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Title: The Hunger
Author: Whitley Strieber
Published: New York: Pocket Books, 2001 (1981)
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 357
Total Page Count: 121,377
Text Number: 353
Read Because: mentioned by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cupcake_goth, borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: For vampire Miriam, endless life means watching her companions wither and die. When her current love shows signs of sudden aging, Miriam seeks a way to give a companion the same endless life that she has—and she may find it in Sarah Roberts, a scientist on the brink of discovering immortality. What should be a pointedly bleak book is rendered hollow by an awful, stilted voice—so stilted, in fact, that it's hard to discern the occasional typos in my edition from simple awkward writing. Emotional peaks are flattened; would-be complex psychological aspects are made shallow by inconsistent characterization, headhopping, and unconvincing dialog. Insult to injury, the book is suffused with male gaze and even drops in some rape and sexual violence—the last of which is not necessarily out of place in vampire fiction, but The Hunger the passion of its own title and the sexual violence is empty titillation rather than metaphor. It's not awful: Strieber's vampires are interesting, and there's just enough soft science-fiction to get a good feel for them; the tired, cold monstrosity of Miriam is unsettling and effective. But The Hunger remains stilted, dry, and vaguely distasteful despite its potential; I was happy only to see it end, and don't recommend it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Author: Whitley Strieber
Published: New York: Pocket Books, 2001 (1981)
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 357
Total Page Count: 121,377
Text Number: 353
Read Because: mentioned by
cupcake_goth, borrowed from the Multnomah County LibraryReview: For vampire Miriam, endless life means watching her companions wither and die. When her current love shows signs of sudden aging, Miriam seeks a way to give a companion the same endless life that she has—and she may find it in Sarah Roberts, a scientist on the brink of discovering immortality. What should be a pointedly bleak book is rendered hollow by an awful, stilted voice—so stilted, in fact, that it's hard to discern the occasional typos in my edition from simple awkward writing. Emotional peaks are flattened; would-be complex psychological aspects are made shallow by inconsistent characterization, headhopping, and unconvincing dialog. Insult to injury, the book is suffused with male gaze and even drops in some rape and sexual violence—the last of which is not necessarily out of place in vampire fiction, but The Hunger the passion of its own title and the sexual violence is empty titillation rather than metaphor. It's not awful: Strieber's vampires are interesting, and there's just enough soft science-fiction to get a good feel for them; the tired, cold monstrosity of Miriam is unsettling and effective. But The Hunger remains stilted, dry, and vaguely distasteful despite its potential; I was happy only to see it end, and don't recommend it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
