<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<GoodreadsResponse>
	<Request>
		<authentication>false</authentication>
		    <method><![CDATA[]]></method>
	</Request>
	
<book>
  <id>239592</id>
  <title><![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]></title>
  <isbn><![CDATA[0393311147]]></isbn>
  <isbn13><![CDATA[9780393311143]]></isbn13>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <description><![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]></description>
  <work>
  <best_book_id type="integer">239592</best_book_id>
  <books_count type="integer">8</books_count>
  <desc_user_id type="integer" nil="true"></desc_user_id>
  <id type="integer">2781088</id>
  <media_type>book</media_type>
  <original_language_id type="integer" nil="true"></original_language_id>
  <original_publication_day type="integer" nil="true"></original_publication_day>
  <original_publication_month type="integer" nil="true"></original_publication_month>
  <original_publication_year type="integer">1992</original_publication_year>
  <original_title>Sacred Hunger (Norton Paperback Fiction)</original_title>
  <rating_dist>total:435|5:206|4:150|3:65|2:7|1:7|</rating_dist>
  <ratings_count type="integer">435</ratings_count>
  <ratings_sum type="integer">1846</ratings_sum>
  <reviews_count type="integer">850</reviews_count>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">89</text_reviews_count>
</work>

  <average_rating><![CDATA[4.24]]></average_rating>
  <ratings_count><![CDATA[427]]></ratings_count>
  <text_reviews_count><![CDATA[88]]></text_reviews_count>
  
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger]]></link>
  <authors>
    <author>
    <id>3101</id>
        <name><![CDATA[Barry Unsworth]]></name>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-M-200x266.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3101.Barry_Unsworth]]></link>
    <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
    <ratings_count>1442</ratings_count>
    <text_reviews_count>250</text_reviews_count>
  </author>
  </authors>
    <reviews start="1" end="20" total="850">
      <review>
  <id>12828412</id>
    <user>
    <id>124789</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Trevor]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/124789-trevor]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1181515641p3/124789.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1181515641p2/124789.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.25</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>427</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Apr 27 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Jan 18 07:28:30 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Apr 27 18:40:40 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[&quot;Soon after midnight the first of the land breeze began making along the river and Thurso ordered sail to be got up and all to be made ready for purchasing anchor.  At two they weighed an got out to sea, the wind by this time giving a good offing.  In the ocver of darkness, as quietly as possib...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12828412">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12828412]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12828412]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>32862448</id>
    <user>
    <id>1466363</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Ted]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Santa Monica, CA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1466363-ted]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1221430696p3/1466363.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1221430696p2/1466363.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Sep 14 14:17:40 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Sep 14 14:57:33 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This was one of the best books I have ever read. Beautiful, rich, full of adventure and sadness. Set in the mid 1700's it tracks the final business  venture (a slave ship) of a well to do Liverpudlian merchant. The melancholy  tone of the book works extremely well with the cruel methodical life aboa...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/32862448">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/32862448]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/32862448]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>77579323</id>
    <user>
    <id>1381799</id>
    <name><![CDATA[sleeps9hours]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Bellingham, WA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1381799-sleeps9hours]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1239985385p3/1381799.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1239985385p2/1381799.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Nov 12 14:14:36 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Nov 12 14:15:22 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Read one-third, got bored, gave up.  I loved the original Mutiny on Board the H.M.S. Bounty as a kid, and this seemed like a cheap rip-off.<br/><br/>Funny to see this in light of current economic matters:<br/><br/>p. 158 Norwich Jail had given Paris his notion of hell, and its workings afforded ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77579323">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77579323]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77579323]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>60826474</id>
    <user>
    <id>2420980</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Bill]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Elkton, FL]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2420980-bill]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1249049681p3/2420980.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1249049681p2/2420980.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Jun 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Jun 23 14:02:06 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Jun 23 14:03:15 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[<br/>Unsworth won the 1992 Booker Man prize for Sacred Hunger.  With 630 pages it is a long, good read and is multi-leveled. The plot centers around the Kemps a family in Liverpool in 1752.  The family consists of a father, a seemingly wealthy cotton trader; his wife; their son Erasmus, who is abou...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/60826474">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/60826474]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/60826474]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>69568640</id>
    <user>
    <id>153</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Ann]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Cambridge, MA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/153-ann]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1216931198p3/153.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1216931198p2/153.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Aug 31 10:23:03 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Aug 31 10:23:03 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I finished this about a week ago and was hoping that a bit of time would help me process the many themes and ideas wrestled to the ground by this epic (a word I do not use lightly) and give full voice to Unsworth's accomplishment.  Well. This is a book about SLAVES being ENSLAVED on board SLAVE SHIP...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/69568640">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/69568640]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/69568640]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>5069126</id>
    <user>
    <id>216284</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Mark]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Pittsburgh, PA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/216284-mark]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1254348059p3/216284.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1254348059p2/216284.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="historical-fiction" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 1996</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Aug 24 17:43:24 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 17 06:56:19 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This is a very good novel about the slave trade, but what takes it beyond simply a retelling of the brutality of capturing and buying slaves is the on-board rebellion that occurs during the Middle Passage and the makeshift society that the seamen and slaves fashion afterward.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5069126]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5069126]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>19637222</id>
    <user>
