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The Hunger

by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch (Goodreads Author)

3.55 of 5 stars 3.55 · rating details · 44 ratings · 6 reviews

Fifteen-year-old Paula's perfectionism drives every facet of her life, from her marks in Grade 10 to the pursuit of a "perfect body." A history project brings her face to face with her grandmother's early life and, as she delves deeper, she is disturbed to find eerie parallels between her own struggles and what she learns of the past.

As Paula slowly destroys the very body...more

Paperback, 144 pages

Published October 1st 2002 by Dundurn (first published October 8th 1999)

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YA Eating Disorder Fiction

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May 08, 2012 stealthybadger rated it 3 of 5 stars

Bluntly, The Hunger by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch has been a flawed book. Several other mixed reviews mention its positive aspects: the historical accuracy, the evidence of research done for the latter half of the novel. They also mention the negative, weaker aspects, which I too picked up on. They include a certain rocky transition, which I thought was the weakest point and will discuss later, and a lack of character depth, which is an opinion some may not share.

The book revolves around two charac...more Bluntly, The Hunger by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch has been a flawed book. Several other mixed reviews mention its positive aspects: the historical accuracy, the evidence of research done for the latter half of the novel. They also mention the negative, weaker aspects, which I too picked up on. They include a certain rocky transition, which I thought was the weakest point and will discuss later, and a lack of character depth, which is an opinion some may not share.

The book revolves around two characters. Paula claims the first half, dealing with her serious anorexic and bulimic issues. The reader will explore the poor choices she makes, such as losing emotional control, buying fatty foods then purging, and refusing help offered by those around her. The latter half involves the similarly-named Marta, whose life takes place in the Armenian Genocide of 1925-1923. Here, Marta struggles to stay alive, cherishing the very food that Paula deemed so horrible. The two characters are connected through (SPOILER BEGIN) a link I thought was weak in my opinion, as Paula only began to have interest in her Armenian descent after being assigned a history project about her ancestors. Personally I felt the link between them should have been stronger, to build a deeper connection between the very different two main characters.

The section I thought was weakest was the halfway transition I mentioned earlier. What happens is Paula goes out for a vigorous jog in her weak condition, and subsequently faints from exhaustion. Then she has what I believe was intended to be a near-death experience, which is set engulfed in white light, still waters, and lifeless sand while viewing the events of her own life. She is beckoned forth by a vision of Marta, and the two switch roles by “stepping into” each other, all in a course of 4 ¼ pages. Overall, this section felt rushed, as if Skrypuch, the author, struggled to find a way to transition between two very different storylines. (SPOILER END). Perhaps the two storylines of Paula and Marta would have been better in two separate novels, as the two share little between them other than Armenian family relation, and an opposite view on the value of food. If the author insists on having them in the same book, an alternate transition, or smoother, longer transition would have been more effective.

On a more positive note, I thoroughly enjoyed the historical accuracy. Even if the book does not explicitly take the path of a real-life account (though the author’s grandmother had direct input and experience during the genocide), the heat of the desert and the fight for life feels very authentic. There is a strong quote from Adolf Hitler which is mentioned multiple times, and somewhat defines the second half of the novel: “after all, who today remembers the Armenians?” Just this quote alone makes the book an informative piece for information about the Armenian Genocide, and an appropriate read for those suffering from anorexic conditions. If you can tolerate two very different topics in one book, and tolerate a little bit of writing roughness, it makes a satisfying and educational read.
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Nov 30, 2011 Ninjalurking rated it 2 of 5 stars

