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chloekg's review
5.0
A whiplash experience of being in someone else's head, the narrator struggles to keep his emotion and wits about him in the oppressively decent world of Norway circa 1890. It is gripping and tragic and inevitably relevant.
alfsan's review
5.0
First of all this book is a tough read. It talks about the spiraling to the bottom of poverty and of one self in such a real way it gives you the frills and lets you sulking in thought for days to come. You will never see homeless people in a common/indifferent way again.
The prose is magnificent. The character is a mix of Palahniuk meets Kerouac and written by Dostoyevsky and Gogol. Just beautiful and brilliant.
It's so amazingly written and so witty that is hard to believe it's a book from the 19th century!
The writer doesn't go into deep description of the setting, although the story takes place in Oslo, which gives it a wider opportunity to focus on the mental development of the character.
I found out about Knut on an exhibition at the Tate in London, and although I lived in Oslo, had never heard about him! ..... Norsk folk, you need to make a massive statue of the man!
The prose is magnificent. The character is a mix of Palahniuk meets Kerouac and written by Dostoyevsky and Gogol. Just beautiful and brilliant.
It's so amazingly written and so witty that is hard to believe it's a book from the 19th century!
The writer doesn't go into deep description of the setting, although the story takes place in Oslo, which gives it a wider opportunity to focus on the mental development of the character.
I found out about Knut on an exhibition at the Tate in London, and although I lived in Oslo, had never heard about him! ..... Norsk folk, you need to make a massive statue of the man!
emybooksandcoffee's review
4.0
Everyone interested in European literature should read this. Stream-of-consciousness novel, not plot driven at all but amazingly insightful, almost Dostoyevskian, in the sense of giving a glimpse on the lives of the underdogs of 19th century Norway.
casparb's review against another edition
3.0
I feel this is most important as a slice of literary history, rather than a novel in itself. Hunger is a poverty novel - I'm sure we're familiar with the type. The Kafkayevskian sort, seen in Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London, or in Zola, or Lawrence's Sons and Lovers.
So initially I was a little unimpressed: Hunger seemed overfamiliar. But then I had a look about and noticed it was published in 1890! This rather changed things - the novel seems half a century ahead of itself, so I must applaud Hamsun there. This is a sort of literary prophecy of which I can only say that Dostoevsky achieved on a similar level (others spring to mind, but in quite different manners).
The great asterisk looms here too, though in a more complicated way than usual, perhaps. Hamsun became rather controversial for being quite a vocal Nazi when he was in his eighties. I feel it is probably too glib to diagnose this in Hunger, fifty or so years before the fact, though there is a curious sort of class-disgust that makes itself present, insofar as the narrator perceives himself as superior to any working other, such that he feels viscerally sickened by the sight of a poor person, while also being himself entirely penniless. I'm more inclined to register this as a psychological twist, a complication, rather than a symptom of burgeoning proto-fascism. But that reading remains available.
So initially I was a little unimpressed: Hunger seemed overfamiliar. But then I had a look about and noticed it was published in 1890! This rather changed things - the novel seems half a century ahead of itself, so I must applaud Hamsun there. This is a sort of literary prophecy of which I can only say that Dostoevsky achieved on a similar level (others spring to mind, but in quite different manners).
The great asterisk looms here too, though in a more complicated way than usual, perhaps. Hamsun became rather controversial for being quite a vocal Nazi when he was in his eighties. I feel it is probably too glib to diagnose this in Hunger, fifty or so years before the fact, though there is a curious sort of class-disgust that makes itself present, insofar as the narrator perceives himself as superior to any working other, such that he feels viscerally sickened by the sight of a poor person, while also being himself entirely penniless. I'm more inclined to register this as a psychological twist, a complication, rather than a symptom of burgeoning proto-fascism. But that reading remains available.
emmi_lee's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Stalking
whisperwind's review against another edition
5.0
this book make me feel ashamed as I feel so happy and relived that i have food and i can eat (
so sorry
so sorry
rhidee's review
4.0
Such a disturbing and frustrating book. I could barely handle reading along without being able to reach out and try to shake some sense into the narrator. Reminds me very much of Dostoevsky and his more trailing sections of his novels.
verw0rren's review
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
freyaeastcott's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
riverss's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0