    <id>1017488</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Erik]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Nyack, NY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1017488-erik-simon]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1255009279p3/1017488.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1255009279p2/1017488.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>2</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Apr 07 07:57:25 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Apr 07 07:58:28 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[One thing about the Booker Prize:  even if it doesn't pick the best book, it always picks a fine book, unlike our Pulitzer.  SACRED HUNGER is an amazing read--an incredibly exciting and moving story.  But it does start off a tad slow, so persevere.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/19637222]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/19637222]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>60908250</id>
    <user>
    <id>984671</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Ann]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/984671-ann]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="africa" />
        <shelf name="booker-prize" />
        <shelf name="slavery" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Jul 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Jun 24 07:08:10 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Jul 20 10:05:02 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[&quot;Money is sacred, as everyone knows,&quot; he said.  &quot;So then must be the hunger for it and the means we use to obtain it.  Once a man is in debt he becomes a flesh and blood form of money, a walking investment.  You can do what you like with him, you can work him to death or you can sell ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/60908250">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/60908250]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/60908250]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>73006356</id>
    <user>
    <id>990867</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Molly]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Ithaca, NY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/990867-molly]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1256918754p3/990867.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1256918754p2/990867.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Sep 30 10:11:20 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Sep 30 10:23:00 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I loved this book though it is epic in length. It is completely immersed in the 18th century, with shocking descriptions of ship life  and the barbaric cruelty of the slave trade, lower middle class life at its most sordid... As brilliant as the 18th century descriptions are, however, I had to stop ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73006356">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73006356]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73006356]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>63149667</id>
    <user>
    <id>2514284</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Vicki]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Fenton, MI]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2514284-vicki-hartman]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1247568861p3/2514284.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1247568861p2/2514284.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Jul 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Jul 12 09:13:28 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Aug 17 19:03:40 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Couldn't stop thinking about this book not only while I was reading it, but for weeks aferwards.  Took a little while to get into it, but by the time the ship sails, it had me.  Didn't care for the relationship between Erasmus and Sarah.  Was impressed with the variety of ways the author demonstrate...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63149667">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63149667]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63149667]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>31714962</id>
    <user>
    <id>1398860</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Joshua]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1398860-joshua]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[NPR]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Jul 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Sep 01 06:53:59 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Sep 01 07:35:05 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I was tipped off to Sacred Hunger after hearing it recommended on one of NPR's &quot;You Must Read This&quot; segments.  It's not a bad book, and I feel a little guilty giving it only three stars.  It probably deserves more.  Personally, though, I only &quot;liked it.&quot;  Sacred Hunger focuses on...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31714962">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31714962]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31714962]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>26081433</id>
    <user>
    <id>1188803</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Ric]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Seattle, WA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1188803-ric-winstead]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1212701815p3/1188803.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1212701815p2/1188803.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Jul 01 21:29:13 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Jul 01 23:47:56 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[ “Sacred Hunger” by Barry Unsworth served to further help me understand the depth of the problem and find a useful name for the disease.  It is a story set in the mid 1700’s and is about English businessmen who got into the slave trade because it was a ‘good deal’, a profitable, legal trad...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/26081433">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/26081433]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/26081433]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>18568975</id>
    <user>
    <id>280383</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Matthew]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Honolulu, HI]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/280383-matthew]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1239173386p3/280383.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1239173386p2/280383.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="fiction" />
        <shelf name="history" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Apr 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Mar 24 23:09:37 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Apr 12 23:27:09 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Vast and epic.  Everyone will reference Heart of Darkness with this book and it has the humid oppresiveness of that book. I was alo reminded of Invisible Man, in its sort of metaphorical set-pieces.  Put together tight like a puzzle. The characters are intense and detailed and inscrutable like human...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/18568975">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/18568975]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/18568975]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>15234139</id>
    <user>
    <id>900340</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Nancy]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Hobe Sound, FL]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/900340-nancy]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1202821774p3/900340.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1202821774p2/900340.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="booker-prize-winner" />
        <shelf name="fiction" />
        <shelf name="fiction---africa" />
        <shelf name="fiction---slavery" />
        <shelf name="historical-fiction" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Jan 10 00:00:00 -0800 2005</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Feb 12 08:31:10 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Jan 21 12:21:32 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[(don't worry: no spoilers here)<br/><br/>I would recommend it to anyone, but a) it is a difficult read sometimes, both in terms of subject matter &amp; in terms of readability. A lot of the book has the characters speaking in a &quot;pidgin&quot; English, a necessity (imho) to the story at times. This...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15234139">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15234139]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15234139]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>24375347</id>
