Hunger (1890)

This is Knut Hamsun's best novel. Victoria is also excellent, but Hunger talks about the emotional longing more than the physical. ( )

It's easy to see why Hunger was so innovative, why it is a classic - but I'm sure the book is best read for the first time in your late teens or early twenties, and before the arrogant, unsuccessful young writer has become a protagonist cliche after reading countless later novels by other authors.

The overwhelming strength of the book is its unsparing detail in recounting inner thought and experience (in a way not seen in English until James Joyce) and the mundane day to day detail of struggling to survive as a single person in abject poverty, experiencing actual starvation before the days of the welfare state. The latter alone makes it very valuable in illustrating what people could be reduced to.

The translator can probably take some credit for this, but there is such great clarity of expression, in contrast with the narrator's famished ravings and egotism. The book feels modern in style and is very readable; were it not for the historical details, this book would feel as if it were written in and set in the 1950's or 60's, not 120 years ago. This clarity in a first person narration makes the protagonist's glaring lack of self awareness all the more frustrating.

I'm intrigued as to the place of Hunger - a book about obsessive individualistic, arrogant dedication to one's art - as a national classic in a country where the Jante Law is a norm, but have not so far found anything on this topic.

The book has a lot of substance and detail for one of under 200 pages and would be very interesting to study and discuss, but I didn't always find it much fun to read because of the main character's annoying traits. ( )

this didn't read like it was written in 1890 (although that could be the newer translation) and is certainly apt today. great descriptions of gnawing hunger and what starvation does to your mind. ( )

I'm not actually gonna read this. What I'm gonna do is buy it and next time a homeless guy asks me for change I'll be like "Here, I bet you'll really like this book."

Like it was visible in my status updates: I did not make any progress in this book. Nt because it is a bad book, or badly written.
I just did not have enough peace of mind to give it the attention it needed, too much to do and life getting in the way.

I am not going to rate it, since I did not finish it, but what I read was okay. So... if I lay hands on it again, this review will probably be altered.