a little disconcerting. Kessler had a great concept and story, but it felt a little rushed towards the end. I would have liked a little more story development.
Kessler creates a strong character connection between Lisa and her friend Tammy, who suffers from bulimia. I liked how Kessler contrasted this with Lisa's former friendship. It showed how much an eating disorder can change lives, habits, and relationships.
In Hunger, readers were able to get a glimpse into the mind of a person suffering from an eating disorder. It was interesting to see how the "Thin Voice" dictated to Lisa what she should and shouldn't eat or what the consequences of eating would be. It was also interesting to see how much in denial Lisa was regarding her illness. She truly believed that her behavior was normal and rational.
I also liked how the author used fantasy to present a unique look into anorexia and bulimia. As Famine, Lisa's own hunger affected people wherever she went. On a more personal level, this shows how anorexia and bulimia can affect more than just the person suffering from the disorder.
The length of the book was a little disconcerting. Kessler had a great concept and story, but it felt a little rushed towards the end. I would have liked a little more story development.
Kessler creates a strong character connection between Lisa and her friend Tammy, who suffers from bulimia. I liked how Kessler contrasted this with Lisa's former friendship. It showed how much an eating disorder can change lives, habits, and relationships.
This is one of those books I wish had been longer; it had definite potential, but its small size made development rushed and stopped me from really caring about the main character.
It's a very interesting premise; a modernization of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, with the person chosen for each Rider having intimate knowledge of the human folly they represent. Lisabeth Lewis is chosen as Famine, and that's because she's anorexic, thoroughly convinced she's fat and too scared to eat normally. But she's also horribly in denial of her disorder, and terrified of her new post.
During her travels as Famine, Lisa learns not only about the true Famine that plagues the world, but how her own problem is related to it, and maybe how she can do something to help both humanity and herself. She also meets the other Riders: gloomy Pestilence, vicious and cruel War, and the amusingly modern and droll Death, who enjoys the disguise of a dead rockstar and acts as Lisa's (sort-of) guide.
The author writes with good style sometimes, but it's a little spare in other parts. Lisa's disorder is represented truthfully because of the author's personal experience with anorexia and bulimia, but her character can be extremely whiny and annoying on occasion because of how insecure and in-denial she is. Like I said earlier, I think a longer book would have made her character quite likeable eventually, but she's just starting to change by the novel's end.
Parts I really enjoyed were the concept, which I already said was great and original, the fact that Famine's horse (to which Lisa gives the irritatingly unoriginal name 'Midnight') had a personality and even a few paragraphs of POV, and Death the Pale Rider, who was yet another utterly unique imagining of the enigmatic and interesting "character" and easily my favorite person in the book. It's so very easy to like a scruffy Death who dresses in a baggy sweater and jeans, sings Nirvana while waiting for Lisabeth to return from riding the world, and switches between gloomy old English and old school slang in the same sentence. "Thou art Famine, yo," indeed.
Despite a couple shortcomings, I am still interested to see how a different Horseman is handled in the sequel, and if the concept is expanded at all.
It's a very interesting premise; a modernization of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, with the person chosen for each Rider having intimate knowledge of the human folly they represent. Lisabeth Lewis is chosen as Famine, and that's because she's anorexic, thoroughly convinced she's fat and too scared to eat normally. But she's also horribly in denial of her disorder, and terrified of her new post.
During her travels as Famine, Lisa learns not only about the true Famine that plagues the world, but how her own problem is related to it, and maybe how she can do something to help both humanity and herself. She also meets the other Riders: gloomy Pestilence, vicious and cruel War, and the amusingly modern and droll Death, who enjoys the disguise of a dead rockstar and acts as Lisa's (sort-of) guide.
The author writes with good style sometimes, but it's a little spare in other parts. Lisa's disorder is represented truthfully because of the author's personal experience with anorexia and bulimia, but her character can be extremely whiny and annoying on occasion because of how insecure and in-denial she is. Like I said earlier, I think a longer book would have made her character quite likeable eventually, but she's just starting to change by the novel's end.
