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Hunger by Knut Hamsun7/7/2023 ![]() ![]() I found this book to be unsettling and it has rattled around in my head weeks after finishing, which to me is a mark of a fantastic horror novel. ![]() It's like a horrifying car accident that you can't pull your eyes away from no matter how much you want to. The things he says and does and even thinks while facing starvation and humility are so jarring and off-putting, but at the same time entrancing. ![]() If you have ever faced anything similar (the humiliation that goes with being poor, hungry, and desperate), you will easily relate to the protagonist. There's nothing over the top gore-y but one of the reasons it's so impactful is that this is very true to life. And because this is told in first person, you have a front seat view of his descent. The reason why I thought it was horror: The protagonist faces extreme desperation and virtually loses his mind. This is told in first person and in a sometimes rambling and "stream of consciousness" style. In Hunger, we follow Hamsun's retelling of his impoverished youth where he faced tremendous mental and physical hardships. Written by Knut Hamsun, an influential and controversial writer, who has won Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920 and also openly supported Hitler and Nazi ideology. Hunger Knut Hamsun Sult (1890 Hunger) is Hamsun's breakthrough novel about a young writer struggling to maintain his dignity while trying to survive in a desolate and lonely world. ![]() This is one of those non-horror books that easily could have been categorized as horror. ![]()
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