If you haven’t heard of the ‘Donner Party’ before, you will have by the time you have finished reading The Hunger.
The Hunger – the blurb
After having traveled west for weeks, the party of pioneers comes to a crossroads. It is time for their leader, George Donner, to make a choice. They face two diverging paths which lead to the same destination. One is well-documented – the other untested, but rumoured to be shorter.
Donner’s decision will shape the lives of everyone traveling with him. The searing heat of the desert gives way to biting winds and a bitter cold that freezes the cattle where they stand. Driven to the brink of madness, the ill-fated group struggles to survive and minor disagreements turn into violent confrontations. Then the children begin to disappear. As the survivors turn against each other, a few begin to realize that the threat they face reaches beyond the fury of the natural elements, to something more primal and far more deadly.
Based on the true story of The Donner Party, The Hunger is an eerie, shiver-inducing exploration of human nature, pushed to its breaking point.
True Story?
I wasn’t aware of George Donner before reading The Hunger. He was a man who traveled with his family in 1846 across America in search of a better life. The journey ended tragically as winter set in and food ran out. Having now read the book I am deliberately not Googling him until after I have written this review. I think with a title like The Hunger I was expecting cannibalism but what developed was something far more…chilling.
The book switches narratives between various members of the party all of whom you end up routing for. As the weather turns and food runs low the worst in people is brought to the surface with disastrous results. The book becomes eerie and takes on a supernatural edge that Katsu pushes just enough to make it feel plausible and real. The Donner Party are in danger and not just from themselves. Whilst it didn’t have me sleeping with the light on, it did make the hairs on my neck rise which is rare for me.
I devoured it
The Hunger doesn’t make for #FeelGoodFiction yet it was compulsive reading and I devoured the 400 odd pages in 3 days – a record in my lockdown induced reading fog. I’m not sure whether I will read Katsu’s latest book (The Deep about the Titanic, sirens and selkies) but I really enjoyed The Hunger. How the plane crashed in Dear Edward, the outcome of the Georgian Flu in Station Eleven and now The Hunger. I’m becoming quite warped in the books I am really enjoying at the moment. Is there any hope for me? Is there any more books like this I should be reading?