Parts I really enjoyed were the concept, which I already said was great and original, the fact that Famine's horse (to which Lisa gives the irritatingly unoriginal name 'Midnight') had a personality and even a few paragraphs of POV, and Death the Pale Rider, who was yet another utterly unique imagining of the enigmatic and interesting "character" and easily my favorite person in the book. It's so very easy to like a scruffy Death who dresses in a baggy sweater and jeans, sings Nirvana while waiting for Lisabeth to return from riding the world, and switches between gloomy old English and old school slang in the same sentence. "Thou art Famine, yo," indeed.
Despite a couple shortcomings, I am still interested to see how a different Horseman is handled in the sequel, and if the concept is expanded at all.
Interesting premise. Would have been better if it was a bit longer; I feel that Kessler didn't flesh out her characters and plot enough. I enjoyed the eating disorder bit of the book, even though it got a bit preachy toward the end, and it was interesting to read about the Horsemen of the Apocalypse as modern people. Despite all that, I don't think I'll be reading the other books in this series.
“Hunger” is about a teenager who was chosen to be Famine, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The book has an underlying theme of anorexia, but the author does not preach about it or try to convey her opinion on the issue through her novel. Everything in the book tied together nicely. It was a thoroughly enjoyable, fast read, which was a nice change of pace from what I typically pick up. The book was good enough that I’ll be looking into reading the sequel, “Rage.”
This one is a little hard for me to review. I thought the story was great.... the characters were awesome, especially Death..... but I just felt like something was missing, and I can't quite identify it.
The subject matter of the novel, anorexia, would usually set a certain serious undertone, but this novel didn't quite have that. Maybe that was because of the invisible horses... or the mythology surrounding the four horseman, but the novel wasn't as serious as I was anticipating, tackling the subject matter that it did. Not that, that was a bad thing, I actually enjoyed that aspect the most. I just never thought I'd see anorexia and fantasy used to describe the same novel.
Perhaps it was because the novel was so short.... but I never felt emotionally invested in the story or the characters. I think that is why it felt like something was missing. It was easy to get caught up in the story when I was reading it, but it was just as easy to forget about it, once the story was over. I'm hoping that the rest of the series will change my opinion about that.
Looking forward to reading the rest of this unique series.
The subject matter of the novel, anorexia, would usually set a certain serious undertone, but this novel didn't quite have that. Maybe that was because of the invisible horses... or the mythology surrounding the four horseman, but the novel wasn't as serious as I was anticipating, tackling the subject matter that it did. Not that, that was a bad thing, I actually enjoyed that aspect the most. I just never thought I'd see anorexia and fantasy used to describe the same novel.
Perhaps it was because the novel was so short.... but I never felt emotionally invested in the story or the characters. I think that is why it felt like something was missing. It was easy to get caught up in the story when I was reading it, but it was just as easy to forget about it, once the story was over. I'm hoping that the rest of the series will change my opinion about that.
Looking forward to reading the rest of this unique series.
11.08.14
This is the most heartbreaking book I've read in a long time, if not ever. Holy friggin whoa. Definitely hunting down the rest in this series. Lisabeth is a fantastically real heroine, even thrust into the supernatural setting of being one of the Four Horsemen. I was chilled by her relationship with herself, and Tammy -- I almost wish there was one last confrontation with that girl at the end, after Lisa came back from the facility, but I realize that it wasn't as important as the story that was Lisa herself. Thank you Jackie, for writing such an incredibly moving story.
10.31.14
Just came in the mail. I didn't realize how short this is! Might tear through it before I jump on Horns.
This is the most heartbreaking book I've read in a long time, if not ever. Holy friggin whoa. Definitely hunting down the rest in this series. Lisabeth is a fantastically real heroine, even thrust into the supernatural setting of being one of the Four Horsemen. I was chilled by her relationship with herself, and Tammy -- I almost wish there was one last confrontation with that girl at the end, after Lisa came back from the facility, but I realize that it wasn't as important as the story that was Lisa herself. Thank you Jackie, for writing such an incredibly moving story.
10.31.14
Just came in the mail. I didn't realize how short this is! Might tear through it before I jump on Horns.