“The Hunger” by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch was quite honestly a mediocre read. Centered around 15-year-old Paula, the novel focuses on her battle to attain the ideal figure and the personal struggles she confronts throughout her battle with bulimia. However, more than partway through the story, the perspective changes as Paula is transported back in time to the early 1900s. She delves into the life of Marta, a young Armenian girl on the brink of death during the Armenian Massacre of the first World...more “The Hunger” by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch was quite honestly a mediocre read. Centered around 15-year-old Paula, the novel focuses on her battle to attain the ideal figure and the personal struggles she confronts throughout her battle with bulimia. However, more than partway through the story, the perspective changes as Paula is transported back in time to the early 1900s. She delves into the life of Marta, a young Armenian girl on the brink of death during the Armenian Massacre of the first World War, and Paula is forced to relive the inhumane atrocity of her own ancestors’ pasts. Upon returning to reality, Paula comes to be aware of the value of life and how the detriment she is causing to her body is for no good reason, especially when people have experienced pain as brutal as Marta’s.
I was pleased to see that the novel was thoroughly researched. Plenty of facts on Armenian history were provided in a way that was easily comprehensible for the intended audience. Paula’s symptoms and bulimic behaviour also seemed to be accurate and were described graphically in order to convey a negative outlook on disordered eating. Not only does Skrypuch illustrate many of the horrendous consequences of anorexia and bulimia, but the author also implicitly states the importance of seeking help, and how crucial the role of family is in recovering from an illness.
On the other hand, I found that the novel was poorly structured, the author’s style was far from ideal and the second story introduced halfway through was irrelevant. The change of focus from eating disorders to the Armenian massacre was confusing, as we were only beginning to get acquainted with Paula’s character. Although it was related to Paula’s grade 10 history project, the time travel took away from the original story when I believe more time should have been spent describing the horrors of eating disorders in order to more effectively emphasize the gravity of such mental disorders. When dealing with as mature a subject as eating disorders, we can assume the target audience would be teens who can relate to this sort of situation. However, the vocabulary used in the novel was fairly basic for a teen audience.
Finally, I am thoroughly dissatisfied with the shallowness of the characters. There was a lack of insight into their lives which resulted in the novel being unsuccessful in allowing readers to develop an emotional connection to the characters. In my opinion, the novel would have been much more enjoyable if it was solely about Paula’s eating disorder. While it may be somewhat overused, anorexia and bulimia remain to be appealing and chilling topics to many teens. Therefore, adding the element of history to it was unnecessary, and would be better off in a completely separate book.
Personally, I would not recommend this book, as it was poorly written and only mildly entertaining, save for the fact that I was able to relate the issues faced to my own life. If you are looking for a deep, thoughtful book with a great deal of imagery and vivid characters, I would pass this one by.
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Sep 03, 2009 Sandra Strange rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, fictional-adventure, young-adult

Paula’s parents don’t notice when she turns anorexic/bulimic because dad is too busy being proud at her running and mom is too busy with her own life. Trying to complete a history project, she begins to delve into her grandmother’s past. The past becomes all too real when Paula’s body shuts down because of self starvation and she is sucked into reliving her great grandmother’s history as an Armenian orphan struggling to survive in the midst of the Armenian Turkish massacres of the early twentiet...more

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Jan 05, 2013 penelopewanders rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, rings-rays-loans-traded

I was looking for a book about the Armenian genocide to use with a class of teenagers. This was recommended to me, and it certainly is an interesting book to read with a class - but the focus is much more on eating disorders than the Armenian genocide. I'm pretty sure this would not work well with the group of boys I'll have in that class, although it's clear that anorexia is not a "girls only" theme.
So as a book about the journey of an anorexic, it's very good - at times borderline TMI, but I t...more

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Mar 14, 2011 Krista the Krazy Kataloguer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-ya, read-goodreads-authors

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. What a gripping description of bulimia! I don't think I've ever read one so realistic. I can only hope that the author isn't writing from experience. I was getting nauseous just reading about the vomiting! However, I now feel, as I never did before, that I really understand what it's like to think like a bulimic. If the story had been solely about Paula and her battle with bulimia, I would have given it 5 stars.

However, over halfway through the story it switched to a near-death experience, where...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Diana Flores rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book I find it amazing,the author did great job in the transformation it was really creative.

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About Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Marsha has received numerous awards and honours for her picture books and young adult novels, including a nomination for the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year in 2007. Marsha has penned the bestselling Dear Canada book, Prisoners in the Promised Land.

In 2008, Marsha was awarded the Order of Princess Olha by the Ukranian President, in recognition of her story, Enough, which described th...more

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Prisoners in the Promised Land: The Ukrainian Internment Diary of Anya Soloniuk

Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan's Rescue from War

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