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Lou Grande (148 KP) rated The Hunger in Books

Jun 28, 2018

The Hunger

Alma Katsu | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics, Horror

6.0

(1 Ratings)

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Contains spoilers, click to show

This book was so hyped. I was getting emails about it for months; Stephen King recommended it up and down. And it was good! Sort of.

As others have noted, Katsu does an excellent job of building atmosphere and tension in the first half of the book, but when things start to unravel for the Donner Party, so does the narrative. There are too many characters to keep track of interspersed with too many flashbacks. It weakens the impact of what happened up in those mountains. In fact, it barely mentions them at all.

Yes, there are supernatural elements woven into an historical event. But—you know, it wasn’t really necessary. I thought the idea of linking it (the hunger) to a disease was an interesting one that ultimately went nowhere. It all just got too convoluted. I continuously had to keep rechecking who each character was, because some would disappear between chapters. There is so much that is lost between pages, including the fates of (what the reader is led to believe are) key characters.

Do yourself a favor if you pick this one up, and read the Wikipedia article on the Donner Party first. At least then you can maybe keep track of the characters.