Review: Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler

Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler is the most horrifying novel I've read all year.  And it's not a horror story.  Lisabeth Lewis is anorexic and suicidal, and she's just been handed a role as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse-- Famine.

With a set up like that, you'd think this book was about the End of Days, or that it's a dark fantasy.  But most of the emphasis is on Lisa's real life, which is dark enough.  The descriptions of her experience with anorexia are heartbreaking.  The extreme exercise, the compulsive counting of calories, the symptoms she's experiencing but not connecting to her self-imposed starvation, the Thin voice constantly whispering in her head are all disturbing.  And the scene of Lisa's friend binging and purging is graphic and nauseating.

The fantasy elements of Hunger were less compelling.  We meet the other three Horsemen, and she learns a little bit from each of them.  But Lisa is mostly left on her own to figure out what her powers are and what she's supposed to be doing.  By the time she gets a handle on her powers, the fantasy part of the story was over.  Other than providing a larger than life backdrop for an examination of eating disorders and a way for Lisa, and the audience, to understand some of the problems of world hunger, the fantasy element didn't add much to the overall story. 

I was concerned that Lisa's anorexia would be "solved" by her role as Famine, but as the Thin voice said,

What did you think? the Thin voice asked.  That it would all just go away?  That you'd suddenly not be fat anymore? ... That's something out of a fairy tale.

Fairy tale, indeed.  Lisa's work at recovery happens off the page, and even at the end of the book we're shown that her struggle with anorexia isn't over.  We're left hopeful for her future, but it's clear that there is more work to be done.

Two of the supporting characters were the most entertaining part of the story.  (Which is not a slam.  Lisa's problems were gripping, but to call them entertaining would be to take them way too lightly.)  Death, as the leader of the Horsemen and a, pardon me, dead ringer for Kurt Cobain, had the most page time of the rest of the Horsemen, and I suspect he will continue to play a significant part in the series.  (The next book, Rage, is due out in April 2011.)  He was a strange mix of formal and casual, modern and antiquated, kind and frightening.  I really hope he gets a book of his own so that we can get an inside look at his own struggles.

The other really fun character was Famine's steed.  What would a Horseman be without a horse?  The steed, which Lisa names Midnight, loves pralines, although he's willing to make do with eating Mrs. Lewis's garden.  Lisa bonds with Midnight more than anyone else in the story, and we're left with the impression that it's unusual for the Horsemen to take such notice of their steeds.  Midnight defends and protects her, which is something that Lisa desperately needs in her life, as her parents are too wrapped up in their own lives and problems to pay much attention to her.

As a woman who thought she was fat as a teen (although I was a perfectly healthy weight) and is morbidly obese as an adult, Lisa's issues with food are not my own.  But it was frightening to realize as I read how many of her thought processes were familiar to me.  I would be interested to know what someone who has dealt with anorexia or bulimia thinks of their portrayal in this book.  Our attitudes about weight and food in the West are not healthy, and it's taking a toll on our mental and physical well being.  Hunger is well worth reading on its own, but it would be a particularly good choice for mothers and daughters to read together or for teen reading groups.  I give this book a B+ for the intense look at the inner life of someone dealing with anorexia.  I would also like to point out that the author is donating a portion of the proceeds to the National Eating Disorders Association.  Good for you, Ms Kessler.

Hunger was scheduled for release on October 18th, but it appears that it's already being shipped by Amazon, Borders, and Barnes & Noble, and it's definitely available for download on the Kindle.

I received a free advance copy of Hunger through NetGalley, but this in no way affected my review.