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librandian 's review for:
Hunger
by Jackie Morse Kessler
Lisabeth has heard the Thin Voice speak to her for some time now. Every time she looks at food, talks about food, or even thinks about food, the Thin Voice tells her exactly how many calories each morsel is worth and how long she will have to work out in order to burn those calories. The Thin Voice also constantly chastises her, calling her fat, manipulating the perception of herself in the mirror. Only her friend Tammy understands her frustration with managing her weight as she has perfected the act of throwing up after eating, something Lisabeth can never bring herself to do. One day, when Lisabeth it contemplating ending everything with the help of her mother’s special pills, a package arrives for Lisabeth. The delivery man also has a message for Lisabeth. He says, “Thou art Famine” and walks away without any more instructions or explanations. Inside is an ornate, very old balancing scale, also known as the Scales of Famine.
Lisabeth deals with a bit more strangeness as her day goes on. The scales seem to follow her, but no one else can see them. The food on her plate turns to ash. The weirdest thing though, is a large black horse hanging out in the backyard eating her mother’s flowers that only Lisabeth can see. Soon everything is made a bit clearer for Lisabeth. There was an opening in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and she was chosen as the new Famine. Creating hunger riots, witnessing the starvation of poor villages, and the power to fill people’s stomachs is not what Lisabeth is looking for to do with her life, however, the power imbued within her by accepting her title might be enough to change her mind. Throughout all of her travels and her encounters with the other three Horsemen, Lisabeth never loses the Thin Voice in the back of her mind, giving her a false sense of reality.
Hunger is an amazing book that tackles the sensitive topic of eating disorders in a unique, dark way. Hunger leaves nothing out in regards to the horrible disorder and even shows the reader a distinctive connection between starving oneself on purpose and starving to death via the environment one lives in. One of the starkest, most shocking books on eating disorders, Kessler combines the struggles on everyday teenage life with a supernatural twist.
Lisabeth deals with a bit more strangeness as her day goes on. The scales seem to follow her, but no one else can see them. The food on her plate turns to ash. The weirdest thing though, is a large black horse hanging out in the backyard eating her mother’s flowers that only Lisabeth can see. Soon everything is made a bit clearer for Lisabeth. There was an opening in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and she was chosen as the new Famine. Creating hunger riots, witnessing the starvation of poor villages, and the power to fill people’s stomachs is not what Lisabeth is looking for to do with her life, however, the power imbued within her by accepting her title might be enough to change her mind. Throughout all of her travels and her encounters with the other three Horsemen, Lisabeth never loses the Thin Voice in the back of her mind, giving her a false sense of reality.
Hunger is an amazing book that tackles the sensitive topic of eating disorders in a unique, dark way. Hunger leaves nothing out in regards to the horrible disorder and even shows the reader a distinctive connection between starving oneself on purpose and starving to death via the environment one lives in. One of the starkest, most shocking books on eating disorders, Kessler combines the struggles on everyday teenage life with a supernatural twist.