    <user>
    <id>150963</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Luke]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Seattle, WA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/150963-luke]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1182741828p3/150963.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1182741828p2/150963.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Jul 05 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Jun 12 19:32:55 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Jul 06 22:37:26 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Very good book.  Moving or interesting line on nearly every page of this 629 page behemoth.<br/><br/>I give only four stars because I think the story gets bogged down in certain details about 2/3's of the way in.  Perhaps this is infantile of me but I found it cumbersome to read the author's attem...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/24375347">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/24375347]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/24375347]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>54662555</id>
    <user>
    <id>730330</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Tim]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Marion, IA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/730330-tim]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri May 01 21:15:51 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri May 01 21:19:02 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I'm actually a little bit stunned by the overwhelmingly positive reviews here. I wanted so much to love &quot;Sacred Hunger.&quot; Immensely interesting subject matter handled with subtlety and skill. What's not to love? Well ... <br/><br/>Unsworth clearly has talent, but this book is unbearably s...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/54662555">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/54662555]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/54662555]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>1636265</id>
    <user>
    <id>104848</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Lauren]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[La Honda, CA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/104848-lauren]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1180920453p3/104848.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1180920453p2/104848.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[people who like historical novels, and people who are interested in the history of slavery]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Jun 03 18:15:00 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Jun 03 18:21:23 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This is an absolutely stunning book!  If you like long, plotsy novels that drag you in and don't let you go for 600 pages, you'll love this one... *Sacred Hunger* is a historical novel that's pitch-perfect from an author who's won so many big prizes, I began to wonder what rock I've been living unde...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1636265">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1636265]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1636265]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>8247556</id>
    <user>
    <id>368964</id>
    <name><![CDATA[C.S.]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Columbia, MO]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/368964-c-s]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1254862562p3/368964.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1254862562p2/368964.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Oct 25 15:42:54 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Oct 11 18:47:03 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[At the beginning of Chapter Eight of Barry Unsworth's Sacred Hunger, there is a passage of such breath-taking perfection that when I first came across it, in the introduction to another book, I immediately copied it down for future use.  I have since shared it with friends, blogged about it, and whe...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8247556">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8247556]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8247556]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>79064169</id>
    <user>
    <id>1427611</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Dev]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Jamaica Plain, MA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1427611-dev]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Nov 26 14:20:02 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Nov 26 14:23:22 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I thought this was an incredible book. I remember the scene doing the tempest in the garden. the main character's unrequited love for the young woman playing Miranda. the refuge of the slaves in the thick hot jungle of south florida. <br/>And the hunger: for freedome, for money, for love.<br/>A gr...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79064169">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79064169]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79064169]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>19802693</id>
    <user>
    <id>950284</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Jen]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/950284-jen]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1204220055p3/950284.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1204220055p2/950284.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">239592</id>
  <isbn>0393311147</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780393311143</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">88</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Sacred Hunger]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733m/239592.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676733s/239592.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239592.Sacred_Hunger</link>
  <average_rating>4.24</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>435</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[This vast, vividly realistic historical novel follows the crew of a slave-trading vessel from its Liverpool shipyard through days at anchor bartering human cargo on the Guinea Coast, then on beyond the slaver's disease-ridden and mutinous Middle Passage. With an epic ambition that seems suited to its 18th-century setting, Unsworth ( Stone Virgin ) takes on a big theme--greed, the animating &quot;sacred hunger&quot; of the title--but at the same time fills his huge canvas with the alternately fascinating and horrifying details of shipboard life, colonial plunder and power struggles, the London clubs of absentee sugar lords, even a pidgin Utopia created by slaves and seamen on unclaimed Florida coast. Deftly utilizing a flood of period detail, Unsworth has written a book whose stately pace, like the scope of its meditations, seems accurately to evoke the age. Tackling here a central perversity of our history--the keeping of slaves in a land where &quot;all men are created equal&quot;--Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates. As intricate as it is immense, this masterwork rewards every turn of its 640 pages.<br/><br/>From Publishers Weekly<br/>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]>
  </description>
  <published>1992</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="booker-prize-winners" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[People who liked the movie &quot;Amazing Grace&quot;]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Apr 09 11:15:00 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Apr 09 11:15:00 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Don't let the title put you off. This is one of my favorite books. &quot;Sacred Hunger&quot; refers to the way the British felt about the slave trade. They felt that they were doing the Africans a favor by sending them to a &quot;better life&quot; of slavery in civilization. They would have the oppo...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/19802693">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/19802693]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/19802693]]></link>
</review>
    </reviews>
  <popular_shelves>
          <shelf name="to-read" />
          <shelf name="currently-reading" />
          <shelf name="fiction" />
          <shelf name="historical-fiction" />
          <shelf name="booker-prize" />
          <shelf name="booker-prize-winners" />
          <shelf name="booker" />
          <shelf name="man-booker-prize" />
      </popular_shelves>
  <book_links>
    <book_link>
  <id>8</id>
  <name><![CDATA[WorldCat]]></name>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=239592</link>
</book_link>
  </book_links>
</book>
</GoodreadsResponse>