A review by lleullawgyffes
The Necessary Hunger by Nina Revoyr

emotional hopeful reflective tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

If I'd known in advance how much of this book was going to be taken up by descriptions of basketball I would probably not have bothered, so I'm glad I didn't really know what I was getting into, because this book was amazing. It perfectly balances Nancy's meditative, introspective voice with the intensity and vibrancy of her life during the period the book covers. I was going to offer a short list of more specific things but there's no real way to sum it up. Read it, it's good.

As a note re the sports thing, normally I have little energy to spend caring about sports (and find basketball in particular to be tedious), but the handling of sports in this book was fantastic — I was never on the level Nancy and Raina are, but this book is enough to remind me of all the things I loved about fencing when I still fenced actively: it convincingly and powerfully captures the intensity of competitive sports.