Reader discussion: Hunger

Public reader discussion about Hunger by Knut Hamsun.

Book about psychology of hunger and food

By TrailBrook

Just wanted to clarify—I don’t have an eating disorder or anything. I’m mostly just really curious about hunger as a whole, like what it actually feels like and what’s going on in your body/brain when you’re hungry. Does anyone know a book about hunger and eating (and maybe fasting) that’s actually interesting and not super dry or overly emotional? I keep wondering why you can crave something sweet sometimes but not really feel it for healthier foods, and stuff like that. If anyone has a recommendation, I’d love it.

The Hunger by Alma Katsu: Ya gotta read it.

By SilverFocus1993

Honestly, I went into this with pretty low expectations and I ended up being really pleasantly surprised. It’s about the Donner Party—the famous wagon train crossing from Illinois to California in 1847 that got trapped in the Sierra Nevada, basically got wiped out, and then there was that whole cannibalism thing when people discovered them. (If you’re not American, you might know what I mean, but yeah.) The storytelling, the characters, and the writing were all really good. It’s definitely worth checking out—curious what other people think. Edit: I guess it’s not super popular here though? Either way, thanks to everyone who commented! :)

Hunger by Knut Hamsun [Classics](1890)

By field_simple

Knut Hamsun’s one of those really important but also really controversial writers, and this 1890 book feels like a big deal even today. It’s basically his own kind of story, and it really lays out what it’s like to be a young writer stuck in miserable poverty—hungry, desperate, and trying to figure yourself out while also trying to make it as an artist. What gets me is how deep it goes into that feeling of being cut off from everything, getting fixated on stuff, and then just spiraling into self-destruction. It’s intense, like there’s this sense the guy can’t really control what’s happening and it keeps pushing him closer to the edge. Also, it seems like it influenced a lot of the big writers who came later—Kafka, Joyce, Henry Miller, all those names. It’s often required reading in world literature classes, and I can see why people who like books that dig into the weird hidden parts of being human would get into it. I’m just not fully sure what to expect going in, but I’m definitely curious.

Hamsun Übersetzung

By meadowverse1998

Ich bin gerade auf der Suche nach einer guten Übersetzung von Knut Hamsun, weil ich mir den Roman „Hunger“ holen will. Vielleicht kann mir ja jemand etwas empfehlen?

Today I [26 M] began to re-read the Hunger Games Trilogy, starting w/first book in series. I am usually an avid reader of non-fiction, but, having read this book for just over 30 minutes, I am remembering myself at the age of 16 when I read it and it is bringing back pieces of my soul...

By Red98

Pretty much what the title says—I usually end up reading a lot of non-fiction, like self-help, philosophy, money stuff, how to succeed, all that. I mean, I do find it interesting and it keeps me hooked, but it never really feels like it gets inside my head or my chest in a meaningful way. So today I went back to the first Hunger Games book. I originally read the whole series when I was 16, and I’m 26 now. Lately I’ve been feeling kind of… off? Like I’ve lost some of my ability to really imagine things vividly or put myself in other people’s shoes. It’s hard for me to feel deep emotions like I used to. Anyway, I reread just a few minutes and suddenly I felt like I was back in the version of me from way back then—like it actually connected with me on a real, “soul” level. It made me realize fiction just hits differently than non-fiction. Not even in some fake way, it feels like it can actually help you grow and open you up emotionally and empathically. So yeah, I’m grateful for that, and I wanted to say something in case anyone else is dealing with feeling disconnected or numb and is wondering if fiction might help. The characters and their lives feel so relatable and deep that it could genuinely make you a more empathetic person. I’m honestly excited to read more fiction going forward. Edit: Wow, this got way more attention than I expected—like, 97K views? That’s wild. Thanks to everyone who commented. I can’t reply to all of you, but I really appreciate the advice and your stories and everything.

Chaos Walking trilogy better than The Hunger Games?

By oldOwl1998

A bunch of people I know have read both trilogies, like in my book club and with friends. I liked both too, but it felt like I was the only one who actually liked the Chaos Walking one more. Does anyone else feel the same? Or am I definitely in the minority?

The Hunger Games REALLY is a rip-off of a Battle Royale, and a bad one at that.

By anchor3239

Yeah, spoilers and all that—I've read both of them, and not just once. People keep waving off the “it’s a rip-off” idea by going, “Well, the whole kids killing each other thing isn’t original anyway,” like it’s already in stuff such as *Lord of the Flies*, *The Long Walk*, or even older myths. Sure, the broad idea exists. But that’s not actually where the similarities end. Because when you look at *how* the story is set up, it lines up way too closely. In an alternate/history kind of dystopia, you’ve got a fascist-ish government that puts teenagers through a yearly event—randomly selected, kidnapped, taken somewhere secret, and forced to fight until only one is left alive. The whole point is to scare everyone, make them distrust each other, and stop any rebellion. They hand the kids random weapons, the organizers are watching the whole time, and the environment is basically rigged to push them into each other—like sections of the “arena” being shut off or made way more dangerous. And there are even bets placed externally. Same kind of cast too: a boy and a girl, with one of them carrying most of the POV. They’ve got that survivor/previous victim helper vibe with a ton of rage built up against the government. There’s also a long-running secret crush/love thing between the supporting protagonist and the main one, and the main character is all mixed up—has some interest elsewhere, but it kind of shifts toward the other kid without ever going fully into “open love.” Then there’s the injury subplot with the leg getting messed up and needing antibiotics fast. And later, there’s that whole communication idea using fires and bird calls (even though the helper character dies pretty soon after). Meanwhile the main antagonists are also a boy and a girl, with the girl being written as kind of nasty and the boy as this almost unbeatable war-machine type who finally goes down last after a brutal fight. And the ending? The protagonists survive by messing with the game rules, but that immediately makes the government label them as dangerous rebels and come after them. So if I just asked you to tell me what specific book I’m talking about… could you actually guess it? If not, that’s kind of the point. Also, if someone like Tarantino or HBO tried to do a big American remake of *Battle Royale*, would people really pretend nobody would call it a lazy ripoff of *The Hunger Games*? Be real. Even the movie version of *BR* has the game being televised like it’s a real TV show, broadcast yearly as punishment for rebellious teens. There’s no way Collins didn’t notice that when she was writing. At the very least she probably looked up “kids killing kids in dystopia” or whatever. And it wouldn’t even bother me as much if she admitted it and owned her influences like Takami does (he’s open about inspiration). But instead she leans hard on the idea that it came from videogames and the Iraq War and that *THG* is “more about rebellion than survival,” even though *BR* also has rebellion stuff and feels more grounded and adult about it. Basically, if someone genuinely thinks Collins didn’t take from *Battle Royale*, they either didn’t read it closely—or they’re just trying not to see it.

Norwegian author Knut Hamsun got rid of his Nobel Prize in literature by giving it as a gift to Joseph Goebbels...

By field-chance8064

The “exclusive club” of people who’ve got Nobel medals but didn’t actually win them: Goebbels and Trump. Not sure if I’m missing something.